Between the Bars

Wine Wisconsin Style: Cedar Creek Winery

For some people, “Wisconsin wine” is a puzzling concept. Actually, not many people even realize the number of vineyards located in the state that produce award-winning wines.

Yes, grapes do grow in Wisconsin. Just not everywhere. They typically grow better by the high ridges of the Wisconsin River, near its conjunction with the Mississippi. It’s there where vines can bask in sunlight and frosts dust the valleys.

Naturally, it’s still going to be cold during the winter months. Hi, we live in the Midwest. But what vintners can’t grow here, they simply truck in from other states, adding a Wisconsin je ne sais quoi to the grapes during blending, fermentation and aging.

Slowly but surely the concept of Wisconsin wine is catching on. Wisconsinites now are becoming enthusiastic supporters of their local vineyards. A huge THANKS goes to the late Bob Wollersheim for establishing the state’s first vineyard in 1972: Wollersheim Winery in Prairie du Sac, WI.

In 1990, Wollersheim Winery purchased what was previously known as the Stone Mill Winery and renamed it Cedar Creek Winery, located just 20 minutes north of Milwaukee in Cedarburg, WI. Once the winery changed hands, the wine style was altered to focus on traditional style grape wines with a few grape-based fruit wines, using much of the grapes grown at the sister winery in Prairie du Sac. Both wineries share the same vintner - Philippe Coquard – though the two brands remain quite distinct, yet all quite tasty.

Ghosts and cocktails of a bygone era

Located six blocks from Milwaukee’s warehouse district, Shaker’s Cigar Bar is an old haunt hidden among a tightly-packed row of forgettable buildings with pasts hardly worth remembering.

Except this one. Shaker's is full of memories – though not all good.

On Friday night, some friends and I joined up to hear Shaker’s most haunting stories during the evening’s guided ghost tour, which allows guests to explore the old building – from the basement to the former brothel - with the hope of some ghostly sightings.

Dating back to 1894, Shaker’s has changed many hands and has been many things. It was originally built to serve as a cooperage house for Schlitz Brewery, making huge wooden barrels for beer brewing and transporting, eventually being converted into a distribution center. Later, once it was sold to some guy named Al Capone, it became a Prohibition-era speakeasy fronted by a soda company. At one point, Shaker’s even housed women of ill-repute, which ended with a tragic story.

Backyard Finds: Milwaukee trolley loop

Festivals and events occur year-round in Milwaukee, but this vibrant, culturally diverse city really shines in the summertime. And with so many things to see, fortunately, there are a variety of ways to really enjoy the sights during this time of year.

Now that the quaint, rubber-tired trolleys are making their loop around the city again, there’s no better way to tour the historic streets of downtown Milwaukee. With hundreds of retail, cultural and dining experiences, as well as outdoor events, seasonal festivals, farmers markets and more, the Milwaukee Trolley Loop provides an easy way to get around Downtown and a unique opportunity for visitors and locals alike to really take in all of the city’s summer happenings.

Milwaukee brewery tour hop

For people who love beer, there’s no better place to drink it than at a brewery.

Lucky for us, Milwaukee boasts three local breweries – Lakefront, MillerCoors and Sprecher – in relatively close proximity that offer tours of their digs and samples of their brews for free or for dirt cheap. And because of their closeness, it’s not completely uncommon for people to arrange a brewery hop and hit all three tours in one day.

Of course, if you opt for such a sudsy quest, keep in mind that you could sample up to 12 beers total. So, be sure to arrange for a designated driver or alternate transportation from brewery to brewery.

Lakefront Brewery

Classic Milwaukee: Miller Brewery tour

For much of its history, Milwaukee was touted as the "beer capital of the world." In fact, back in the 1880s, Milwaukee had more than 50 breweries. Four became national giants - Pabst, Schlitz, Miller, Blatz - but only one survived.

That was Miller.

To give folks a glimpse into Milwaukee's historical and legendary brewing roots, Miller began offering its brewery tour in 1956. And as the country’s oldest commercial brewer of beer and sole major production brewery left in operation in Milwaukee, the tour is the most extensive of all local breweries.

The indoor/outdoor walking tour starts in the visitor’s center, and then leads you in and out of the various departments of the massive brewery. Fans of beer might be interested in seeing the evolution of the product, from fermentation to bottling to shipping, but unfortunately the tour is organized geographically instead of chronologically.

