Great Taste of the Midwest 2004
The 18th Annual Great Taste of the Midwest was held on Saturday, August 14, 2004. This event has become not only a Madison tradition, but also one of the premier beer events in the US. It is also, with the exception of the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, the oldest Craft Beer Festival in the US.
This year the event drew 107 breweries, each bringing approximately 4 beers or more. Doing the math, most people go into this understanding that they are not going to be tasting each beer, so being choosey and trying new brews is really the goal for most long time attendees.
6,000 tickets were sold this year. It sold out by 11:00 AM the day the tickets went on sale. Each year the tickets become harder to come by, and in the long run the event organizers are going to need to revamp their ticket policies to find ways to make this process more palatable.
But enough of this! It’s on to the main event!
Held at Olin-Turville park on the shores of Lake Monona, the day was all that you could ask for in a beer tasting. Low humidity, sunny skies that conveniently turned a bit cloudy as the event heated up, and temperatures topping off at 72 degrees made it a perfect day.
Here’s the list of beers that I sampled this year:
- Onopa Brewing Company, Milwaukee, WI: Porter
- Kalamazoo Brewing Company, Kalamazoo, MI:
- Bourbon-aged Batch 6000
- Consecrator Doppelbock
- Eccentric Ale
- Flossmoor Station Brewing Company, Flossmoore, IL: Gandy Dancer Honey Rye Ale
- Blue Cat Brew Pub, Rock Island, IL
- Tuck’s Tenacious Trippel
- Guatemalan Coffee Stout
- Duneland Brewhouse, Westville, IN: Wheat
- Rush River Brewing Company, Rush River, WI: Porter
- Kraftbrau Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI: Wheat Trippelbock
- Rock Bottom Brewery, Milwaukee, WI: Barley Wine
- Mad Anthony Brewing Company, Fort Wayne, IN: Porter
- **Capital Brewing Company, Middleton, WI: Autumnal Fire
- Bluegrass Brewing Company, Louisville, KY: Hell For Certain Strong Spiced Ale
- Railhouse Brewing, Marinette, WI: Scotch Ale
- O’Fallon Brewery, O’Fallon, MO: Pumpkin Beer
- Arcadia Brewing Company, Battle Creek, MI: Bourbon Barrel Porter
- Chalkies Beer Bar, Indianapolis, IN: Belgian Trippel
**Note: We use the Capital Autumnal Fire as our “center” beer. It’s our favorite, and when we need a break from tasting new beers, we have this. We had three glasses this year! It’s also the beer in the glass pictured.
More pictures below!
Crowd!
At 6,000 strong, one would think that the temptations of 500+ beers would lead to problems in the crowd. But this is perhaps the most mellow crowd you’ll ever come across. Friendly, respectful and fun are the traits, year after year.
We got to the gate shortly before 11 AM, though the event didn’t open til 1 PM. We do this every year so that we are assured a picnic table to sit at. It also works well, because due to the entry process and crowd size, the last few people in line didn’t make it onto the grounds until after 2:15 or so! That’s over an hour of wasted, valuable beer tasting time!
Food!
You are allowed to bring food with you into the grounds, so we always stock up on pretzels and mustard, chips and salsa, and other delicacies! Of course, it’s also become a yearly tradition to buy plates of the homemade potato chips from one of the stands. Not only do they taste fabulous, but Vic is also fascinated with the potato chip machine, pictured above, which consists of a spit sort of thing on a drill!
Beer!
The End!
All in all, it was another spectacular Great Taste. We’ve gone to 15+, and it’s consistently the highlight of our year. We’ll be there again next year! Just look for us on our picnic table, eating chips, drinking beer, and laughing alot!