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Cheese Curds, Beer and Irony in the Old Ball Park


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So we've seen the Lake, Lighthouse and ate lunch. What time is it? Come on, what time is it? MILLER FREAKIN TIME!

So we left out of Racine and headed to Downtown Milwaukee. About a 30 minute drive, through some cornfields. From what I was told, they are suffering from the drought, but had some rain within the last week. Things were green, but hadn't been for long. The farmers are taking a big hit, and don't think the corn crop will be any good. Sad, since the corn had tasseled, but hadn't matured as it should. But in the long run this will not only hurt them, but corn consumers down the pipeline. That is us in many ways, corn for food, corn for ethanal, corn for animal feed. I'll be cutting back on my popcorn consumption.

And finally, we are there!

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Funny thing, we get there and there is a car in the lot with SC plates. We're not the only South Cackalacky beer consumers.

Headed in to the welcome center to get a tour. The tours are free and start every half hour. When we got our passes, they had just closed the 2:30 tour and we were told we would be in the 3:00. That gave us an hour to see the welcome center and shop. Let's just say it was like being a kid in a candy shop.

I wish!

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Miller proudly supports the troups!

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This is across from the welcome center. Made me laugh.

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And once it was 3:00 it was game on for the actual tour and free tastings.

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I think it is restored, but wil ask Tony. He and everyone else went to kill time out there, while I did some secret shoping. I know you can tour it.

The store has Miller beer glasses for each arm of the armed forces. I wanted to get Craig and Tony a couple of Air Force ones without Craig knowing. And since our friends had just recieved new furniture, they were in need of some coasters. So in my typical Smart @$$ way, I bought a sleeve of Leinenkugal bar coasters for the house.

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Leinenkugal?!?! That's what Bruce drinks. You are sure to see plenty of that in September. :hah:

Well that Bromance will surely grow! Tony loves him some Leine! And there Octoberfest will be in our stash if we can find it prior to the trip.

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Well off on the tour!

You first start with a 10 minute movie after being herded into a theater. Yes, Disney references were mentioned, and we asked if we could have a fast pass to the tasting. But nope, you have to do the tour first.

If I have anything negative to say about Miller, which I sure don't, it would be they packed our group to 2-3Xs the normal size. There was a Brewers game that night, and alot of people were taking the tour prior to it. So our tour had way more people than normal. It did become a hassel waiting to bunch up again as we toured. But it DID allow me to keep wiping the drool off my face.

So here we go. See the tall dude in front of Tony, that is Craig. Yes they are like the movie Twins, one short one tall. But my two favorite Air Force boys. :hugsmiley:

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The first stop was the bottling line

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Next Packaging

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Then the warehouse, where it is shipped within 24 hours.

Please keep that line moving people!!!

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Can I please, PWEASE live here

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We stopped for some trivia, where cough cough, I knew most of the answers about the brands. Notice Brad on the bottom of this pic. They had a cutout of his likeness, but with the kids around, no good pics. And they had a Rusty Wallace car on display too.

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And one more shout out to the Air Force:

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Can I please, PWEASE live here

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And this folks, is where the saying "pry it out of my cold, dead hands" came from.

I have visions of Tiny having to put you in a fireman's carry, with you kicking and screaming. Or glancing at Craig with the "knife slash across the throat" sign. (which I've seen BTW)

All the texts I got that evening are making perfect Genia sense now.

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I have visions of Tiny having to put you in a fireman's carry, with you kicking and screaming. Or glancing at Craig with the "knife slash across the throat" sign. (which I've seen BTW)

Which one have you seen? Never mind, don't answer.

All the texts I got that evening are making perfect Genia sense now.

Uhuh

Hey I learned something new today.

I didn't know Peroni and Blue Moon were Miller products.

TCD

How about these bits of trivia

Coors Light is the thier number one light beer overall in the US. Miller Lite is in the midwest.

Peroni was originally an Italian Beer. Our family calls it pepperoni.

Only Keystone Light is the only beer and non malt beverage on the bottom row.

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Very cool Genia!! I love touring factories of any kind, but most don't allow cameras. This is too cool!!!!

Yea, they let us take as many "pictures" as we wanted. Unfortunately, they didn't let us take as many beers.

But more of the tour next.

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Looks like a great tour Genia.

Man! I sure could go for a fried curd right now. Hold the hammer. :doublebeer:

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Looks like a great tour Genia.

Man! I sure could go for a fried curd right now. Hold the hammer. :doublebeer:

That's milk in those mugs, right?!

I'm still here. I don't have a lot to add to the beer tour so.......I can't believe I'm saying this, I'm waiting for baseball. :blink::))

who ARE you and what did you do with Doodle?

Cheese curds... the ones I've had were yellow and tasted like a mild cheddar or colby. They were good but a few go a long way. I ended up making mac 'n cheese out of the rest.

Bring on the baseball!

Be patient would ya, we gots to get through the tasting first.

What they said G!

Oh who asked you? You Jr lover!

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OK we've seen the bottling, the packaging, the warehousing......They had a head count, they saw me behind the door. I left.

Off to the Plank road brewery where it all started. This was optional because of the 50+ steps up to the observation area. It's beer, I exercised.

BBLS stands for barrels.

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We were packed in like sardines so I couldn't get this in one shot. But not tight enough, where I had a reason to jump to those vats.

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Something I learned while there. Draft beer isn't pasterized, but the bottles and cans are. MGD is not pasteurized, it is cold brewed. So closest you can get to draft.

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Some random shots on the way to the old barrel caves.

THIS IS MY DREAM JOB

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Yea, we need that

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No spainin needed.

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About the girl in the moon. The movie says they don't know where it came from. There is a story a dude passed out in the woods and it came to him to show him the way home. Some say it was Miller's granddaughter. Me, I just salute her while enjoying High Life Light!

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The caves are truely genius if you think about it. The beer was stored in there to age and chill. They would bring ice off the lakes, and the surrounding area in the winter to pack around the caves. This would keep the caves cold during the summer to allow year round brewing. If the peace prize wasn't named after Nobel and his dynamite, then I think it should be Miller Peace Prize.

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I have some better pics but they include the kiddies. And Rule number 1, don't tick off Susan. She's younger, quieter and sweeter but don't tick her off.

There is also a fountain in there that you can talk to have the beer God's look down on you. I never knew I could talk so much, but it had to end, b/c the FREE beer was next door.

Once you are done with the tour that ends in the caves, you normally cross the street to the outdoor beer gardens. BUT it had started to rain. So they diverted us next door to a different tasting area.

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