Robin Shepard
A man in a brewery with a big vat of beer.
Karben4's Joe Walts has made a dry Irish stout for St. Patrick's Day.
It seems fitting to call out stouts and pub ales in March — beer styles synonymous with St. Patrick’s Day. It’s also bock season.
Karben4’s Joe Walts, who handles quality control for the brewery, is known for his special small batch brews that get tapped a couple times a month. Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, Walts has brewed a dry Irish stout, the style that has come to be defined by Guinness. Walts invited me to join him in the K4 Brewhouse on brew day to see for myself how a quality St. Paddy’s Day elixir is made.
“I didn’t want to copy Guiness exactly,” says Walts. “I did change up the grain bill a bit with more chocolate [malts] to make it a little less bitter.” Making a dry Irish stout is about balance and a dry finish, he says. Walts has loved the style for more than 20 years, going back to his days as a homebrewer, when he won awards for the style.
Walts’ dry Irish stout at Karben4 will be tapped on St. Patrick’s Day in the brewery’s taproom ($7/pint). It finishes at 4.3% ABV. Making this stout more special is that it’s served from a nitrogen tap line to accentuate its soft body and bring out more of the subtle roasted chocolate and caramel flavors of the malts. Sláinte!
Beloit brewery G5 Brewing has made a traditional red ale featuring Irish malts. It’s slightly sweet, yet balanced, with a clean finish. This pub-style ale finishes at 5% ABV and will be released to Madison on March 14 in a tap takeover at Forward Craft and Coffee.
G5 also just started making a quarterly series of barrel-aged imperial and pastry stouts. The most current release is Brat Winter, a nod to the Charli XCX album Brat. This is a huge sweet pastry stout made with cookie butter and dark chocolate malts. It is aged in whiskey barrels from Madison’s State Line Distillery for 23 months. It is big and thick and bold at 15% ABV, with lots of dark malty sweetness ($15/17 oz bottle). This is a pastry stout fan’s delight, but not one for the faint of heart.
This is also bock season. Among the new entries this year is Young Blood Beer Company’s Varying Degrees of Minivans. It is on the stronger side of doppelbocks with a 9% ABV. It has malty caramel sweetness from a touch of blackstrap molasses ($7.50/glass and $16/four-pack).
The beers of Green Bay’s Noble Roots Brewing Company aren’t seen that regularly in Madison, however, one to watch for is Bock Bock. It is a nice representation of the doppelbock style, with lots of caramel sweetness, medium body and respectable alcohol warmth at 7% ABV ($13/four-pack).
Kirby Nelson of Wisconsin Brewing Company has pretty much owned the bock and doppelbock styles among Madison area brewers. This year Nelson unveiled Elements-Aged in the Lake Louie Brewing lineup. The beer made its first appearance in the taproom during the Battle of the Barrels festival hosted by the Verona brewery last month. It is aged in J. Henry and Sons bourbon barrels that were kept outside in the elements, exposing the beer to fluctuations in temperatures. This limited-release beer stole the show at the fest ($7/glass or $12/crowler).
Working Draft Beer Company hosted its first Sloshed & Slushy beer fest in late February. Among the standouts was Pocket Brat, a rauch (smoked) doppelbock that offers a light bacon aroma and a sweet smoky campfire finish ($7/glass). This is an outstanding beer and one I hope makes its way into brewmaster Clint Lohman’s packaged release schedule in 2025.
My pick of the seasonal bocks so far has been Eagle Park Brewing’s Maibock ($11/six-pack). It has a clear deep copper color and a soft body. Its smooth caramel biscuit character is balanced by traditional German Hallertauer hops. It’s easy drinking at 6% ABV; it is my March go-to beer.
Also, don’t overlook a few of our standards like New Glarus’s Gyrator (doppelbock), Giant Jones’ Kozlak (Polish bock), and Capital Brewery’s blonde and dark doppelbocks.
Finally the Giant Jones Barleywine Fest is set for March 21-22. It promises to have an even bigger list of big beers this year, spread across two days. The brewery has at least 18 different barleywines destined for its taps, all of which are either from the eastside brewery or other Madison-area breweries. Among the highlights are different vintages of Giant Jones’ American and British style barleywines that will be offered side-by-side, and guest beers from Young Blood Beer Company, Starkweather Brewing, Delta Beer Lab and New Glarus Brewing.
