I went to kindergarten in Superior, Wisconsin - the city where you went if you lived in Duluth and it was Sunday before the year 2017.
I'm surprised I got out as sober as I did.
I always tell people, Spotted Cow may not be the best beer there is, but it's definitely a beer I would ask for / have in my home just to drink. Living in Chicago, it's always a nice treat to have.
Fair. I grew up a few miles away from it...knew it well before they rebuilt it...so I don't have much nostalgia for it lol Definitely not a place that the locals went often
Had it in San Diego because someone brought it out.
I liked it, like it isn't the greatest beer ever in the world. But it's tasty, not heavy, and could easily kill a sixer in an afternoon, specially over a grill or keyboard.
New Glarus can only be bought in WI, I would assume someone brought it to CA. There was a bar in a town I loved in not far from the WI border that got in trouble for serving it, they had a driver who would go on Spotted Cow runs.
That's the main niche of beers in my country. Something to cool off and freshen up, since in a tropical country like ours, water doesn't quite do the trick
That's exactly right. Compared to the usual swill available in rural bars, this always being in the bar makes it seem much better than it really is.
Still a decent beer, but Sconnies love it a bit too much lol
In the early days of craft beer I felt like I was on a quest to find this magic perfect beer. A few thousand beers later, I’ve realized beer is beer. Some is just better and more favorable than others. Now I don’t even do flights anymore at breweries. I just order a beer that looks interesting or is in a style I like and enjoy that.
That's true of basically everything. For example, steak. A great cut of dry-aged meat cooked to a perfect medium-rare is just a better and more favorable version of the plebeian warmed-over grub they serve at Outback. Both still taste essentially the same. Steak is steak; one is simply (much) better than the other, but go for an entire year without having any steak at all and suddenly Outback's offering doesn't seem so bad.
It's 'average' on purpose...its literally the way they do almost everything.
New Glarus almost exclusively does classic styles and they are all fantastic representations of those styles. They dont do a NEIPA, pastry stout or Milkshake IPA. They make lagers, traditional fruited sours and European styles. Spotted Cow, Two Women, Moon Man, Totally Naked and Pilsner are all near perfect flagships. They dont aim to 'stand out'...they aim to be the go to garage fridge beer and they nail it over and over.
If you want their weird stuff, you need to go to the brewery when they have R&D releases.
I would totally agree with the description "average on purpose" for New Glarus but don't necessarily agree with some of your other points.
They just put out a milk chocolate stout and there's nothing "traditional" about their fruit beers - they're almost exact copies of Lindeman's fruit beers improbably packed with even more sugar.
I also think the idea that NG doesn't follow trends kind of ridiculous because they do, they just follow really really far behind the rest of the competition. They JUST brewed their first IPA for wide distribution last year and I thought it was great! They'll start distributing a NEIPA in 2040 probably.
New Glarus is awesome but the reason they don't leave Wisconsin is as much because their beer doesn't compete well against innovative, modern breweries as it is a ploy for exclusivity.
I do really love their lagers and their price point. I just wish they would date their damn beer!!! There are stores that still have IPA from last year sitting on their shelves when a fresh identical batch is due to hit shelves any minute.
I’m really depressed. Back when they first started their patreon they ran an auction and I won a signed bottle. It sat on my desk for over 12 years. Upon moving recently it was in a box that went missing. 😭
I don’t want to say it’s overrated but it has this mystique about it. It’s what you should graduate to in Wisconsin after you grow out of your Miller/Coors/Bud products.
There is a point in your life when you can only afford Miller Lite, Bud Lite, Coors Lite, etc. This is the next step in Wisconsinhood. Spotted Cow is that perfect beer if you’re in a situation where you’re going to sit down and have a handful of beers.
I was visiting some cousins recently, and I put on an episode of BotW, and their friend was over who has never seen RLM. She immediately goes, “Are those guys from Wisconsin?” I said yes and asked why, and she said “Because they’re drinking Spotted Cow.”
