The Winter Beer Calendar

Take a look at the sidebar to your lower left and you’ll see that our winter beer calendar is filling in nicely. We have three good mini-fests and two full-on beer festivals that will take us up to spring. Get your calendar ready, here’s a quick rundown of what’s in store.

• The first of the winter bunch arrives this Friday, January 11, at Dublin’s Irish Pub where New Glarus Brewing will stage a tap takeover from 6-8 p.m. This one is easy. Show up and drink a slew of brews that make the rest of the nation envious.

• O’so Brewing will hold forth on Thursday, January 24 at O’Marro’s Public House from 7-10 p.m. O’so maven Mike Champion will be on hand doling out all kinds of O’so suds. There’s even going to be some strange guy there wearing a Chief Oshkosh shirt selling and signing copies of a book he recently co-authored. The less said about him, the better.

• Saturday, February 2, from 5-9 p.m. is the Fourth Annual Fond du Lac BrewFest at the Fond du Lac Fair Grounds. I’ve always liked this festival. They tend to get quite a few brewpubs pouring, meaning you tend to get quite a few brews you haven’t had the opportunity to sample before. Better yet, this year the Fondy homebrew club, The Central Wisconsin Vintners & Brewers, will be on hand pouring an enormous selection of homebrew and wine. In years past, the organizers have run a bus down to Fondy from Oshkosh, but as of yet, there’s nothing lined up. If that changes, I’ll update it here. In Oshkosh, you can get tix for the fest ($30 in advance) at O’Marro’s Public House. Here’s a LINK with all the info.

• Barley & Hops is where you’ll want to be on Wednesday, February 6. Nate at Barley’s will open the next chapter in his Wisconsin Beer Sampling Series; this time the feature brewery is Central Waters. I’ve said it before, but this remains the single best beer deal in town. In addition to all the Central Waters beer there’s always a bunch of other unique brews, wines and booze to sample. Whether you pay $15 in advance or $20 at the door, you can’t lose. The tasting runs from 7-10 p.m.

• And finally, the big one, the 14th annual Hops & Props Beer and Food Tasting will take place on Saturday, March 9 from 7-10 p.m. at the AirVenture Museum. This year things are a bit bigger cost-wise as well, with tickets jumping up to $75 ($65 if you’re an EAA members). Ouch! Get more info HERE.

Not bad for winter in Wisconsin. Prost!