"Only in Wisconsin"

New Glarus, Wisconsin

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Last year, I took some time to talk about Summer Shandy and the profound impact it has had on me growing up and how it helped me become the beer lover I am today.

I’d like to again take a deep dive on one particular beer.  While this beer has had an effect on me and at one time was my absolute favorite - I’d also like to examine this beer and how it is so essentially Wisconsin and has become synonymous with our great state.  A beer that is as quintessentially Wisconsin as they come and one that, like Summer Shandy, is a beer I will reach for time and again regardless of how far into the beer world we’ve gotten.  While I usually reach for Summer Shandy for nostalgia’s sake, or because it tastes just so damn right when sitting near a lake - this beer is genuinely good - great even, depending on who you ask.  

It’s a beer you can find on tap, in my own estimation, at 90% of the bars and restaurants that you walk into.  While we may not make it a habit of checking out the thousands of dive bars or establishments serving up brews and fish fry in the state, it’s just about as common as Miller or Coors and yet it’s stayed true to being local - even going so far as to not even being sold outside of the state and its not for a lack of interest or ability to distribute.

If you haven’t figured it out by now - enter Spotted Cow. 

When I was in college and just starting my journey with beers - Spotted Cow was the fancy beer.  Right?  It’s too pricey for a broke college kid to keep stocked, too heavy to pound one after the other, and - at that time - really only came in six or twelve packs of glass bottles which is asking for trouble at a party.  It’s never really been the working man’s beer and you’re still going to find a plethora of folks who aren’t willing to dish out the price over some mass-produced light beer options.  

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not going to turn my nose up at a Schlitz, Old Style, Pabst, or even a Blatz for old time‘s sake - or even if its just a Schlitzy kinda joint that I’m in.  Here and there I’ll keep it old school - but those aren’t really good beers.  

A majority of the time though, Spotted Cow is my tried and true.  It’s consistent, it’s good, and it’s widely available in Wisconsin.

I had a somewhat profound talk with my friend, Mr. Tin Fox one evening.  Mr. Tin Fox gets the opportunity to travel quite a bit and he’s traveled around the states searching for good beer even more so than Hannah and I.  While he’s tried some absolutely outstanding beers and, like us, been to some of the best breweries in the nation he noticed something:

A lot of breweries have good beer, great beer even - but a lot of bars don’t.  You may get some breweries that are big enough to push a product out around town, maybe the surrounding area but a majority of the bars you go into you’re stuck with the mass produced stuff which is junk beer.  

You don’t have that here - while Spotted Cow is perhaps a bit overrated that doesn’t make it is a bad beer.  We’re actually incredibly spoiled to have such a solid option to drink just about anywhere in the state we choose to imbibe. Other states don’t have that.  Hannah and I have seen it ourselves first hand.  Outside of obvious examples such as dry counties or states without a strong beer scene - you still can have a hard time finding good beer.

Take Alaska for example.  We’ve found some of the best beers we’ve ever had - but the breweries don’t distribute widely.  Even 49th State, one of the largest breweries in Alaska, doesn’t distribute a majority of its options everywhere, and even places as close as two hours away won’t have it.  On the flipside, Alaskan Amber is shipped all over Alaska and even the lower 48 but it's just an average beer.  There were plenty of watering holes there only featuring mass produced stuff.

Here though, you can find Spotted Cow from Superior to Door County, from Bayfield to Bristol and everywhere in between.  It’s easy to not keep that in perspective because we are just so spoiled when it comes to beer in Wisconsin.  To have such a solid option just about anywhere you walk into helps set Wisconsin apart as one of the great beer states in the nation.

If you know Spotted Cow, you probably know the - perhaps controversial - history and decision to not sell New Glarus Brewing Company’s flagship beer outside of Wisconsin. If you’ve been into the beer scene, you know that there was even a short stint where Spotted Cow was actually available in Illinois.  You’ll also know that it was because the brewery wasn’t big enough to keep up with the demand of both Illinois and its own home state - thus, the “Only In Wisconsin” Spotted Cow that we know of today was born.

