Noble Roots Brewing Company

I know this is technically the Milwaukee Beer Blog, but for this entry I turned my tastebuds elsewhere, about an hour and a half north to be precise. Noble Roots Brewing Company of Green Bay gives a new meaning to the word microbrewery: their taproom caps out at 50 people, making it the smallest brewery I’ve been to so far. However, by no means does that mean they don’t have good beer. The beer was actually incredible, and the small taproom only increased the intimacy of the establishment. They are on the Wisconsin Brewers Guild app, with a coupon for a dollar off a pint. The pints themselves are only $5 apiece, so this is a good coupon to use. As for the food options, they had a (seemingly) semi-permanent food truck in the parking lot that served the normal pub fare: tater tots, cheese curds, burgers, etc. The nice thing is that when you ordered at the truck, you could tell them where you were sitting and they would take it in and give it to you.

Now to get to the exciting part: the beer. I tried the Salty Leipz, a refreshing gose, and the Red Morning Sky, an incredibly creamy red ale, while my girlfriend tried the Blueberry Cream, a lighter cream ale than any I’ve tried so far. To start with, the presentation of the Blueberry Cream was cute, they filled the pint glass with beer and it was garnished with 3 blueberries. It tasted good, not overpowering with the blueberries, but you could definitely detect a few subtle notes. It was also very light, it didn’t really look like a cream ale, and clocking in at 5.2% ABV, it didn’t taste like most others I’ve tried either. Still a very good beer, it was definitely creamy, just a little different from what you might expect.

Now onto the Red Morning Sky. My favorite beers tend to be sours and ambers, but if you show me a good red ale I will love you forever, and this was a very good red ale. It was deliciously creamy (more creamy than the blueberry cream, in fact), it had a beautiful red color, and it tasted really good. It was slightly sweet, but also had the nice taste of a classic red ale. This was definitely one of the best red ales I’ve ever had (right up there with the Vanilla Rooibos Red of Dangerous Man Brewing Company in Minneapolis).

The Salty Leipz was one close to my heart, as most goses do tend to be on the sour side. This one was no exception, however, it wasn’t overpoweringly sour, which can ruin an otherwise splendid beer. This gose is “based on the Leipziger gosenschenke of yore,” and while I haven’t had the original, this take on the classic was really good. The mild sour taste made it refreshingly crispy to drink, and because the sour flavor wasn’t too overpowering, I felt like I could drink more of it than the average sour. This beer was another score for Noble Roots, and I’m sure that had I tried others, I would have been equally as impressed.

All in all, Noble Roots, while the smallest brewery I’ve been to yet, has managed to come out close to the top. The beer was really good, the taproom was adorable, and while it’s a bit of a drive from my house (1.5 hours), it’s definitely somewhere I will go again if I find myself in the area.

Good City Brewing

Good City Brewing Company is the subject of this blog post, and in refreshing change of pace, I’ve actually been to this brewery recently. Located in a large building adorned with their key logos on Farwell and Windsor place on Milwaukee’s East Side, one of the highlights of this brewery is the rooftop patio. They also have like three bars in the building: The main one in the taproom, a smaller one in a larger room meant for gatherings and events, and a third on the rooftop patio. Their beers tend to be a little hoppy for my taste, so I haven’t tried too many of them, but they do have some that I’ve found to be really incredible.

The first time I went there was last fall, I tried a few, and found that they were mostly hoppy, and I settled on the Film Festival Lager, an amber colored märzen that was remarkably easy on the palate, perfect for drinking on a cool, fall day. Recently, however, I tried the Stadt. The Stadt is a smoked version of the Film Festival, and in my opinion, is better in every way than the original. The smoky taste of it alone was incredible, it tasted almost like bacon, or a good smoky gouda. I’ve talked a lot about how the Cherry Bohemian from Exile is my favorite beer, but this smoked lager passed it up, it was truly incredible. I’ve also tried the Nomad, their summer ale, the Good City Pilsner, and the Detail porter.

At first sip, the Nomad was too hoppy for me. I kept drinking it, because I didn’t want it to go to waste, and after a few more sips I started to taste the fruity notes, and it became much more pleasant. It wasn’t on the level of the Stadt, or even the Film Festival lager, but it was an enjoyable beer to drink, especially on the patio. The Pils, which is the name for their pilsner, is good for the first drink, but after that it got a little too hoppy for me. It’s a good beer, fresh tasting and light in color, but I wouldn’t say it stood out apart from anything else I’ve tried. The Detail porter is another good one. A classic porter, it was dark and creamy and you could taste the notes of chocolate and coffee that make up any porter worth its salt. Coming in at only 5.4% ABV, it’s not too hard to drink either.

Overall, I would say that while Good City doesn’t have a lot beers that I personally like, if you are a fan of IPAs, you need to go there. They do also have a bunch of good darker beers, like the Detail porter and the Stadt. Other highlights include the rooftop patio and the fact that they actually have the menu of of an upscale restaurant. It’s definitely a place that I will be visiting again this summer.