The outskirts if not the fringe: Milwuakee, WI

I find myself back in Milwaukee.  Overall not a bad place to end up all things considered.  The last time I was here, I visited one of the downtown breweries.  This time I'm a bit farther out.  Okay a lot farther out.  In retrospect it might not be accurate to label this post as being in Milwaukee.  This is actually in a outlying communities that lie between Milwaukee and Madison.  But what the hell Milwaukee is close enough.

Delafield Brewhaus is kind of a strange place in the world of microbrewing.  The brewpub is located a long ways away from the major urban centers in a huge building.  The bar section off to the right as you enter is larger than most brewpubs I have visited.   Add to that a large section for restaurant seating and an additional space on the second floor for parties and overflow and you've got a pretty massive place.

Overall my experience was very good.  Our waitress was fantastic and fairly knowledgeable about the beer that they brew.  That being said, the beer was kind of average.  I had a tasters flight of three regular beers and two seasonals and none of them really stood out in any way.  With it's being 30 minutes away from either Milwaukee or Madison, it might be worth a trip out here once, but that's about it.

Leisure Beer: This is their version of the light lager.  There's not much to say about it other than it's very clean with a slight bitter bite at the end.

Sommerzeit Hefe Weisen: This one had a very spicy aroma with a lot of tropical fruit and banana.  The flavor profile didn't have many of these esters.  Really the only thing I could pick out was the heavy spice character of clove and coriander.  It was just too much.  I was glad I only had to finish a small glass of this particular beer and not an entire pint.  

Delafield Amber: This is the flagship beer and best-seller in the brewery. It's aroma is extremely light and the flavor has a watered-down taste to it.  It's slightly malty but not much more complex than that.

Pewaukee Porter: This beer starts off with a sweet caramel aroma.  The flavor adds coffee and sharp roasted barley.  It does have a slightly bitter back but it tastes like it comes from the black patent malt as opposed to any hops.

Naga Wicked: At this point we get into the seasonals.  It was at this point I discovered where the brewery had been hiding all their hops.  The aroma was absolutely bursting with citrusy hop character.  There was some additional pine notes in the flavor.  Those that like their beer hoppy should probably just stick to this selection.

Fruhlighzeit Malbock: There was some debate on the subject at the bar, but I am going to come right out and say it.  This beer smelled like feet.  It was one of those beers that I had to really wonder if that was the brewer's intention or if something had gone wrong somewhere.  The flavor however was very good.  It had lots of light berry and fruit flavor along with vinious character.  It finishes dry with no detectable hops.  

 

That was the end of the tasters flight.  As I looked over the beer menu I found a beer they had left off the flight... and for good reason.  It was their 13th Anniversary Rye Whiskey Barrel Aged Barleywine:  The aroma was wonderful.  I picked up port wine, caramel, raisin and chocolate notes.  The flavor adds more of a dark chocolate quality with a lot of nutty, woody flavor from the whiskey barrel along with a slight alcohol note.  This is defiantly a malt bomb, but the flavor complexities make it quite enjoyable.