Heard It Through the Hopvine

A quick blast of news, notes and rumors rumbling through the Oshkosh beer scene.

Speaking of scenes, the July edition of the Oshkosh SCENE is now out and all about town. This time, my Oshkosh Beer Garden column covers a flight of summer beers produced by Wisconsin breweries. But there’s one beer mentioned therein you’ll have a hard time finding. New Glarus announced last week that it was pulling its wonderful Berliner Weiss from store shelves after receiving complaints that the beer was over-carbonated. What? A Berliner Weiss is supposed to be carb loaded. What the brewery didn’t mention is that bottles were exploding. Check out this BeerAdvocate forum where folks are sharing their experiences with Berliner-Weiss bottle bombs.

Speaking of New Glarus, Dublin’s will host a beer dinner featuring the much-loved brewery on August 14. Details are now being hashed out, but I’ll post something here when tickets become available.

Speaking of Dublin’s, they’re also working on plans for their Third Annual Craft Beer Festival. That one will land in September. Once the date is fixed, I’ll pass it along here. Word is that this year’s fest will even feature some homebrew. We all know that’s where the best beer really comes from.

Speaking of Homebrew, the Society of Oshkosh Brewers have set the date for their Third Annual Cask & Caskets Homebrew Event for Charity. This year, the homebrew flows on November 1 at the Oshkosh Convention Center. Check out the Facebook Event Page for more.

Speaking of brewing your own, NDC in Oshkosh is planning on expanding their food section and moving their brewing supplies to the second floor of their building at 457 N. Main St. I hope that means they’ll expand their selection. If you haven’t been to NDC in a while for brewing supplies, you ought to check them out. It’s not the perfect homebrew shop by any means, but they usually have some pretty good deals, especially on bagged malt. If you go today (Wednesday, July 9) Take THIS COUPON in and get 5% off on anything you purchase.

Speaking of stores, we’re going to have a new place to buy craft beer in Downtown Oshkosh. Ski's Meat Market is preparing to open downtown at 502 N. Main St. (where Great Estates used to be). And they say they’re going to have a selection of good beer available. I doubt that’s just happy talk. The folks behind this venture are the same people who bring you Beckets. They know what they’re doing when it comes to craft beer. The opening date has yet to be announced, but their website promises that it’s coming soon.

Speaking of craft beer, rumor is that Ballast Point Brewing will soon be distributing its beer in Wisconsin. This San Diego brewery is known for producing hop-forward ales including the coveted Sculpin IPA, which gets much love from the geeks. Look to see Ballast Point around here in early Fall.

Speaking of early Fall, time for me to get my ass out of this chair and get outside before summer slips by. Prost!