Other writers have gone into the deep lore of Spotted Cow - that an offhand comment from Deb Carey (New Glarus Brewing Company’s Founder) while on a trip to England spawned the idea of the name, and that Dan, the Brewmaster, first took inspiration from a trip to Old World Wisconsin and what German immigrants would brew on their farms.  But I really want to focus on what Spotted Cow means to us as Wisconsinites.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told someone I’m from Wisconsin and they know exactly what Spotted Cow is, have a friend that goes to great lengths to get it, or asks if it really is “that good”.  Spotted Cow has earned a somewhat mythical reputation in the forums and halls of beer nerds and while it may not always be the trendiest offering out there - it always seems to keep it’s positive reputation year in and year out.  At one point, one of those beers that have since been purchased by Molson-Coors may have been synonymous with Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Rhinelander, or Monroe.  Heck, even Leine’s has been bought by out of state interests.  

It’s really a point of pride that something this good and readily available is made right here in Wisconsin.

Now, look, I used to fangirl over this beer - and I’ll admit - it was, at one point my absolute favorite.  As my tastes have involved and we’ve traveled further and further around the country, I’ve found more niche beers, wilder flavors, and more complexity as our palates have grown.  But I also refuse to sit and hear anyone ever say it’s a bad beer or it’s better than something mass produced.  If you like that more? Sure that’s fine.

But to say Spotted Cow is not a good beer is just objectively untrue.  As we learn more and more about beer, we are as much of fans as the far out there and novel as we are of beer that is just a great, solid example of a historical beer executed well.  That’s what Spotted Cow is - it’s exactly the kind of beer you might find brewed in a German immigrant farmhouse in the late 1800’s - we can now say that with a fair amount of knowledge under our belts over these past years.

We can dive into that a little.  Farmhouse ales are a a bit of an enigma as, to my knowledge, no one has really agreed on what it is - since it’s a method that may have been varied or perhaps just lost to time.  The Beer Judge Certification Program says that Biere de Garde, Saison, and the historical style Sahti are the three styles that fit under the umbrella.  Spotted Cow - doesn’t fit neatly into any of those categories.  It lacks the spice character in aroma and taste of many Saisons, as well as any type of earthy character.  At the same time, not as sweetly malty as many Biere de Gardes.  I’ve read a lot of folks who say it's closer to a cream ale, but since they no longer use corn in Spotted Cow, that doesn’t really fit either.

My own tasting notes:

Spotted pours a deep gold, cloud, with just a touch of amber in there and features a thick soapy white head that dissipates to a white ring and leaves some lovely lacing on the glass when drunk. 

You know, I’ve smelled this beer so many times - I could probably identify it with my eyes closed and yet I haven’t ever really taken the time to think of what it smells like - other than it smells like a Friday night before food is brought to your table.

Aroma:  Sweetness, proofing bread dough, some orange, a hint of clove, citrus, a little farm hay, wet grains, and a touch of apricot or stone fruit.

Taste:  There’s a prevailing but mild sweetness when tasting this beer - additionally there are notes of citrus, biscuit bread dough, and barely perceptible banana.  This beer has a certain wetness to it that I’ve always noticed with a medium-high heavy body that has a gentle roundness and finishes with just a small touch of bop bitterness as to not make it overly sweet.

Spotted is a beer that pairs excellently with food, fried fish, fries, curds, cheeses, barbecue, a burger, pizza - its a great beer that pairs well with bar-style meals - even by itself, despite some heaviness that gets more prevalent in the hot days of summer - it's a very drinkable beer - totally inoffensive and with an ABV that makes it pretty crushable. 

Living in Wisconsin, I have heard it all.  I can admit, Spotted Cow may not be the most complex beer, and it may not have anything wild in the flavor profile or be out there in terms of aroma - but this beer doesn’t need to be.  It needs to be a go to - a familiar thing to revisit, and consistently in its profile.

There’s something so essentially Wisconsin about Spotted Cow.  Not just the cow on the label, or the relatively affordable price tag (sorry college self).  It’s the beer you’ve had with a coworker after a shit day at work.  It’s the beer you recognize as made here that’s on tap.  It’s the good stuff your older brother splurged for a keg on your 21st.  Maybe the beer you insisted on having at your wedding reception.  Or the beer you like to make fry batter out of.  It’s the beer your dad would pop the top off of when his buddies came over and he wanted to impress.  It’s the beer that the snob in your family will only drink at Easter.  

Until next time, keep on Crusin’ don’t stop boozin’!