A group of us went on a chilly Saturday a few weeks ago. By the time we arrived it was only 10:30 a.m. and already about 60 people had checked in and were waiting for the next brewery tour. I have to say I was a little surprised by the host of people gunning for a taste of High Life. Miller beer is just so commonly served in Milwaukee that I forget that many of the people who seek out the tour are out-of-town tourists that don’t find Miller on draft at every bar or restaurant in their hometown.

Lakefront Brewery Tour

There’s definitely a correlation between attention span and amount of beer consumed on a brewery tour.

Milwaukee’s Lakefront Brewery understands this connection. Actually, the owners believe that folks attend brewery tours for three main reasons: one, to obviously drink beer; two, to be entertained; and three, to see where the beer is brewed. In fact, Lakefront Brewery has made this their policy, providing beer at the beginning, middle and end of each tour while witty guides show visitors around their pad, explaining the brewing process and history of their brewery.

Lakefront Brewery has been giving tours for over 25 years, originally in an old bakery building on Chambers Street and more recently in their landmark riverfront location on Commerce Street. Back in the day, anyone who showed up could just walk around and tap their own beers. However, due to the popularity, Lakefront tours have become a bit more formal nowadays, though they're still just as unique and fun as the brewery itself.

Considering the tours get busy, in hindsight, Juanita, Jason and Eric and I should have left much earlier. We arrived at the brewery and entered through the heavy front doors, merging with a line of people expecting to make the 2 p.m. tour. To our surprise the place was brimming with droves of people milling about. The 2 p.m. tour was already full – go figure – so we quickly showed our IDs and paid our admission for the next available spots. Our $7 fee included the tour, plus four wooden tokens to be used for four pours of beer, as well as a choice of a logo printed pint glass or $5 off Lakefront merchandise from in the gift shop.

Classic Milwaukee: Touring Sprecher Brewing Company

As the home of some of the country’s biggest breweries, Milwaukee was once hailed as “Beer Town”. Sadly, that designation went, shall we say, flat when the city lost mega brewers like Schlitz, Blatz and Pabst decades ago.

Dubbed “Brew City” nowadays, Milwaukee’s beer reputation remains strong among beer-lovers as brewpubs and micro-breweries have taken the helm, specializing in craft brews that focus on quality over quantity. Within the last decade, such small-scale breweries have been able to revive both the distinctive quality of regional beer and the Old World brewing traditions that once made Milwaukee famous, while increasing local interest.

With interest in craft beers growing, it’s no surprise that hordes of people turned out on Saturday to learn all about barley, hops, yeast, wheat, fermentation and pasteurization and, of course, to sample some of their favorite craft brews at Milwaukee-based micro-brewery Sprecher Brewing Company.

Located in Glendale, close to Bayshore Town Center, Sprecher Brewing Company was founded in 1985 by Randal Sprecher, former brewing supervisor at Pabst Brewing Company. According to our tour guide, it took Randal an initial investment of $40,000 and two cars to start this micro-brewery, which now has approximately 50 employees. Like any savvy entrepreneur, Randy cut corners where he could and put any extra profit back into the business, resulting in pure, sudsy awesomeness. Oh, and tremendous success.

Milwaukee Food Tours

While visiting Milwaukee, history buffs have long been able to learn about the city via guided tours. Now folks have a great chance to taste the city, too.

Inspired by her great grandparents who immigrated to Milwaukee from Sicily, owner and operator Theresa Nemetz combined her passion for food, tourism and Milwaukee to create Milwaukee Food Tours.

As of May10, 2008, Milwaukee Food Tours has been giving guided and narrated walking food tours that not only teach folks about Milwaukee’s rich history and unique architecture, but also allow guests to sample flavors from ethnic eateries and specialty food shops.

These tours are a great way for visitors and locals alike to stretch their legs, learn some history about the city and visit some on and off-the-beaten path establishments.

The 2.5-hour Brady Street/Old World Third Street Food Tour that Eric and I took showcased Milwaukee’s historic Italian and German neighborhoods through offerings from eight stops at places like Peter Sciortino’s Bakery, Wisconsin Cheese Mart, Usinger’s and Mader’s Restaurant.