I've been on the hunt for beers while on the road lately, getting ready to fill the beer fridge for the summer months. While in Madison recently, I stopped by the Capital Brewery in suburban Middleton (see map) to pick up some of my most favorite beers. I wanted to pick up a couple cases of Capital's Special Pilsner (my favorite beer of all); a case of the Bavarian Lager; and a case of 1900, a light pilsner brewed from a late 1800's, early 1900's Wisconsin beer recipe.
When I went to look for the beer in the new Gift Haus they have at the Capital Brewery, I couldn't find the 1900. I asked the girl in the shop if they had any 1900 in back. She said, "Oh, honey. We haven't made 1900 in almost a year."
I was crestfallen. 1900 was one of my favorite beers. It's been around since 2000 when a number of Wisconsin breweries entered a contest to replicate a pre-Prohibition Wisconsin pilsner recipe that many breweries of the day used to make their pilsner beers at the turn of the 20th century. Each brewery was able to give their 1900 recipe beer their own signature.
Long story short - Capital's 1900 recipe won the contest. Brewmaster Kirby Nelson decided to bottle the beer and market it by simply calling it "1900". It was a great tasting beer, not as heavy bodied as the Capital Special Pilsner, but had a great finish to the taste. I was told by Kirby Nelson once that it was as close to an original Old Style beer from 100 years prior as anything.
When asked about why they weren't brewing 1900 any longer, the girl told me, "Since we started to brew our Island Wheat beer, we didn't have the capacity to brew the 1900 any longer."
I told her I was bummed. She said, "Yeah, I was too when I found out we weren't going to brew it any longer."
Her story is similar to the one I told here about Leinenkugel's Northwoods Lager, another great beer that I really liked but they quit brewing to introduce Leinie's Sunset Wheat.
See a pattern forming here?
Wheat beers are the rage with many of these small breweries and - I'm sorry - I just don't like wheat beers. But a lot of people do and they seem to be selling.
Instead of getting a case of 1900, I ended up getting one of the first cases of Capital's summer seasonal brew Fest. I asked her if they had any of the Winter Skal left, as I didn't pick any up this past winter (it's only available in Wisconsin and I hadn't been in Wisconsin since last November). She said, "No, I'm sorry. That's been gone for a while, as well."
I wheeled the cases out to my car and brought the dolly back in to the gift shop. She said, "Hey, come with me. I've got something for you."
I followed her into Capital's Bier Stube and she went behind the bar and pulled out a Winter Skal from the cooler. "I knew we had a few left in the cooler. Here's one on the house since we don't have the 1900 left and you weren't able to get Winter Skal this year."
I took it and thanked her for the gift. And I had it that evening in the hotel room. It was very good.
I am bummed about the demise of Capital's 1900 beer. It was a great beer to drink anytime. But, it's not like there are no other beers to drink. Just like anything, I'll have to get used to having no 1900 to drink.
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