He Went To New Glarus…

Posted by Jeff Carter
on September 8th, 2012

This weekend I went up to New Glarus, Wisconsin. My friend has a farm up there where he raises sheep, and his own breed of pigs, Crawford Sweets. His website is here. Chef Paul Kahan says he produces the best lamb in the US. I have had his lamb, and it’s pretty damn good. Can’t wait to get my hands on one of his hams. Of course, being up here is a sacrifice. Spotty phone service and no internet.

New Glarus is a little town, 2111 population. It’s in the middle of nowhere. The closest big town is Madison, Wisconsin. But, it’s got a niche. It was originally settled by the Swiss from Glarus-hence the name New Glarus. It’s beautiful country. Rolling hills, nice bike trails and pretty farms. I posted some photos on Instagram.

One interesting thing we did was visit New Glarus Brewing Company. They have an amazing facility. They are growing. I did a back of the envelope calculation and figured their top line revenue is close to $30-50M. $2.50 per 12oz beer, and they sell 120,000 barrels of beer each year. Not too mention their gift shop sales.

It was crowded there. After tasting the beer, you knew why. I bought a case to bring home. The beer is only available in Wisconsin. It was $30.50 per case. Like most microbreweries, they brew a variety of different beers. We liked the Moon Man, the Oktoberfest, the Spotted Cow, and a couple others we tried.

Interestingly, the brewery was started by a women. From Wikipedia, I found this out.

“The New Glarus Brewing Company was founded in 1993 by Deborah Carey (making her the first woman in the United States to found and operate a brewery) and her husband Dan Carey. Before starting the New Glarus Brewing Company, Dan Carey was an experienced Diploma master Brewer. He began as one of the youngest brewers in America successfully building his first brewery in Helena, MT at twenty three years of age. He studied Food Science at UC Davis and was Valedictorian and Technical director of his Siebel’s Institute of Brewing Class. He served a Brewing Apprenticeship at Ayinger Brewery. He designed and built 48 breweries while working at JV Northwest and was a Brewing Supervisor for Anheuser-Busch. New Glarus Brewing Company brewed their first beer in October of that year and began selling their product in December. They brew a variety of beers today, with their Spotted Cow label leading in sales.
The brewery began in an abandoned warehouse with used brewpub equipment. In 1997, Dan Carey removed Copper Kettles from a brewery in Germany that was slated to be demolished. When the retiring brew master learned his beloved brew kettle might live on, he sold all of his equipment worth an estimated value of $1 million to the Careys for its scrap value of just over $24,000 US.
New Glarus Brewing company beers are sold exclusively in Wisconsin. From 1998 to 2002, New Glarus Brewing Company brews were also sold in Illinois, with a majority of its sales throughout greater Chicago. Southern Wine and Spirits of America, Inc. purchased River City Wine and Spirits and told the small New Glarus Brewing Company that they would no longer distribute their products. When New Glarus Brewing was told to pay $20,000 to recover the right to reassign distribution and after already having difficulty keeping up with demand in Wisconsin, New Glarus Brewing decided to cease sales in Illinois altogether and hasn’t returned since.”

Figures….Illinois tried to extort her and she told them to take a hike. If Scott Walker would decrease tax rates in Wisconsin, I think you’d see a mass exodus to Packerland.

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