The Brew Crew and Wisconsin

As I mentioned before, we had a few days to wind it down in Edgerton after a long and fast paced stay in Chicago. Steve and Traci put together a great feast of ribs, corn on the cob, and baked beans Sunday night and we took it easy around the house. They both had to work Monday, but we stayed at the lake house and did a little fishing off their dock on the Rock River across the street, which feeds into Lake Koshkonong. No catches but Andy had a bite.

Our tickets for the Brewers game at Miller Park were for Tuesday night, so Andy and I headed over to Milwaukee early in the day to hit up a couple brewery tours (if we are going to see the "Brewers" we gotta check out the breweries). First, we went to the Miller Brewery, which was something of a town in itself, called "Miller Valley, where it's always Miller Time." Miller is the second largest brewer in the world, I believe, and the tour started off with a fancy movie in their own, three screen theater, then a walking tour in and out of some of their buildings. We got to check out the different equipment they use, learn about their brewing process, see their bottling and packaging buildings, learn about some of the history, and then finally taste some free beer at the end. We got Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft, and Lienenkugel's Summer Shandy. Not the best lineup by any means, but it was free so no harm done.

After the Miller Tour, we went to a smaller local brewery called Lake Front Brewery. Ahh, now this was a brewery tour. As they well emphasized throughout the tour, they were by no means Miller, and were not trying to be. Their version of a fancy introduction movie was some guy holding up different pictures of hops and barley as he spoke, which was pretty funny. And, we got the beer in the beginning, middle, and end of the tour which was loads more fun. Though, it was $7, but worth it because we got a pint glass at the end. The tour guide (also poster holder) was a riot, cracking jokes at everyone in the crowd, as well as Miller quite a few times. Their beer was really tasty though, and it was a much more laid back atmosphere, so Lake Front won the brewery tour battle of Milwaukee.

And that's about when the rain started. It came down hard and didn't stop for quite a while, but luckily Miller Park is one of the few enclosed stadiums we'll see on this tour so we were still able to enjoy the game and stay dry (well, once we got to park at least). We got to the park and met Steve and Traci in a Friday's restaurant they have in left field right inside the stadium. It was pretty cool to sit in there and watch the teams take B.P., similar to what they had in Cincy. After some appetizers and drinks, they kicked us out because of the hour time limit at a table. It was just a way to try to usher more people in, so we walked around the park and then headed to our seats for the game.

Miller Park was really a great place. The roof was closed because of the heavy rain, but we learned that when the weather is nice, not only the roof but also the windows all around the sides open up. We were sitting with Steve's friend from work Gregg (who secured the tickets for us. Thanks very much Gregg!) and his family, so we had quite the crew of Gregg, his wife, their two daughters, Steve, Traci and Andy and I. Some other highlights are the big slide out in left field that Bernie the Brewer slides down whenever the Brew Crew (aka Brewers) hit a home run. We even got to see one that night, but I was too slow with the camera to snap a photo of Bernie himself sliding down the slide. For the most part, it was a pitcher's duel between Ted Lilly of the Cubs and Yovani Gallardo of the Brewers. So, Steve came up with some great ways to keep us entertained: first, we had the "Mound Game", where each of us got a certain inning, top and bottom half. If the ball settled on the mound at the end of the inning (either by the umpire, or tossed out by the catcher, you get the point), then everyone else owed a dollar to whoever had that inning. Andy and I had never heard of that one, so we'll have to pass that along throughout the trip; Then he busted out the home run derby contest, where we held a draft of two players from each team (adjust according to party size. Only Steve, Andy and I played this game) who we thought would hit a home run throughout the course of the game, and again whoever got it right got paid.

Surprisingly, there were almost just as many Cubs fans as there were Brewers fans this night (including Steve). It made for a good atmosphere though, and the game ended with excitement when the Brewers had a walk off single to score two runs and win the game in the bottom of the ninth (you can guess, Steve wasn't too happy). It was our first walk off of the trip! And, we were starting to think we were a curse for home teams because everyone we went to see seemed to lose in their home stadium, so all in all it was a great night. Andy and I both agreed that it was also the front runner for best stadium of the trip thus far.

The next night we needed to be in Minneapolis for the Twins game, so we decided to crash back at the lake house in Edgerton since it was an hour and half closer than going back to Steve and Traci's house. That pretty much wrapped it up for Milwaukee so it was on to the Twin Cities. Oh yeah, and we did try the famous Wisconsin cheese. It was good.