The Day the Brewpub was Closed

Last Saturday was a busy day for Team Tizzel. Holly woke up early to knock out a ten mile training run on the treadmill. Dave got up a little later and did his 4 mile session outside in the 40 degree weather. Groceries were procured, the dog was walked, the last of the patio furniture was put away, and the boat was driven across the lakes to the marina for winterizing and storage. All chores complete by 12:15. Since we were done early we decided to drive a half hour to Lake Geneva (Wisconsin) for a stop at one brewery and lunch at another brewpub.

Our first stop was Geneva Lake Brewing. This brewery is housed in an industrial park just off the main road leading to downtown Lake Geneva. We walked into the tap room, which was really just a cleared out section of the brewery with a few communal tables and a flat screen TV. No fancy decorations or hip music like other taprooms we've seen this year. The bar was actually a six tap keg cooler. We split a six beer sampler for $10. There was only one pale ale on the list and all of the beers had very low IBUs. Hooray!

We had the seasonal Oktoberfest, blonde, amber, wheat, pale ale, and stout. Out of all those the pale ale and amber were the only ones we didn't like. We purchased a take home bottle of the stout.

We were getting hungry, but we had one more stop before lunch - the liquor store to buy some New Glarus beer. Their products are only sold in Wisconsin so you have to stock up anytime you make the border crossing. Traffic was awful getting into Lake Geneva. It's a cute little town that is the perfect location for a big city getaway during the fall. It's a one-road town that is packed all times of the year. We cut through side streets and parking lots as much as possible in order to avoid the traffic. We stocked up on some beer for home and then cut back through town to get to our lunch location: Sprecher's.

Sprecher is a brewery outside of Milwaukee that opened several brewpubs across the state. We've been here before and love their food and beers. As we rounded the corner we saw their parking lot empty. Their sign was cloaked with a banner "Closed for renovations". We pulled over and checked their website. They recently had a fire. Starving and crestfallen, we admitted defeat and drove to a restaurant closer to home rather than fight the tourists.

In our best Pollyanna voices "We're glad we got to visit Geneva Lakes Brewing".