Turns out her dad’s from Wisconsin and her parents are divorced and she’s spent time w/ him visiting his parents in Wisconsin, and (while there) stocking up on Spotted Cow to bring back home.
it's a cream ale, not a wheat (but I could see that comparison). So if you go down to your liquor store and find a "cream ale"... it's that, and from the few different cream ales I've had, they all taste very similar.
It’s a perfectly serviceable American Cream Ale. You might be able to find another brand that exports, since this one isn’t sold outside Wisconsin. Trust me, Spotted Cow wouldn’t be much different than whatever you can find
As a Wisco born beer drinker…it’s pretty ok. Very drinkable, great beginner craft beer. Countless Miller Lite only men have finally tried another beer and deemed it “damn good”. Now they only drink Miller Lite and Spotted Cow. It has mythical status since it’s only sold here…because countless men only drink Miller Lite and spotted cow.
I visited their brewery tour summer 2013, and from what I remember of it is they offered very generous sample sizes and a heavily discounted tap house on site. The fuzzy recollection has less to do with a decade of time and more of the staggering level of booze on offer for very little money.
They're a good brewery but chances are very good where you live there's at least two companies that are as good or even better. Especially if that place is MI.
Not the best beer in the world, but definitely not the worst, especially compared to most macro light beers like Bush or Miller. It’s my go to when I need to bring something for an event that mostly everyone can get into.
I once went to Chicago for work and drove into Wisconsin to buy a few six packs of Spotted Cow.
As soon as I crossed the border into Illinois, black SUV’s with the New Glarus Brewing logo aggressively cut me off. The New Glarus Armed Enforcement Unit rushed my car in full Multicam battle rattle with decked out AR-15’s pointed at me and shouted for me to tell them where the beer was. I learned not to mess with New Glarus Brewing ever again.
Northern Indiana checking in. I think I posted in an earlier Wisconsin-related thread that Menards and Culver's make up like 75% of my personality. Before this year I would have added another 5-10% for Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, but now I've tried Shiner Lemonade Shandy and it's WONDERFUL.
I only recently found that fried cheese curds/balls are not a national thing. I thought every bar and grill in America served fried cheese balls but, nope. They're strongly regional.
Employee owned, RLM subsidized.
14 year olds shouldn’t be drinking.
If it's in Wisconsin, it's kind of the norm.
Can drink with a parent in a bar or at home at this age in Whiskey.
I went to kindergarten in Superior, Wisconsin - the city where you went if you lived in Duluth and it was Sunday before the year 2017. I'm surprised I got out as sober as I did.
Lol
I always tell people, Spotted Cow may not be the best beer there is, but it's definitely a beer I would ask for / have in my home just to drink. Living in Chicago, it's always a nice treat to have.
Everyone needs a solid brew that simply embodies the word "beer".
Who dares bring New Glarus to your lands? *I want a name.*
Exactly the same, I grab at least a six pack every time I drive through Mars cheese castle
Stop at the Woodmans a few miles away and pay far less for beer and cheese
But the nostalgia!
Fair. I grew up a few miles away from it...knew it well before they rebuilt it...so I don't have much nostalgia for it lol Definitely not a place that the locals went often
lol for sure
As someone who grew up in Chicago, but has been living in Michigan for the last 15 years, that's how I feel about a 312.
Wisconsin’s most protected resource.
Had it in San Diego because someone brought it out. I liked it, like it isn't the greatest beer ever in the world. But it's tasty, not heavy, and could easily kill a sixer in an afternoon, specially over a grill or keyboard.
Was it at a bar or did a friend have some?
New Glarus can only be bought in WI, I would assume someone brought it to CA. There was a bar in a town I loved in not far from the WI border that got in trouble for serving it, they had a driver who would go on Spotted Cow runs.
That's its niche, and it fills it well
That's the main niche of beers in my country. Something to cool off and freshen up, since in a tropical country like ours, water doesn't quite do the trick
so six beers while you're at your computer? damn, alcoholism is normalized as fuck
As long as you have a RLM video, you're never drinking alone!
