Wisconsin Beer Bread

3 cups of self-rising flour

3 Tablespoons of sugar

12 ounces of your favorite Wisconsin Beer  (We will be using Spotted Cow from New Glarus Brewery)

3 Tablespoons of melted butter.

Mix the flour, sugar and beer.  Scrape into a well greased loaf pan.  Pour the melted butter over the top and bake for 60 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cool the loaf and slice into hearty slices.  Make sandwiches with your favorite Wisconsin Cheddar cheese.  Brush the outer sides of the sandwich with more melted butter and grill until golden brown.  Cut into triangles (Think cheeseheads!) and enjoy with your chili.

The innkeepers at The Speckled Hen Inn will be serving the sandwiches with their Super Bowl Sunday Breakfast.  Go Pack!

Sample some of Wisconsin’s finest craft beers and specialty cheeses and decide which ones you will want to serve at your Packer’s party on Super Bowl Sunday.  There are even a couple of special sessions at the event that you won’t want to miss but need to sign up for early.  At 1:30 the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board will pair wonderful Wisconsin cheeses with the brews from Potosi Brewery.  That’s the great western Winconsin brewery that is also home to the Beer Museum.  At 3:00 there is a session on pairing beer with chocolate.  It even gets better.  The pairing is between Gail Ambrosius Chocolates (our local favorite) and the crazy craft brews from Furthermore Brewery.  (I’ve done this before and you have to try it to even imagine how good it is!)

If your entertainment plan is a bit more upscale head out to Wollersheim Winery in Prairie Du Sac for the party to celebrate the release of their 2009 vintage ports.  This year they will be adding a 2009 vintage White Port to their offerings and you can sample and celebrate any time between 10 and 4 on Saturday.  Enjoy a bit of live jazz and pair your port sample with a Combinacas Plate featuring Wisconsin-made Asiago cheese, a chocolate truffle, fresh bread, and dried apricots and almonds.  You will want to take home a bottle of Wisconsin Port or wine to toast the success of the Packers anyway.  Sampling is one sure way to find the wine that pleases you.

We still have rooms available on Friday night so that you can have a romantic getaway at The Speckled Hen Inn.  Enjoy our great breakfast and then head out to sample some of Wisconsin’s finest.

First let me explain about the ‘Blonde” and the ‘Chub’.  Bockfest celebrates the release of Capital Brewery’s Blonde Dopplebock beer.  The ‘chub’ part comes into play mid-afternoon when Kirby gets up on the roof of the brewery and flings smoked chubs into the crowd.  Smoked chubs are delicious smoked 6″ or so fish that are dearly loved by all those who have been fortunate enought to taste one.  Why does Kirby throw fish from the roof?  You will have to go to a Bockfest and ask.  I think that he does it because it is just plain outrageous fun and that is what Bockfest is all about.

Other events during the day include the 1K Running of the Blondes, live music, a costume contest, and of course, brewery tours and much drinking of the Dopplebock.

The 13th Annual Bockfest is this Saturday, February 27th from 11AM until 5PM at Capital Brewery in Middleton, Wisconsin.  Bockfest is always held the last Saturday in February so if you have to miss it this time, you can mark your calendar for next year.

Cheers!

January 8-10 is Madison Home Expo 2010 time.  Do you need a little inspiration for an upcoming facelift for your home?  You will find it here.

January 9 or 16  Michael Feldman is in town for his WPR radio show, Whad’Ya Know.  If you have never been part of a live audience for a radio program, you have to go.  It’s a hoot! 

January 15 and 16, 22 and 23 get out the saddle shoes and head on down to Fort Atkinson to the Fireside Dinner Theatre for Those Fabulous 50′s and 60′s .  It is just a pretty drive through the rolling countyside.  You will still be smiling and humming the tunes when you return.

January 30  WOW a busy day.  You will have to make some choices.  The Broadway tour of Rent will be onstage at the Overture Center.  Wollersheim Winery will be celebrating the  release of their 2008 Port with live jazz, light food, and port and wine tastings.  Check out the eagles on the Wisconsin River while you are in the area.  If Port is not your thing you might enjoy the Isthmus Beer and Cheese Feast at the Alliant Energy Center.  Taste Wisconsin’s finest and choose your favorite pairing.  Then get all dressed up and head to the heart of the city for Madison’s Frostiball.  Dance the night away in the magnificent capitol rotunda.

See, there is plenty for guests at the Speckled Hen Inn to do in January.  Or for those who don’t want to “do”, there is always watching the wild turkeys and the squirrels and birds at the feeders, trying out the snowshoes, watching the fire in the woodburner, or catching a game or a movie on the bigscreen.