In honor of International Beer Day, I went to the Essen Haus and had a couple Franziskaner Dunkelweizen, and they were delicious. Also had an order of cheese curds (was unimpressed and was told they were not very good there) and jaegerschnitzel (which I really enjoyed- the accompanying red cabbage was delicious, I passed on the spaetzle). Not earthshattering high cuisine, but I enjoyed it, and the beers were perfectly poured. I know a lot of you said to go to the Old Fashioned and several other places, but there were just too many people at those joints. This place was more my speed- I move to my own beat and really try to avoid crowded places when at all possible.
Speaking of German beer, Erik had an interesting post about Carter and micro-breweries, and somewhere in between beer number one and two, I wondered how Erik and conservatives/libertarians felt about laws like the rheinheitsgebot. I know it has since been lifted, but did that really have a deleterious effect on beer production and variety in Germany?
In other news, the dogs are fine. I know this, because I’ve called a dozen times or more. Lily is still afraid of the house sitter, but Rosie is no longer snarling at him, so that is a positive plus.
Not sure what kind of debauchery I am going to get into. Maybe I will have a couple more drinks and then settle in for a wild night of searching the Sears catalog…
JR
You have got to find a good batch of fried cheddar curds. Properly done, they’re like bite-sized bits of chewy heaven.
Damnit, when’s the next county fair?!!
SoINeedAName
Es geht mir gut. Und dir?
mr. whipple
“Would you like another schnitzengruben?”
Mike in NC
Having been to the Czech Republic this summer, I can say that they have BEST beer, not to mention the highest per capita beer consumption in the world. Suck on that North Korea!
scav
passing on spaetzle? oh, that’s hard. Although the possibility of left-over spaetzle fried in butter, perhaps even with breadcrumbs, does sometimes justify not eating all of them at a single sitting.
arguingwithsignposts
Well, if you’re in for real trolling, there’s always the thread right below this one.
ETA: and if this is an open thread, I’m sitting here watching the sunset with my balcony door in front of me, the central air cranked, and the hardwood floors. I think I have died and gone to heaven.
Jager
John,
My ex wife’s maiden name was Wilhelm, her grandmother made all that and more. Nothing like heavy German food, lots of cabbage and beer,lots of beer. By three am you’ll be able to power a small village with the gas you’ll be producing.
gnomedad
Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
Mnemosyne
I’ll have to ask G what the name of the locally-brewed beer we got in Lake Geneva was. He was very sad that they were not allowed to sell across state lines so he couldn’t have them send a case to us in California.
Calming Influence
Me, I’m celebrating Beer Day with a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon and some Kentucky Fried WTF.
MikeJ
@Calming Influence: I’m celebrating beer day with gin and, daringly, in place of the vermouth in my martini, elderflower liquor.
Not because I dislike beer. Because I don’t. I love it. But gin is here, and beer didn’t get off his lazy ass and come over.
Maude
Damn hot
Onkel Bob
Re: the effect of the withdrawal of the rheinheitsgebot; they sell Miller, fucking goat piss, to people! That’s the effect, they are poisoning the populace with rodent urine!
Mike in NC is right, The Czech Republic, home of the real Budvar from Budweis (aka Budweisser) is the land of beer. Mind you, I love the tours of the Andechs Monastery. I drank many liters of their fine products during my time in Germany and miss them dearly here in my little corner of hell.
J.W. Hamner
My feeling is: yes. Obviously this is a personal taste thing, but I find German beers to be pretty boring relative to Belgians and American craft beers.
Calming Influence
@MikeJ:
I’m with you, dude – you goes with what you got. Beer can be a lazy fat fuck sometimes, but you can’t hate him for that.
Corner Stone
@Calming Influence:
I can hate him if he’s not gettin’ in my belly.
Get.In.Mah.Belly!!
arguingwithsignposts
@Corner Stone:
You owe me a keyboard.
martha
Essen Haus is a hoot, but was the polka band playing? That’s the REAL Wisconsin experience! Actually, some of the couples that dance are…great–they float across the floor. They put the rest of us to shame.
Spaetzle is good but the roesti at Glarner Stube in New Glarus is to die for–it’s evil, evil, evil in a good sort of way. I’m not a great cheese curd fan, so I can’t recommend a better spot.
If you want to get all elitist, go to Sardine (my favorite) or Harvest. If you’re around Saturday morning, go to the Farmer’s market on the square, more for the people watching experience…you already know how to grow vegetables!