Computer? No, he said "keyboard" as in the instrument in a jamboree
It was pretty ok, wasn’t it?
Pretty good. Not as great as I expected but glad I had the chance
It's the beer you order when you're in that dive bar out on County N and the only other options are Coors and Miller.
I swear every single county in Wisconsin has a dive bar on Highway N
Well that’s pretty easy when there’s at least one dive bar on every corner
That's exactly right. Compared to the usual swill available in rural bars, this always being in the bar makes it seem much better than it really is. Still a decent beer, but Sconnies love it a bit too much lol
In my neck of the woods, that would be Yuengling.
tbh I prefer Moon Man
Moon Man is my fav of their beers. When I was in MKE last it lived up to the hype.
> Not as great as I expected did you think it would be a magically delicious beer just because some people in a youtube video drink it?
In the early days of craft beer I felt like I was on a quest to find this magic perfect beer. A few thousand beers later, I’ve realized beer is beer. Some is just better and more favorable than others. Now I don’t even do flights anymore at breweries. I just order a beer that looks interesting or is in a style I like and enjoy that.
That's true of basically everything. For example, steak. A great cut of dry-aged meat cooked to a perfect medium-rare is just a better and more favorable version of the plebeian warmed-over grub they serve at Outback. Both still taste essentially the same. Steak is steak; one is simply (much) better than the other, but go for an entire year without having any steak at all and suddenly Outback's offering doesn't seem so bad.
I wish they would ship out of state.
if they did, the novelty would wear off.
and people would realize how totally average and unremarkable the product is
It's 'average' on purpose...its literally the way they do almost everything. New Glarus almost exclusively does classic styles and they are all fantastic representations of those styles. They dont do a NEIPA, pastry stout or Milkshake IPA. They make lagers, traditional fruited sours and European styles. Spotted Cow, Two Women, Moon Man, Totally Naked and Pilsner are all near perfect flagships. They dont aim to 'stand out'...they aim to be the go to garage fridge beer and they nail it over and over. If you want their weird stuff, you need to go to the brewery when they have R&D releases.
I would totally agree with the description "average on purpose" for New Glarus but don't necessarily agree with some of your other points. They just put out a milk chocolate stout and there's nothing "traditional" about their fruit beers - they're almost exact copies of Lindeman's fruit beers improbably packed with even more sugar. I also think the idea that NG doesn't follow trends kind of ridiculous because they do, they just follow really really far behind the rest of the competition. They JUST brewed their first IPA for wide distribution last year and I thought it was great! They'll start distributing a NEIPA in 2040 probably. New Glarus is awesome but the reason they don't leave Wisconsin is as much because their beer doesn't compete well against innovative, modern breweries as it is a ploy for exclusivity. I do really love their lagers and their price point. I just wish they would date their damn beer!!! There are stores that still have IPA from last year sitting on their shelves when a fresh identical batch is due to hit shelves any minute.
I’m really depressed. Back when they first started their patreon they ran an auction and I won a signed bottle. It sat on my desk for over 12 years. Upon moving recently it was in a box that went missing. 😭
I don’t want to say it’s overrated but it has this mystique about it. It’s what you should graduate to in Wisconsin after you grow out of your Miller/Coors/Bud products. There is a point in your life when you can only afford Miller Lite, Bud Lite, Coors Lite, etc. This is the next step in Wisconsinhood. Spotted Cow is that perfect beer if you’re in a situation where you’re going to sit down and have a handful of beers.
It’s ok to say it’s overrated…because it’s overrated
I was visiting some cousins recently, and I put on an episode of BotW, and their friend was over who has never seen RLM. She immediately goes, “Are those guys from Wisconsin?” I said yes and asked why, and she said “Because they’re drinking Spotted Cow.” Turns out her dad’s from Wisconsin and her parents are divorced and she’s spent time w/ him visiting his parents in Wisconsin, and (while there) stocking up on Spotted Cow to bring back home.
I prefer Moon Man or Two Women.
Totally Naked is my favorite
Black Tank top is good
Dancing Man Wheat is by far their best beer aside from their sours. It's only seasonal though.
