Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Tyranena: A Fun Little Stop

Once we left Sprecher, our next stop was Tyranena, which was on our way to Madison.  Located in Lake Mills, WI, it's about 20 minutes from Madison with not much else around.  They have a super cute tap room and beer garden, and feature live music on Saturdays.

Their tap room only serves beer, but you're free to bring your own food.  They even have gas grills for folks to use!  They're even dog-friendly, as long as they aren't too many dogs already there, and your dog gets along with the house dogs.  They recommend calling ahead of time if you plan to bring your dog to verify the situation.  It's a pretty cool set-up, especially if you happen to be from around there and want to plan a cookout or picnic.

As it was, we were just passing by, so we didn't bring any food or dogs ;-)  We ended up getting their sampler, which featured 9 different beers (they choose which ones you get, unfortunately).  There were 10 beers on tap, so for good measure, we ordered a full beer of the one that wasn't included.

In general, all the beers were pretty good.  However, my friends and I all prefer boldly flavored beers, so we clearly weren't impressed with the lighter ones.  My favorites were:

  1. The Imperial Maple Porter Aged in Bourbon Barrels
    This was the one not included in the sampler.  And it was delicious!  Glad we ordered it separately
  2. Who's Your Daddy Imperial Oatmeal Porter
    Deeply flavored, thick and strong!
  3. Rocky's Revenge
    Always a favorite of mine!

I also enjoyed their Bourbon Barrel Aged Suprise, the Bitter Woman IPA, the Chief Blackhawk Porter, and the Painted Ladies Pumpkin Spice Ale.

I would have preferred if they just sold taster portions of each beer, or at least let us pick which ones we wanted to try.  I guess I understand the concept of making people buy "The Sampler" that includes all the regular beers and omits the special ones.  But in our case, we really didn't drink the Three Beaches Honey Blonde, the Headless Man Amber Alt, and the Oktoberfest.  I could have told you from the start we weren't going to like those.

What a waste of beer.  I would have preferred if we could just do a sampler of the ones we wanted to try, and then maybe pick one of them to have a full beer from.  I'm guessing they would have sold us more beer if they did it that way, since we wouldn't have wasted our time tasting so many.  By the time we were done with the tasters and the 1 full beer we shared, we'd been there long enough and it was time to move on.

The live music was a nice touch and it was a cool ambiance.  I'd imagine it'd be hard to spend too much time here though, since there really wasn't much around.  You'd have to be staying pretty close by to take full advantage of what they have to offer!  I'd definitely come back, and maybe plan a cookout or picnic next time!  At least I know what beers of theirs I like now, so I can just order full beers of the ones I like!

No comments: