The 2012 5 ‘B’ Tour - Southeastern Wisconsin

The Trip Summary Short Version:

1 Baseball Game - the Beloit Snappers, a Twins Minor League division

2 Bikes - went for a total of 55.5 miles

3 Brewery’s - self explanatory…

And a Bread and Breakfast to round it all out.


The Trip Summary Long Version:
The past weekend found the Husband and I heading down to Southeastern Wisconsin, or more precisely Albany WI,  for what we dubbed the 5 ‘B’ Tour.

We headed out of town on Thursday morning, stopping in Chippewa Falls to tour the Leinenkugle Brewery. This was becoming a strange mission for us, as we had tried to get a tour 18 years ago, but hit the wrong time of year…twice. A fun - free - little tour with a chance to sample some brews afterwards.  

We hit Madison, WI, at dinner time and I just had to take the Husband to the Great Dane Brew Pub right downtown. I visited here almost a year ago exactly for the North American Discworld Convention and this was a “Must Do Again” place. We got to sit outside in the sunken garden and after 6 hours in the car, that was super refreshing. Sorry, it was too dark for pictures with the over cast sky, but imagine being surrounded on three sides by ivy covered walls, rough rock encased trees and gardens, and the back of the building looked like something out of Europe with the creamy walls and iron railings.

Our home base for all these activities was the Albany House B&B in Albany, WI, where we finally arrived after a full day of driving.

A delightful breakfast on Friday morning had us fueled up for our next adventures - the Sugar and Badger State Trails - a rails to trails system of crushed limestone that uses old railroad grades. On our first morning ride we biked from Albany to Brodhead, a round trip distance of 20.5 miles. Maybe made a bit longer by our meandering around Brodhead to look at the old homes.

Me and my bike on the Sugar State Trail.
There is a restored covered bridge to the right that we had just passed through.

The funeral home in Brodhead

Albany, being smaller than most rural towns didn’t offer much…okay, didn’t offer anything in the way of places to eat so we were forced to head out. We picked Monroe, WI, as a more likely candidate for a lunch plus it was kinda on the way to Beloit where we planned to catch a baseball game.
Monroe was a delight! A beautifully restored town square with some great lunch options. The town was doing Pirates on the Square for 2012 so there were all these pirate statues, a pirate ship and even the stores got into the theme. Some fellows were chatting in the shade and informed us of a brewery tour being offered just a couple blocks away. Much to our surprise and delight it was the Huber Brewery! We slid in just in time for the 3p tour. Sweeet!

Make Huber beer, Blumers Soda Pop and soon to add Spirits

Then it was off to Beloit to catch a baseball game. The Beloit Snappers are a Minor League affiliate of the Twins organization. It was Twin’s weekend and TC the Bear was there, Al Neuman - husband got his autograph - and fireworks. I was just happy to finally be sitting down.

Beloit Snapperr game

Saturday morning had us biking to Monticello on the Sugar and Badger State Trails and up to the railroad tunnel. This tunnel has a curve in it so you can’t see either end. Flashlights/headlamps of some kind are encouraged and you have to walk your bikes. We stopped for lunch on the way back in Monticello at a little café and had some really good BLT’s and peach pie. By the time we got back to Albany we had logged 35.3 miles. Time to rest!

Looks kinda dark in there...

Sunday on our way back we went through New Glarus, WI, to visit the New Glarus Brewing Co. This brewery was reminiscent of visiting a winery - it was a brand spankin’ new complex (built about 2008 I think), where you just wander around on your own looking at miles of shiny pipe, huge tanks, glowing copper drums all while kinda wondering what the heck was what (though after visiting two other breweries we kinda knew what was what, even if the water tanks threw us off). The tasting room was set up like a winery, and you could go outside to sit and sip while overlooking the New Glarus valley. All very wine-country like.

New Glarus Brewery, built about 2008. 

Fat Squirrel Ale on the left, Moon Man on the right

Lunch was at a Swiss place in New Glarus and then it was homeward bound… 7 hours later we had the hounds back and were unloading the car while trying to cool down a closed up house. Nothin’ like trying to sleep when the bedroom is sitting at a balmy 82*!

The "Souvenir's"  from Minhus Brewery and New Glarus. 
We can get Leinie's anywhere up here so we didn't purchase any on the road.

Great trip, lots we didn’t get to see or do, and enjoyed what we did get to. I think both of us would like to do this again.