Yankee Southern Transplants in the Upper Midwest: Prost!

OB's Brew Haus and Old Bavarian Brewing Company is a German brewpub located near Appleton, about 30 minutes away from Green Bay. We were interested in visiting since arrival, so much so that we did not do a thorough job of checking into their limited hours and showed up twice previously when they were not open (not open for lunch, or on Sundays...in case you were wondering). But, as they say, the third time is the charm!

Not surprisingly, the German influence in Wisconsin is strong, along with Polish and Nordic cultures. Based on Census information, over 40% of Wisconsinites reported German ancestry in 2000 (see this interesting article by Midwest Weekends for more heritage detail). Of course, the brats, cheese, and beer is a dead giveaway. You can also recognize the German and European influence based on many of the names of Wisconsin towns- we have Luxemburg, Belgium, Brussels, New Franken, Denmark, Berlin, Oostburg, and so many more (all real places).

And of course, the Germans appreciate their beer! Scott and I visited Germany together on a study abroad trip (sadly, I was not much of a beer drinker at the time, go figure), and Scott even lived in Germany for a summer internship the following year, so we have a special appreciation for the delicious food. Scott is always seeking a "real" hefeweizen as opposed to the American version. OB's did not disappoint!

We ordered our beers, including a liter hefeweizen for Scott (holy cow!), and both had jaeger schnitzel with spaetzle for dinner- fried pork with mushroom gravy and homemade potato pasta. It was to die for! We both cleaned our plates and also did a pretty good job on those beers (at least mine was a half liter). I should mention that we also checked out Lion's Tail Brewing Company in Neenah on the way down, and drank our beers inside an old bank vault! The pineapple wheat was awesome, and Scott even got a laugh out of the bartender when he told her his name to close out the tab.

Can you tell that winter weekends are pretty slow around here- this was the excitement of the week! We will be back to OB's (and Lion's Tail) again soon.

Prost! (Cheers!)