Great Lakes Brewing News Archive

Quivey's Grove Beer Fest Pleases Craft Beer Lovers

Originally Published: 12/97

By Bob "Now go have a beer" Paolino

The beer festival season in Wisconsin doesn't end in the summer, but it does start to move indoors. Hundreds of Madison-area beer enthusiasts enjoyed a beautiful autumn day on the grounds of Quivey's Grove, a restaurant in southwest Madison. In most cases, beers were served by area Jaycees volunteers. A number of Wisconsin breweries were represented, including Bill Tressler with his Packerland Pilsener and other Hinterland beers. Dan Carey was also in town, as were the brewers from Cherryland, McClintic, Gray's, and Endehouse.

The Quivey's Grove event has begun to attract more breweries from outside the state. Aside from representation of some of the large national contract brews (Sam Adams, Pete's, and Devil Mountain), other, larger craft brewers included Bell's, Schell, and Summit. Also, a few small out-of-state brewers made the trip to Madison, including Olde Peninsula (Kalamazoo, MI), Ambleside (Saint-Paul, MN), and Three Floyds (Hammond, Indiana). Keg problems forced Three Floyds to serve its Alpha King with the assistance of gravity, making the keg an unintended "cask." The handling of the keg made the Alpha King pour a little cloudy, but the hopheads didn't seem to mind too much. Aside from the beer under the tents, Quivey's featured good food and good music.