Margaret
Essen House is not known for their food.
Go to Dhoban (Dohban?) on Atwood and have a really good hummus appetizer.
Jager
I heard my former father in law say this under his breath while drinking and arguing with his neighbor…
“grossen mann mit der kleinen schwantz”
JCJ
@Mnemosyne
It may have been Spotted Cow or some other product from New Glarus Brewing Company. It is very high quality
RedKitten
Husband is getting creative for International Beer Day. He just took a mug, poured in 1/2 of an Alexander Keith’s IPA, and then topped it with 1/2 a Kilkenny. He’s quite pleased with the result, which he calls a Keithingy. It DID look very pretty in the glass.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
I’m celebrating International Beer Day by first enjoying a Railbender Ale; then by accidentally knocking a Sam Adams Imperial Double Bock into the carpet (oh, god, that hurt), and finishing my evening with a Troegenator.
Life ain’t bad.
Duke City Roller (fmr Tank Hueco)
@Jager:
Wie sagt man “LMAO” auf Deutsch?
Jim C
Takes me back to college German …
My professor for a term, Ford Parkes-Perret, always replied, “Es geht,” whenever we greeted his entrance with your question.
Ronnie P
Whatever the correctness of the Rheinheitsgebot, I think it benefits the beer universe to have some countries obsessed with tradition (Germany) and some dedicated to experimentation (US, Belgium). It gives us drinkers the benefits of both worlds.
Breezeblock
@scav:
That’s what I’m talking about.
Comrade Mary
When it’s really hot, I like a wheat beer with an orange slice. Very refreshing.
I took a chance on a can of wheat beer pre-mixed with Earl Grey tea and lemonade tonight. What I got was perfumed shandy. Not a great success.
Corner Stone
@Comrade Mary: I feel like I don’t even know you anymore.
Corner Stone
@Jager: fat man with the big pen!s ?
Corner Stone
@Corner Stone: Oh. Just google translated it. I took a shot w/ no intertubular help.
MikeJ
@Corner Stone: kleinen is little, isn’t it?
Michael D.
Dear E.D…..
I am, ironically, drinking a Fat Tire right now. But also, Molson XXX.
New Yorker
Grüß Gott, John (yeah, going Bavarian on you).
I love German beers (the well-made ones) as nothing beats a good schwarzbier, but there’s definitely a lack of variety to German beers when compared with all the microbrews you find here in the US. You can find all sorts of bold experimentation with American craft brews that simply don’t exist in Germany.
Stillwater
@Calming Influence: I’m celebrating Beer Day with a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon
That’s a good beer – you know, they don’t give out those ribbons for nothin.
Michael D.
@Comrade Mary: Seriously?
MikeJ
@MikeJ: At least that’s what I thought when I spoke to my girlfriend’s cat, Schätze. Eine kleinen nacht Kätzchen. Nicest cat I’ve had. She would sit on my shoulder like a pirate’s parrot while I worked on the computer. Pity her mistress was psycho.
demimondian
My God. Is Essen Haus still there? It was in business when I was a grad student at Madson…and I got my Ph.D. during the Reagan presidency.
RedKitten
@Comrade Mary: Hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Sometimes the weirdest-sounding concoctions wind up being really freaking good.
Other times, not so much.
MikeJ
@RedKitten: Damn you showing up when I forgot the funny story I had saved for your appearance. It was something about geocaching when I went on a three waterfall hike(long, much vertical), but damned if I know what it was.
Corner Stone
@MikeJ: das is wacht der googler seize.
I don’t actually know german but the google says it means something like “fat man with a little tinky”.
RedKitten
@MikeJ: It’ll come back to you. And even if I haven’t been commenting as much lately, I’m always lurking. And if all else fails, just email the story to John and he’ll pass it along to me.
debit
I am celebrating Beer Day by drinking a Stewart’s Key Lime soda. I cannot drink beer, ever. I drank it once, when I was 13. And I drank a lot, because I liked it, a lot. And then I vomited, a lot. To this day, I cannot smell beer without feeling ill.
Comrade Mary
I sense some disapproval of my choices in liquid refreshment.
Look, I usually drink Guinness year round. I have a soft spot for IPAs and all sorts of red beers. Can’t stand framboise (raspberry loses all its awesomeness when it’s no longer in pulpy, fruity form), and when it comes to tea, I avoid Earl Grey like the scented plague it is in favour of a good, hearty Assam.
