Another Round For My Friends…

I am not much of a beer drinker, not to say I haven’t enjoyed a cold one on a hot summer day after hours of yard work, but that about sums it up. However, I had an opportunity to take a tour of the Stevens Point Brewery and loved the experience. This is how our adventure played out.
Dan and I left Cornell bright and early, stopping in Greenville, Wisconsin to have lunch with his oldest sister, Maryanne, and then to Stevens Point, Wisconsin for a great visit with Dan’s nephew, Dave, his wife, Tracy, and their amazing son, Preston. We haven’t visited for years, so it was fun getting caught up. Next we found our way to a lovely hotel, Cobblestone Hotel, in downtown Stevens Point (picture country downtown, not Seattle downtown), ready to get a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, the hotel restaurant was closed due to a separate celebration going on, so we found our way to a pizza place and had dinner. The prior evening the town enjoyed a big party for the hockey win and pretty much rolled up the night we came into town. The pizza place was the only place open that evening – what can I say, small town, they rule their schedule.
The next morning we walked around the town and enjoyed the beautiful old architecture. I do love the creativity, the unique patterns in the brick – and the ironwork is impressive.
The original reason for this adventure was because Dan and I had an opportunity to meet up with my stepdaughter, Jessica, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, for a few hours. Once Jessica got into town, we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed for our appointed time for the brewery tour. The smell of yeast and hops surrounded me like an old friend – as a child, our stepfather made homebrew. We were the ones that washed the bottles and capped a new batch in the middle of the night, so, yep, I know the aroma of new brew.
The history of this brewery is so fascinating, and our tour guide, Damarco, was so entertaining and informative. Seeing the large equipment, hearing their process was so much fun. This old building even has a “haunted” elevator – yes, I really, really wanted to take a ride, but it wasn’t open to visitors. The photo of the original company had one person that was never identified, so he became the “point” person – pointed head and a new marketing plan was made – and a successful one at that. This is award-winning beer, of many flavors. We were given tickets to get samples, and for a free tumbler glass. I did have a couple that piqued my interest, but I’ll stick to my wine. That said, if you ever get a chance to take a tour, I highly recommend it. We plan to do a distillery tour someday, too, even though I don’t drink whiskey, I am interested in how it is made.
When we headed back to where our truck was, we passed this guy carving snow and had to go around the block to get a better look. This guy is a disabled veteran that lets his creativity bring so much joy to others as they travel the snowing road on Clark Street in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. You can find his Facebook page – Snow Art Zone if you want to see his creations…amazing.
When it was time to go, we headed for Shawano, Wisconsin, for a visit with friends there, and laughed the evening away with good food and wine. We had to get back home because our pellet stove had been going for over forty hours, and we were giving it a good test to see if the “full hopper provides fifty hours” of heat was real. Thankfully, it was, and the cabin was toasty warm when we arrived at 1:30 in the AM.
It was a fun trip filled with wonderful family, great friends, and fun adventures.