Oshkosh 2021: The Year in Beer

The 2021 Rebound
It's been a good year for beer in Oshkosh. In 2021, the beer scene here rebounded from the wounds inflicted in 2020 by the pandemic. Despite this latest wave of COVID, the future looks more promising than it did at this time last year.

The most tangible element of that promise is the sharp rise in output at Oshkosh's three breweries. By mid-year, total beer production here was up 80 percent. And the breweries continued to gain momentum as this year wore on. The final numbers aren’t in yet, but Bare Bones, Fifth Ward, and Fox River will all break their previous production records this year.

But we also lost a brewery along the way. In September, HighHolder Brewing officially ceased to exist. HighHolder was Oshkosh’s first and only nano-brewery. But its failure isn’t indicative of what's happening here. The brewery’s end was caused by internal issues. It was intentional. It could have been otherwise.

The Beer Garden
The June 9th beer garden in Menominee Park may have been the highlight of 2021.

Menominee Park, June 9, 2021.

It was the first time in 150 years that a beer garden on Lake Winnebago in Oshkosh served local beer. It was an undoing of the dourness that had loomed over 2020. It was a celebration of what had gone missing.

Each of Oshkosh’s three breweries had their beer on tap. The Society of Oshkosh Brewers provided homebrewed beer. It wasn’t enough. The lines were long, and most of the beer ran out an hour before the scheduled end. People enjoyed themselves anyway. It was an encouraging start to what is likely to become a renewed tradition.

The Beer Here
The number of unique beers released here in 2021 is unprecedented. Combined, Oshkosh’s three breweries released over 125 different beers this year. I tried keeping track. By April I had given up.

Fifth Ward’s release schedule has been blistering. It wasn’t unusual to see the brewery release two new beers a week. Most of those were small batches of either fruited sour or flavored IPA.

Like everywhere else, there's a prominent share of customers here who want something different each time they step into a taproom. And they usually get it. But there are downsides to all the variety.

First, when the customers are so intensely focused on the next new thing, there's little incentive for a brewer to develop a beer and make it truly excellent over time. We'd probably have better beer here if there was less insistence on novelty. Second, the recurring hype around new releases leads to its own kind of tedium. When almost everything is “special,” the uncommon becomes commonplace. It leads to an odd, dulling effect.

That said, there were several beers released this year that were authentically unique and worth calling out.

The first of those was released in February by Bare Bones. The brewery’s Native Grisette was the first beer produced by a commercial brewery that was fermented entirely with wild yeast captured and propagated in Oshkosh.

Native Grisette

Bare Bones followed up in April with a barleywine named Inoculator. At 24.8% ABV, Inoculator may have been the strongest beer ever produced by a Wisconsin brewery.

Erin Bloch of Bare Bones with a five-ounce pour of Inoculator.

June saw a collaboration between 10 breweries and a meadery; all of them from our 920 area code. The beer they made was in commemoration of their businesses having survived the shutdowns and restrictions inflicted upon them in 2020. All three Oshkosh breweries had a hand in the cucumber-dosed Kolsch that came out of that project.

Lager beer underwent a revival this year. At Fox River, head brewer Drew Roth released a series of novel lagers that were well received. Included among them were dry-hopped pilsners, and bock beers brewed with honey and chocolate.

Fox River’s Red Ram Golden Bock was released in May.

At Bare Bones, lager beer became a mainstay this year with the brewery turning out a set of distinctive lagers throughout the year. In 2021, Oshkosh Lager became Bare Bones' best-selling beer.

Between Bare Bones and Fox River, there hasn't been this kind of variety in lager beer brewing here since the early 1890s. That was celebrated in November with the release of The Fox and The Hound, a dry-hopped lager brewed in collaboration by Fox River and Bare Bones.

Brewers Drew Roth (left) of Fox River, and Jody Cleveland of Bare Bones collaborating at Fox River Brewing.

At Fifth Ward, their barrel-aged beer program came into full bloom this year. The brewery had more than 40 spirits barrels in production, far and away the most ever employed here. The results were showcased at Fifth Ward's Anniversary party in November. The barrel-aged releases included imperial stouts, barleywines, and fruited sours.

Ian Wenger (left) and Zach Clark of Fifth Ward tending to barrels in September of 2021.

Homebrewing
Homebrewing continues to be the linchpin for the beer scene in Oshkosh. What’s happening here at the commercial level is a direct outgrowth of the city’s homebrewing culture, which continues to thrive.

The Society of Oshkosh Brewers homebrewing club had an active year, and got back to having in-person meetings. Beginning in spring, the SOBs celebrated its 30th Anniversary by brewing beers made from club-member recipes at Bare Bones, Fifth Ward, and Fox River. It was illustrative of the sense of community that exists between the pro-brewers and homebrewers in Oshkosh. That bond is tighter here than in any other Wisconsin city.

SOBs in the Bare Bones brewhouse in May.

This year also saw the election of Scott Westpfahl as the new president of the SOBs. Westpfahl, who has been part of the club since 2006, replaces longtime SOB president Mike Engel, who moved to North Carolina.

Scott Westpfahl (left) and Mike Engel in the brewhouse at Fifth Ward in June.

The Changing Scene
We’re getting deep into a period of transition. The pandemic has accelerated changes that began more than a decade ago. It's become especially pronounced at local taverns.

The beer scene here used to be framed by neighborhood taverns serving beer made by the city’s breweries. That's over. Today, the neighborhood taverns are disconnected from locally made beer. And those neighborhood taverns are becoming fewer every year. This year, the City of Oshkosh revoked the liquor licenses of four more small taverns that couldn't present viable plans for re-opening post-pandemic.

Historic Witzke’s had its liquor license rescinded in June after having been closed for more than a year.
The tavern was built by the Oshkosh Brewing Company in 1902.

Are we headed for a place where brewery taprooms and craft-centric beer bars and restaurants such as Dublin’s, Oblio’s, and Ruby Owl take the place of those dwindling neighborhood taverns? If that’s the trend line, then Oshkosh – with its enthused drinking culture – will need more than three breweries.

The flux is also on vivid display at stores that carry craft beer. The pandemic greatly increased the amount of craft beer going into cans and retailers have yet to adapt to the torrent. Their shelves are packed with high-priced beer cans wrapped in cartoonish labels. Those cans may look good on Instagram, but it looks like clown vomit when they’re huddled on warm shelves with the beer inside turning to sludge. At a mere $24 a four-pack, what’s not to love? I’m guessing this is just another part of the journey; that we are nowhere near anything resembling a destination. One can only hope.

Beer is Culture
Perspective is a hard thing to come by when you're surrounded by what you’re trying to see. With that in mind, here’s something I’ve been thinking about…

It was 50 years ago this year that the largest brewery Oshkosh has ever known went bankrupt and closed. The Oshkosh Brewing Company failed in 1971. Nobody could have seen that coming when the brewery was in its prime. And in 1971, nobody would have imagined that the beer culture here would rebound the way that it has. But now it's grown familiar again. It gets easier and easier to take it for granted.

Fox River Brewing is heading into its 27th year. Bare Bones is approaching its seventh year. Fifth Ward just celebrated its fourth anniversary. The Society of Oshkosh Brewers has been around for 30 years. Then there are places like Oblio’s and O'Marro's, still with us and vital, that were trying to drum up interest in good beer back when that meant nothing to most people here.

This is what it looks like when a beer culture matures and when local breweries make their way into the fabric of a community. But like the Oshkosh Brewing Company, this too will end. Make the most of it!