And I used to hate white beer/wheat beer, which my ex-husband just loved (along with white chocolate, which — just no. NO.) But when I was out with friends last summer, I shared a pitcher of white beer with happy orange slices bobbing in it, and it was a good enough weird bastard drink that I tried it again this year and still liked it.
So I tried the canned microbrewery option as I planned to hang out in my back garden and catch a breeze. I adjusted my expectations to expect something fruity and mildly inoffensive, but not really beer. And it was just barely drinkable but HELL NO is it something I’ll ever buy again.
But I’m still glad I did it. (The drink, not the ex-. The ex- was a total fucking waste in every sense of the word.)
Zam
Got myself some Spotted Cow and will proceed to drink it all, then hit a bar and drink whatever is on tap.
narvalking
Many fine beers brewed in Madison area. New Glarus is my fave and the brewery is just 8 miles from my house. Capital, Great Dane, and Ale Asylum all make pretty decent beers.
New Glarus has a Cherry Stout out right now that is spectacular, IMHO.
NineJean
@Comrade Mary: Whew. First time, ever, that I’ve heard that this stuff was sold in the US — and in a can, no less!
I was introduced to this mix around 15 years ago, visiting Germany for the purpose of meeting my new sister-in-law. Twas her favorite beverage — and you could buy it anywhere in public ( it was called a “radler”, or something similar, as I recall). If you wanted to drink it at home, though, you had to mix your own.
I was not impressed. But she still loves it; when I visited them in January (they’re living in MO now), she had a pitcher of the stuff in the fridge…
Nothing wrong with trying something new, and the combo of the malty beer with the fruity lemon and a little tangy tea sounds good. Just tastes terrible…
Me, now, enjoying my current favorite, a Mirror Pond from Deschutes …
Mike M
I’d recommend stopping by the Great Dane if you haven’t already – it’s just a few blocks from the Essen Haus, on the Capitol Loop, and their microbrews are some of my favorites. Velvet Hammer is their best (don’t remember whether it’s in season now), and their Scotch Ale is pretty damn good too.
Just don’t go there after 9 or so if you don’t like crowds.. and make sure you drink a New Glarus Spotted Cow before you leave. It’s THE definitive Wisconsin beer.
Maxwel
If you’re in the Cleveland area, try the beers of Great Lakes Brewery, especially Eliot Ness. Next year I’ll try their Edmund Fitzgerald (when the gales of November come early).
Pontious Pilates
JOHN!!!! Essenhaus is NOT the place to go for beer in Madison. If you want real Wisconsin Beer and insanely good cheese curds you have to go to the OLD FASHIONED. They have something like 30 beers on tap and they are ALL from Wisconsin. Not to mention a crazy array of award winning cheeses from around the state.
The menu does list 1 import beer: Budweiser.
http://www.theoldfashioned.com/
You will thank me for it.
K. Grant
I having a bit of withdrawal from the many fine English ales and bitters I drank in England this summer. Shockingly, finding decent English ales in Deep South Texas is rather difficult, thus I am celebrating the day with Boddington’s Ale.
Greenhouse Guy
I was born and raised in ‘sconi, but my favorite beer is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
Jager
@Corner Stone:
Little penus I believe
Corner Stone
@Jager: Was that the verdict of your friend at Trader Joe’s?
lawls
;)
Jager
While I enjoyed my ex-mother in law and her German parents and my ex’s fraternal German grandparents (the old man always bitched about how shitty American beer tasted) I aways thought her Dad would have looked great in an SS uniform, she was a lovely woman, too bad she had her dad’s personality. Our girls always called her the “Nazi”
Jager
@Corner Stone:
We just flirted a little, nice lady around 50, I had to run home to Mrs J, who is even a nicer woman around 50.
Corner Stone
@Jager:
Jesus hippie Christ.
Morbo
I tried to pick up some Spruce Pilsner for International Beer Day, but they were out. That one is not a lazy fat fuck; it is a lumberjack who will kick the shit out of you.
Jager
@Corner Stone:
They said it with love…she is really nice to her patients, a little hard on her family and those she is supposed to love. We (the girls and I) always felt like the German Olympic team that Hitler was so disappointed in. The last Christmas we spent together as a family, we had been seperated for about 6 or 7 months and the girls wanted one “last” family Christmas. It went well, she was all sweetness and light, when I drove her home, she smiled, said that was a nice Christmas,gave me a kiss on the cheek and then said (I kid you not) as she punched her finger into my chest, “if you think its going to be easy to get divorced from me, think again, because I’m going to make your life miserable, asshole”….4 years later it was final! What a woman!
