New Glarus, Wisconsin
Crusin’ Rating: B+
Booze Rating: C
This week, it’s a countdown to Christmas as Hannah and I visited one of our favorite little towns during this time of year - New Glarus, Wisconsin. While you may recognize the New Glarus name for a certain beer made there - we are instead in town to check out a spot offering a bit of a higher proof imbibement, connected to none other than Bailey’s Run Winery. With the same owners of the Winery, Todd and Janet Kuehl, this new project might not be as easy to find as you would think.
Following google maps will, interestingly enough, lead you right past the winery and distillery - and we were clearly not the only people who made the mistake as the neighbors next door sport a large sign that says “NO U TURNS”. If you’re trying to get here, your best bet is to simply go to Bailey’s Run and head through the back door behind the bar!
Walking through that door leads you to an event space with it’s own bar and high ceilings that, by Hannah’s expert estimate, sits at least 100 people. This room, despite its the allure of hosting a large networking event between a winery and distillery, is not the final destination as going through another set of doors on the far end brings you into Whiskey Run Distilling Company, our review subject of the week.
First and foremost, this space is huge. We counted 103 seats, including at the bar. The ceilings soar above you and there’s a gigantic Christmas Tree to match. Hannah mused that even though the space is large, it definitely feels cozy, and you know we are always going to hope for a fireplace, but there wasn’t one that we saw - but there was plenty of natural light and even some leather couches with low slung tables to enjoy. A large, square, and metal sign hangs down from the ceiling with the name of the distillery on it, a neat touch, especially when decorated with Christmas garland. Tons of natural light fills the space from many windows that give a heck of a view out over some rolling hills and the farms beyond.
At the back of the space, there’s about 20% of the space dedicated to a hefty amount of swag - mostly in the form of various sweatshirts and various hats, with a good smattering of bottles for sale. The bar is off to your right, and there’s large windows behind it that give you a view of a large copper still that we were told was imported from Kentucky.
We were fortunate to have a Friday afternoon off, so, when we were there it was just us, and a fellow at the bar with his dog. Had we known dogs were allowed, we definitely would have brought Barlow as there was plenty for him to explore and nothing at ground level for him to steal - his new favorite pastime.
While we aren’t a food blog, we had read good things about the food at Whiskey Run Distilling Company and it’s always tough for me to pass up the promise of a good fish fry. I snagged the perch and Hannah got an order of truffle fries. Outside of perhaps little too-tangy coleslaw I thought the fish fry was great without being too greasy or overly breaded. Both of our french fries were crispy and golden and we both discussed that we might actually drive out just for the fish fry in the future.
With a spot that makes their own spirits, and news articles telling us that Mike McDonald over from Stateline Distillery designed the winter bar menu were were fairly excited. It was a bit of a letdown to see drinks that were mostly the type that you’d find at any old supper club, which are fine - but Amaretto and various desert-Christmas martinis is a little more than overdone in my opinion.
Our service was great, and the bartender was more than attentive and amicable as he brought us a flight, drinks, and our food.
Now, it wasn’t until we got further in to some research did we confirm that a lot of the spirits here aren’t actually distilled in Wisconsin yet at the distillery. From what we could glean, only certain variations of the bourbon are distilled here in Wisconsin which is such a bummer to learn. According to this article, plans were to begin to use local corn for the bourbon starting this year and we really hope that’s the case. However, and I am going to be a little judgemental here - how do we have a distillery that isn’t putting out it’s own vodka? We get it, whiskey takes time to age, rye, bourbon, all of that - but my little brother may or may not have made some hooch in our own basement - with the right distilling equipment, how can you outsource your vodka?! Whiskey Run currently contracts with Midwest Grain Products (MGP) to make their spirits.
Now, MPG is a company that has several distilleries and to my understanding some of those put out decent stuff. Whiskey Run also doesn’t appear to hide the fact that MGP produces imbibements for their label as seen in this article - but they also aren’t - in our opinion, really advertising it. All we can hope for, is that as their production ramps up, they start to use local ingredients and churning out some truly Wisconsin spirits. So take these tasting notes with a grain of salt.
Port Wine finished Heaven’s Proof (50% ABV) - with “Heaven’s Proof” - riff on “Angel’s Share” - or the percentage of whiskey lost to evaporation during the aging process - being the name of a group of rye whiskey finished in different barrels.
This one, finished in a Tawny Port barrel is warm gold in color and has aromas of maple syrup, brown sugar pie crust, and just a touch of dark berry fruit leather, and pecans. This Rye tasted primarily hot, but had some distinct notes of overly buttery toffee and milk chocolate.
Gin ae Suis Qoui (40% ABV) - with a hardy-har name we did not have high hopes for this gin, but interestingly enough, it was our favorite thing we tasted during this review and to learn that it’s not made here was really disappointing because it was going to be a solid pick for the Crusin’ for Booze bar had it been local. This gin had juniper, low notes of lemon, and floral notes to give the overall impression of a pleasant smelling soap when put to the nose - without any associated bitterness. You know, one of those soaps that makes you want to immediately buy it for your own home? With similar notes of juniper that moves into lemon, and edible flower petals when tasting, this gin was very pleasantly smooth, almost to the point of being sippable by itself and would have made for a great cocktail gin. Too bad.
Amburana Finished Heaven’s Proof (50% ABV) - this iteration of Heaven’s Proof was finished in Amburana casks, which is known as Brazilian “oak” (not actually oak) which is notedly used in Cachaça aging - the national spirit of Brazil, made from fermented sugarcane juice and is quite fantastic like a Rhum Agricole - but I digress.
Anyway, Amburana is noted for giving unique flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla and is becoming trendy to use in the aging of other spirits. This Heaven’s proof poured a rich amber in color and we picked up notes of cinnamon and baking spices when smelling but I was also quite certain I got some licorice in there, close to Absinthe - anise and fennel. There was a definite cinnamon warmth when tasting and woody bitterness that reminded me of dried cassia chips, and then finished in pleasant nutmeg. This was something that we haven't come across yet and now I am going to be watching for it. Although, it’s tough to tell if I enjoyed the spirit, or just the barrel notes themselves. I’ll definitely be looking for some Amburana Cachaça on my next shopping trip.
At the end of the day, we were still pretty bummed about not all of the spirits being made here in Wisconsin - we had similar feelings about the winery - with not all the grapes being local. As we've stated before though, that doesn't mean they can't bring production in a more locally-focused direction in the future.
Despite that, we could easily see making the trek out to have the fish fry, or even making it a go-to spot to decompress and chow down after a visit to the brewery, or after a day of gift-shopping. The ambience was there, Hannah enjoyed the drinks enough and I liked the gin enough to order a cocktail with our food in the future. We have long admired the view that Bailey's Run offers of some fantastic Wisconsin scenery and Whiskey Run shares that same picturesque view all from a large and still somewhat cozy space.
If you do make it out to Whiskey Run, see if you can spot the secret entrance to the speakeasy room! We won’t give any more than that away.
Until next time, keep on crusin’, don’t stop boozin’!
To lear more about Whiskey Run Distillery please visit their website at: whiskeyrun.com or on Facebook: @WhiskeyRunDistillery or on Instagram: @WhiskeyRunDistillingCompany
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