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Starkweather Beer Company

 When I moved back to Madison to attend law school in 1987, we moved to a crappy little apartment near the banks of Starkweather Creek on the unfashionable east side.  Today, the east side is booming, and one of the newer brewpubs is called Starkweather Beer Company. It was Saint Pat's Day.  While Guinness is a decent light-bodied stout, I opted for Starkweather's dry Irish Stout, named "Jamestown Jackdaw." Coming in at 5.9 ABV, it had a malty chewable backbone.  It's a new favorite stout for me.  Julia had Late Winter Haze, a New England IPA that didn't have as much fruitiness as she likes in a hazy.  It was still well-executed. We walked down the street to the Harmony Bar, where Julia enjoyed a complete corn beef and cabbage dinner.  I opted for the Reuben sandwich.  Mine was washed down with an Edmund Fitzgerald porter from Great Lakes Brewing.  Julia enjoyed her Chaos Pattern IPA from 3 Sheeps Brewing.  Both are great beers. Justin update:   After a long h

Sweet Wanderings

As winter closes in, we made a few local trips to make life sweeter.  The first stop was to Cross Plains at Enchanted Valley Christmas Tree farm to select our favorite type of Christmas tree:  white pine.  

Callie approves

We've always liked the long needles of white pines.  A native Wisconsin tree, white pines seem to have fallen out of fashion at Christmas tree farms.  Everyone wants balsams or Frasier firs.  We planned to cut down our tree, but the small grove of white pines at the farm was not open to the public so we settled for a pre-cut.

On the way home, we stopped at a driveway honey store in Sauk City.  We like to buy local honey, but this isn't the best time of year to find it.  Someone was advertising their driveway store on Facebook marketplace.  

We were skeptical but our skepticism vanished upon pulling up at a small ranch house with a glass case of different sizes of honey.  There was a metal box with a slot for "honor system" money deposits. We picked up a couple of two pound containers, deposited our $20 and were on our way.


Julia and I continue to make our sunrise hikes at Gibraltar Rock at least twice per week.  After yesterday's hike, I made arrangements for a maple syrup bulk buy in Hillsboro, Wisconsin.  Again, Facebook marketplace provided the name of a non-traditional supplier.  

Hillsboro is in southwestern Wisconsin and a little more than an hour drive.  The maple syrup farmer did not have a retail location, so we agreed to meet in the parking lot of the Hillsboro Brewing Company.  

It was a typical pandemic transaction. The seller and I were both masked up and exchanged cash for 7 bottles of maple syrup. Grade A maple syrup is light in color and has a viscosity more similar to commercial pancake syrup.  It's the only type of maple syrup that most people know.

 

Grade B syrup is produced later in the season.  It's thicker, darker and has a stronger flavor.  It's what we prefer.  This maple syrup is unlabeled and ungraded.  It has a dark, rich color.  The Amish from around Hillsborough get between $15 and $20 per quart.  For seven bottles, the price was $12/quart.  I'll be sharing this purchase with our friends Dean and Dana.

After my parking lot transaction, I headed to Wildcat Mountain State Park and hiked the Old Settlers Trail.  Callie was happy about getting in a second hike that day.  

A horseshoe bend in the Kickapoo

I only saw three other hikers on a beautiful weekday that hit 50 degrees.  With those warm temperatures, the steep trail was turning from frozen to slick. Leaf and pine needle cover made the slick parts difficult to see. Not a problem on the uphills, but I had several spectacular saves going downhill where I managed to perform acrobatic moves to catch my balance while sliding downhill on mud.

Unfortunately, my fourth attempt at a save resulted in a hard fall. I was covered in mud on my entire left side from my knee to my shoulder.  I also managed to tweak my right knee, which made the finish of the hike less pleasant.  Still, it was a good day in the woods.  I treated myself to a chocolate malt from Culvers on the way home.




Comments

Bill said…
Word has it that a chocolate malt is the prescription for a knee injury. Or any other pain for that matter.
greg said…
As a fellow trail-crasher I feel for you, though I tend to skip right over the spectacular saves and jump right into the masive failures. I mean why bother prolonging the inevitable? (Or it could be that spectacular saves are just not within my abilities. After all, I was never the guy picked first for the team in school)
MFH said…
OMG!

This is cruel & unusual punishment!

Prior to reading this I was pre-diabetic. I'm now on insulin five times a day and have gained 15 pounds.

Time was, when I ran every day, did karate and worked out at the gym for an hour I was a self-styled honey/maple syrup aficionado and would swig from a jar (think olde sailor & be-corked bottle of rum) at LEAST once a day.

ENVY springeth eternal!
John said…
Sorry about that. We do enjoy a drizzle of honey or maple syrup with tea or breakfast.

I didn't know that you practiced karate. Allie has her black belt in karate. However, she quit after attaining that level. She was never that good with her hands, but Allie can still deliver a mean kick.
John said…
I probably should admit that I view all saves as spectacular, especially those that avoid a hard fall. An unbiased panel of judges would probably view only my fall as spectacular, although I was glad that no one was around to watch. As for the guys who were picked first for the team at school, my mother always liked to say, "it's best not to peak too soon."

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