Sauk City, Wisconsin
Crusin’ Rating: C
Booze Rating: C-
This week we are checking out another brewery that’s been open less than a year! Like Good Works Brewing Company that we recently visited in Milton, WI. MT Bottle Brewing Company was started by an enthusiastic home brewer looking to bring his brews to a wider audience. In this case, with 14 years of home brewing experience. Established in 2022, MT Bottle Brewing Company is Sauk City’s second brewery after the Vintage Brewing location on the Wisconsin River. This is a brewery that we learned of fairly recently and it was so close that we absolutely had to check it out on our way out to La Valle. MT’s Owner, Mike Thompson, is from nearby Merrimac Wisconsin and started a brewery with the encouragement of friends to share his brews with all of us.
Located right on Water Street in Sauk City and directly across from Sauk Prairie Riverfront Park, MT Bottle occupies space in a mixed use building. I know we have used the term “working space” here on the blog before, but this is a brewery that is an actual workspace. While perhaps not the tidiest, you can see that this is a space that is recently moved into, a work in progress, and that there are various amounts of work currently in progress. Our beertender, who, in hindsight, my have been Mike Thompson, was welcoming, friendly, and extremely attentive. When walking in to MT Bottle, there’s a small bar, 4 seats total, with taps located behind, a fridge of N/A beverages, and a open door to a kitchen. There were several other couples and a group seated at various tables enjoying curds and brews when we arrived. Hannah took note of plenty of natural light coming in. If I had one small quibble, it would be that MT could definitely use some ventilation. You’re going to come out of your visit smelling like you fried the curds - but other than the slight untidiness, we enjoyed the space, even if it felt like it could use some updates, maybe some new paint or tabletops, but that’s all things I’m sure will come in the future. I think the space will come into its own as things begin to settle down for a new business owner!
Hannah and I snagged a flight at $2 per 5 oz taster. There are 8 beers on tap total usually, but 3 were out on our visit. We took note that it costs $7 for a pint of beer but $5 for 13 oz of beer, making the 13 oz pour the best bang for your buck! Our curds were satisfactory, although I will say, without the fish fry special or the wing special that happen on Fridays and Wednesdays, Hannah and I saw this more as bar apps than a spot for a full on meal - it’s all coming out of the fryer, which is going to help soak up some of those brews as you work your way through them. Hannah is always going to be hoping for a large soft pretzel on the menu so that’s the one request she would put in.
We kept in mind that this is a spot less than a year old and this is a small seemingly one-man operation when tasting. Now, this was most likely just our glasses, and we didn’t want to complain at all but we did find our glasses may have been washed pretty enthusiastically and the unfortunate byproduct of that was that our glasses all came with this very pronounced soapy aroma and underlying soapiness - not hop related - with all of the beers we tried. That may have just been our flight glasses and it’s something we’ve never really encountered before, but we decided rather than waste beer, we would move ahead with our review as it was. Do not let our experience deter you from trying the beer yourself and letting us know what you think.
Triple Lindy Belgian Tripel (9.5% ABV) - This beer poured a slightly dirty yellow-gold. Underneath that soapy scent, we picked up stone fruit, toasted grain and prunes. This was a taste that was unfortunately dominated by that cleaning product and masked a lot of the finer notes of the beer, instead leaving us with some general bitterness when I was really hoping to get some spiciness and soft grainy sweetness.
Lake Wisconsin Longboard (5.5 % ABV) - With high carbonation and clarity, this pale yellow Wisconsin Pale Ale again was difficult to pick up distinct aromas due to the glassware. Hannah noted that there were some notes of hay in the flavor. I also tasted them and they were strictly hay rather than grassy which I didn’t recognize as being welcome in what I gather is an American Pale Ale.
Prost! Marzen (5.9% ABV) - I’m not going to fault a Marzen being served in February here, even though I had hoped for a glimpse of a Maibock. This beer poured light copper and had good foam retention in the head with medium-high clarity. I thought that there were some fruity elements on the nose which I did not think belonged in this style - I usually look for a lot of bready/toastiness - rich at that when smelling a Marzen. While the aroma was off here, there was some nice maltiness here, toasty even to the flavor here and a dry finish. I think this one really has potential.
Not Your Grandma’s Pie (6.1% aBV) - This apple pie sour was opaque when held to the light and lightly gold in color. Smelling of dried clove, cinnamon, and candied apples, this beer very much reminded me of a Yankee candle. I thought this beer was overly sour but Hannah described it as tart. Hannah described that the sourness overwhelmed her senses and while she loves sour beers, she would also like there to be more apple and spices prevalent in this beer when tasting rather than sourness.
Devil’s Doorway Bourbon Barrel Stout (8.6% ABV) - Ordered in honor of the Thirsty Troll and his love of complex stouts, this beer poured much like a Guinness, complete with tan head. We thought that this beer was the only one of the bunch that won out over the cleaning product used. Although we smelled and tasted primarily bourbon notes and this stout, to us, tasted far closer to the bourbon end of things than to the stout end of things. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I would describe this beer as having a “hot” component where you can definitely feel the burn of the alcohol and you’re more so picking up aroma and flavor notes from the barrel and bourbon, rather than the stout itself.
In all, we aren’t here to bash on any brewery - especially not a small operation that’s brand new. I think, on the whole, this one is going to need a future review from us and we are going to let them settle into the space and maybe work out some of the early kinks. If you’re in Madison, this is a close and easy enough drive for you to try yourselves. I am going to hold off on recommending a day trip to this particular spot. I think this is a brewery that is in the early stages and I’m sure there are a lot of challenges with your first brewery and going from home brewer to brewery in a decent-sized city. I’m absolutely willing to go back here and I hope that MT Bottle has a bright future ahead of them.
Until next time, keep on crusin’, don’t stop boozin’!
To learn more about MT Bottle Brewing Company, please visit their website at: https://mtbottlebrewing.com/ of on Facebook: @MTBottleBrewingCompany
Commenti