I had never been to Milwaukee before. I didn’t make it there
during my traveling years and I hadn’t been there in the seven years I’ve been
living in the Midwest. When I received an invitation to cover one of the
biggest music festivals in the world that happened to be in Milwaukee, it didn’t
take me long to say, “Yes!”
My friend Lisa, who was living in Green Bay at the time, met
me in Milwaukee for a girls’ weekend.
Margaret Casey of Visit Milwaukee picked us up at the Hilton
for our first day of tasting and touring.
Our first stop was at Indulgence Chocolatiers. I wish we had
a place like this in Champaign.
Julie, the owner of Indulgence, fell in love with the
chocolate shops in Europe and decided to open one in Milwaukee. She creates a
selection of chocolate truffles, barks, and bars. Then, she pairs them with your
choice of white wine, red wine, beer, whiskey, or cheese.
Everything sounded scrumptious and we finally settled on
sharing chocolate & cheese and a chocolate and red wine pairings.
It was a great choice and I loved the pairings Julie had
come up with. Our favorites were: Petit Nuage cheese with a Citrus Basil Honey
Truffle; Riverbend Goat’s Milk cheese with Vanilla Malt Truffle; The Chook
Sparkling Shiraz from McLaren Vale, Australia with Raspberry Chipotle Pecan Bar;
and a 2012 High Valley Vineyards Cabernet from Lake County with Smoked Cherry
and Pine Nut Bark.
We had more than satisfied our sweet tooth when we left
Indulgence, but Margaret felt we should at least make a quick stop at PurpleDoor Ice Cream next door, where we fell for their Blackberry Quark and Ginger.
After the ice cream, Margaret drove us around Milwaukee a
bit, pointing out some of the hot spots, including the LGBT clubs, historic
buildings and Miller, the only major brewery left in a town once known for
being a large beer producing area.
We next stopped at Great Lakes Distillery. I had sampled a
few of their products before, but I had never been to their distillery to
sample everything and I was excited to have the opportunity.
They have a full bar set up with their spirits for both
tasting and mixing into cocktails. The spirits did not disappoint. I especially
liked the Rehorst Citrus & Honey Vodka, the Rehorst Premium Milwaukee Gin,
and Roaring Dan’s Rum.
All of the liqueurs here are made from Wisconsin products in
small batches. The Pear Brandy was quite good.
Before we left Great Lakes we met with Founder Guy Rehorst,
who gave us a quick tour of the distillery.
Lisa and I went back to the Hilton, where we found a gift
basket of all things Milwaukee waiting for us from the tourist board.
We changed for the evening and Margaret picked us up a
little while later.
We headed up to Wolf Peach for dinner. It was on top of a
hill with a great view of Milwaukee.
Wolf Peach is all about fresh and locally sourced
ingredients and proudly display their vendors on their menu. Because of this,
the menu will change with what’s in season and available. While some of the
menu items we had may not always be available, we did try to taste some things
that appear to be standards on their menu.
Everything sounded delicious so
we each picked a dish or two and decided to share it all.
The Roasted Mushroom Bruschetta
was one of my favorites. The mushrooms were meaty and flavorful.
By the time the pizza – which in
itself was a meal – came out we knew we had ordered too much, but it was worth
it to at least taste, with goat cheese and fresh peas and mushrooms.
We also enjoyed the Crispy
Cauliflower, with chickpeas in a paprika seasoning.
After dinner, Lisa and I headed to
Summerfest for the first time. We got to hear the Doobie Brothers while sipping
drinks on the Harley-Davidson VIP Deck. There were fireworks in the background
and it was a pretty great setting to complete the first day in Milwaukee.
No comments:
Post a Comment