At the Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, they take a certain pride in their hedonistic and comical approach to beer. "The Miller Tour was described as the Harvard of beer tours" says the tour guide, quoting an article by an east coast newspaper writer sent out to review the breweries in Wisconsin. "We were called the 'Animal House' of tours" quips the guide as he finishes the quote, which draws applause and calls of "cheers" from the audience. As he continues to low-brough his way through the brewing process, most notably calling attention to the purpose of the yeast to "eat, have sex, and fart all day", you can't help but wonder how these surly jokers actually manage to turn out the quality beer they do.
The brewery, started during the microbrewery revolution of the 80s, has grown steadily over the past 2+ decades, recently being upgraded to "craft brewery" status after meeting the 15,000 barrels in sales threshold. But despite their success in the world of artesianal beer they maintain an everyman attitude about their business. The tour guides, usually several beers deep themselves, pepper their narratives with crude jokes, stories of run-away beer kegs, and a lengthy explanation of the use of bungs and bung holes in older style kegs. The tour finishes with the bottling process, which is performed to the theme song of "Laverne and Shirley".
On the Lakefront Brewery tour you may learn something about brewing beer, you may not, but you will have a good time and you will drink plenty of beer. Its this attitude which made me realize how great of a representation the Lakefront Brewery tour was of Milwaukee itself. The obsession with beer, the happy-go-lucky attitude towards drinking, it really reflects the city where brewing beer has been an important way of life for generations.
But that's only part of it, because at Lakefront they also have a damn good fish fry to go along with their tours. Yes, after you've stumbled your way through the tour, you'd be missing out if you didn't head upstairs for some battered, fried fish that is a staple to Milwaukee's large Catholic population. While Friday fish frys occur all over the country, usually sponsored by churches, in Milwaukee they are a mainstay of the restaurant industry. The Catholic population in Milwaukee comes from a diverse background (German, Polish, Irish, Italian), but at Lakefront their fry has a decidedly German flair. With the sounds of the polka in your ear, a large glass of dark beer before your eyes, and a plate full of battered fish and potato pancakes, you may or may not be in Heaven, but you will definitely be in Milwaukee. Myself, never a fan of heavily battered and fried dishes, went with the lightly battered fried perch, and found the balance of flavors to be almost perfect.
If I sound particularly giddy and excited over my experience at Lakefront, it's because after 5 months of living in Milwaukee, I now have something to put on my "must do" list for visitors, and that something happens to involve copious amounts of drinking. My goal is to develop a list of "must do" items for any friends, family, or couchsurfers that may come to visit me in the future, and now I have the first item. Visiting Milwaukee for the weekend? You need to get your reservation for a tour at Lakefront and then stick around for a fish fry dinner afterwards.
Don't even think about eating at Culver's.
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