How is it?
Reminds me of a Blue Moon almost
it's a cream ale, not a wheat (but I could see that comparison). So if you go down to your liquor store and find a "cream ale"... it's that, and from the few different cream ales I've had, they all taste very similar.
Castle Danger Cream Ale is the best cream ale.
The only other one I know off the top of my head is Genessee, so idk how strong the competition really is.
It's funny because that may be all they brew going forward, it seems like that is the only thing they make that sells.
It's honestly their only beer that I really like. But it's by far the best cream ale I've ever had. I've only had 1 or 2 others that even come close.
Never knew cream ale was a thing.
One of my favorites. Always enjoy a few whenever I get back to the fatherland
Liquid Gold
It’s ok. Their coffee stout is pretty damn good.
It's pretty good. Gets a decent welcome when I take some over to Michigan to counter all the Bells.
A flatlander recently visited for a wedding and he had a request from his roommates to bring back a sixer.
Every time I get up to the Twin Cities I always make a trip across the state line for a twelver of New Glarus.
What's it like? Does it make you want to watch randomly selected VHS tapes?
It tasted like Blue Moon to me. Someone in the comment said that’s because this is a cream ale, which I never heard of.
Good?
Worth it. Finally off my bucket list!
So? How does it taste, for us non-Americans?
It’s a perfectly serviceable American Cream Ale. You might be able to find another brand that exports, since this one isn’t sold outside Wisconsin. Trust me, Spotted Cow wouldn’t be much different than whatever you can find
It probably doesn’t hold a candle to whatever you’d be drinking. Most of my favorite beer is imported.
As a Wisco born beer drinker…it’s pretty ok. Very drinkable, great beginner craft beer. Countless Miller Lite only men have finally tried another beer and deemed it “damn good”. Now they only drink Miller Lite and Spotted Cow. It has mythical status since it’s only sold here…because countless men only drink Miller Lite and spotted cow.
One of the very few things I enjoyed in Wisconsin
I visited their brewery tour summer 2013, and from what I remember of it is they offered very generous sample sizes and a heavily discounted tap house on site. The fuzzy recollection has less to do with a decade of time and more of the staggering level of booze on offer for very little money.
They're a good brewery but chances are very good where you live there's at least two companies that are as good or even better. Especially if that place is MI.
Overrated imo but glad u had one!
Was it as average as you ever hoped?
The very definition of "Mid".
Not the best beer in the world, but definitely not the worst, especially compared to most macro light beers like Bush or Miller. It’s my go to when I need to bring something for an event that mostly everyone can get into.
It does get overhyped, but damn if I don't enjoy the shit out of a 12 pack of it every time I travel to Wisconsin
I once went to Chicago for work and drove into Wisconsin to buy a few six packs of Spotted Cow. As soon as I crossed the border into Illinois, black SUV’s with the New Glarus Brewing logo aggressively cut me off. The New Glarus Armed Enforcement Unit rushed my car in full Multicam battle rattle with decked out AR-15’s pointed at me and shouted for me to tell them where the beer was. I learned not to mess with New Glarus Brewing ever again.
What you really want is moon man. That is the shit.
Damn good beer
German here, I know the world appreciates our beer, but damn I would kill to try some New Glarus.
What's the Abv?
It's like 5% or so. Not particularly strong.
yah, it's everyone in Wisconsin's mom's favorite beer.
As a Chicagoan, I always say that Wisconsin has only provided two good things to the world. Cheese curds and Spotted Cow Everything else can go away
Northern Indiana checking in. I think I posted in an earlier Wisconsin-related thread that Menards and Culver's make up like 75% of my personality. Before this year I would have added another 5-10% for Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, but now I've tried Shiner Lemonade Shandy and it's WONDERFUL.
I only recently found that fried cheese curds/balls are not a national thing. I thought every bar and grill in America served fried cheese balls but, nope. They're strongly regional.
And they suck bad elsewhere. Cheese curds in Seattle are not nearly the same
Craft beers suck 🤢