JR
About an hour ago my wife told me she’s developed a taste for beer and would really enjoy a bottle. I’ve never loved her more.
We’re taking a romantic trip to a DC biergarten that serves veggie burgers and cask ale tomorrow night.
Earl
John —
You’re making me miss home. There’s nothing like the boots — 2-6 litter glasses, really — of beer at Essen Haus plus a bunch of friends. If I could only count the number of times I threw up in their parking lot…
There is a farmer’s market around the capital ring on Saturdays. It’s the best place to buy cheese curds if you’re still there. If they’re properly fresh, they’ll squeak while you eat them. If there’s still a pie cart with a DFH that smells like pot on the far side of the capitol in front of a church, buy some.
Enjoy Madison in the summer — it’s beautiful.
Yutsano
@RedKitten: Did he float the beer layers? I always love that trick if you can pull it off.
frosty
@New Yorker: I appear the only rheinheitsgebot fan in the comments.
Beer is water, barley malt, and hops. That’s it. Ya doesn’t need anything else.
Oh, and extra hops. Mo’ bitter mo’ better.
Michael af W
All this beer talk reminds me of a joke that was very popular in Australia when I was there:
“What is the similarity between American beer and making love in a canoe?
Both are fucking close to water…”
E.D. Kain
I’m going to have to plead the fifth, John. I’ll do some digging and get back to you.
SRW1
@Duke City Roller (fmr Tank Hueco):
Da lach ich mir ja den Arsch ab.
Alternative: Da lachen doch die Huehner.
(This makes even chickens roar with laughter)
By the way, John, that you discarded the Spaetzle gives this Spaetzlesschwob in exile a real sad. It has to be said though, that the preparation of Spaetzle, especially the proper production by hand, is an art that requires years of practice. And for a Schwob they are not real Spaetzle if they are not done by hand.
SRW1
@Jim C:
The full version is: “Es geht. Man hat es nicht leicht, aber wenn es einen hat, dann hat man es schwer.”
RedKitten
@Yutsano: Yep, he managed to pull it off. I should have taken a picture — it was pretty gold at the bottom, blending into a rich deep amber on top, with a perfect 1/2 inch head on the top.
RedKitten
@Michael af W:
That joke is very popular around these parts as well.
Speaking of beer, SamKitten has just found the case of Keith’s on the floor, and is proceeding to remove every can, pretend to drink it, and then rolling the can across the floor. I’d better go deal with that.
Candia
Just a quick nitpick, from a German (though not a beer-drinker): it’s “Reinheitsgebot”, not “Rhein-“. It has nothing to do with the river Rhein (=Rhine), but with “Reinheit” (=purety, cleanness).
twiffer
rheinheitsgebot was originally created (in what was it, the 16th century? 17th? i forget) as a way for the prince of bavaria to get kickbacks from heffenweisen brewers. if memory serves, the guy who implemented it owned a hefty chunk of barley production and an extra levy was placed on those who wanted to brew with wheat.
Egypt Steve
Why so formal?
I’d say: “Wie geht es euch.”
Ab_Normal
Geez, these threads are hard on a celiac… I do so miss real beer. :(
So, everybody else, have one for me, okay?
wasa1
You passed on the spaetzel? What were you thinking???
Kered (formerly Derek)
@MikeJ:
That’s not a martini.
Alexander D. Mitchell IV
Oh, and just for the record?
As you noted, Germany doesn’t even enforce the Reinheitsgebot any more.
From Wikipedia, simply because it’s short and to the point: “In May 1988, a European Court of Justice ruling led to the Reinheitsgebot being lifted, allowing ingredients beyond what is listed in the Biergesetz; this meant that anything allowed in other foods was thus also allowed in beer. The ingredient requirements have since been moved from the Biersteuergesetz into the regular food additives laws, though beer brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot receive special treatment as a protected, “traditional” food.”
In addition, also from Wikipedia: “When it was in effect, the law drew criticism from foreign brewers as a form of protectionism (a trade restriction) that allowed West Germany to prohibit non-compliant imports which used soot and fly agaric mushrooms as preservatives, even beers from states such as Belgium and the United Kingdom with their own long brewing traditions.”