Through a series of events my wife was with me last Thursday and we stayed overnight in La Crosse, WI so we made a stop at Bodega Brewpub http://www.bodegabrewpublax.com/. Past readers of this blog know this is a favorite beer bar of mine and in my opinion it is a top 100 beer bar in the U.S. So needless to say I was very excited for my wife to experience Bodega Brewpub.
When we walked in the bar was more crowded than usual and at first we stood for a bit allowing my wife to take in the whole persona that is Bodega Brewpub. It took her a bit to understand where to look for the list of beers. I pointed out the board that had the tap list on it and was trying to help her choose a beer. As we were doing that John, the manager at Bodega, saw us and came over to talk with us for a bit. I did introductions all around and John went and got us a beer menu. We found a seat at the bar for my wife and after a short while I was able to sit next to her.
Are first beers we enjoyed were Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Barleywine and a Schell's Schmaltz Alt. We both really enjoyed the Barleywine and my wife liked the Schmaltz Alt but preferred the barleywine. The barleywine was rich, thick, sweet and complex. Also the amount of bourbon in this beer was just about perfect. If you see this beer grab it, this is an outstanding beer. One word of warning about the beer it is 11.5% ABV so this is not a chugging beer.
While we were enjoying our first beers my wife learned the secret of Bodega, there are no strangers. She and I quickly became engaged in a conversation with a couple of nice people in town from Milwaukee. We learned that they were in town for work; they work at a publisher that publishes college books. We had a great time talking with Heidi and Ben. With a great conversation going time quickly passed. Since I had been at Bodega frequently, I was able to steer Heidi and Ben towards some good tap beers…one being Lefthand's Milk Stout on Nitro, the nitrogen smooths out the beer and makes it ever more creamy and enjoyable.
My wife and I we each ordered a second beer. My wife ordered New Glarus' Barleywine, she found it a bit lacking after having tried the Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Barleywine. We are not saying that it is a bad barleywine, it is just that after tried such a complex barleywine having a second one may have not been the best choice. So a true determination on New Glarus' Barleywine will have to wait. I decided to go in a different direction and ordered a Sierra Nevada Hoptimum. It had just arrived a day or two before our visit, so I was lucky to try it. Hoptimum is a whole cone imperial IPA. It was exactly what I needed to go against the sweetness from the barleywine I had previously. As with almost every IPA or Imperial IPA that is coming out lately it has a noticeable Simcoe hop presence. I still do not understand the draw of this hop, to me the taste of this hop is unpleasant best described as "cat pee". I will let this hop fad go on without me.
As we continued our conversation with Heidi and Ben and enjoying our beers, the bartender opened a wrong bottle. It wound up being Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Barleywine. Samples of the bottle were poured and Heidi and Ben tried the beer. Heidi really liked it and Ben thought that it tasted like burnt marshmallows; so he was not a fan. My wife and I finished our beer and bid good bye to Heidi and Dan. Needless to say my wife loved Bodega and is more than willing to go back when the opportunity presents itself.
QC Beerguy
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