I had an early morning appointment in Appleton, WI this past fall and I got into town the night before. I stayed near the Fox River Mall and I took a look on line to see what was in the immediate area for food as I'd been driving most of the day and didn't feel like going far for food that evening. I found out there was a brew pub attached to the mall - the Fox River Brewing Company. I thought I'd head over there to check the place out and maybe get a bite to eat.
I like to joke that whenever I cross over the border into Wisconsin, I immediately get thirsty for a beer. With a large German-heritage population throughout the state, beer is a way of life with many people who live there - and has been for generations. The first breweries in the state popped up in the 1830's - long before Wisconsin was granted statehood in 1848 - started by German immigrants whose precise brewing techniques learned in their homeland to carry on the tradition of German-style beers in their new home in America. By the Civil War, there were over 150 breweries scattered across Wisconsin, and by the turn of the 20th century there were nearly 300 registered breweries in the state.
During Prohibition, many of the smaller breweries went out of business - but not all. During Prohibition, some made soda pop or root beer, and there were some underground breweries that defied the ban on alcohol to brew and distribute beers in a clandestine manner. After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, that paved the way for large scale, mass producing breweries across the state. Many of the smaller breweries went by the wayside and for years the only beers made in Wisconsin were made by the likes of Miller, Pabst, G. Heilemann (Old Style) and Schlitz.
The landscape began to change starting in 1985 with the founding of the first microbrewery in Wisconsin after Prohibition, Sprecher Brewery. From there, the Capital Brewery opened in the Madison suburb of Middleton in 1986, with Lakefront Brewery opening in Milwaukee in 1987. By the mid-90's, there were six microbreweries across the state of Wisconsin. Not exactly electric growth, but craft brewing was still in its infancy.
Enter the three Supple brothers - Jay, Joe and John, Jr. Their father, John, Sr., had left his job as a train engineer in the late 60's and opened up a Shakey's Pizza franchise in the Oshkosh area. His sons followed their father into the restaurant business and managed other Shakey's locations in the Fox Valley. In the late 1980's, a capital investment group bought the Shakey's chain and a slow decline of the remaining locations took place with many of them closing in the early to mid-90's. The ones managed by the Supple family were among those that closed and by 1995 the brothers were looking to do something else.
They had talked about doing an Italian restaurant in Oshkosh, but it was Jay's wife who suggested they look into doing a brewpub. The brothers joked that they certainly knew how to drink beer, but they didn't know how to make it. But they met with Rob LoBreglio who had started the Great Dane Brewery and Pub in Madison in 1994. The Supples signed LoBreglio to a one-year consultancy contract to help them get started with their own brew pub in Oshkosh.
Pictured at right - John, Jr., Jay and Joe Supple. Photo courtesy Oshkosh Beer Blog.
LoBreglio had contacts in the industry to get the needed equipment for the Supple family to start their brewery. They had procured a building in downtown Oshkosh that over looked the Fox River and hired a chef to run their restaurant which would be called Fratello's, which is Italian for brothers. LoBreglio helped the brothers find a brewmaster, Al Bunde, who had just graduated from the famed Siebel Institute in Chicago in 1994. LoBreglio was also an alumnus of the Siebel Institute and the day after Bunde graduated, he was in Madison helping LoBreglio open the Great Dane brewery. LoBreglio suggested to the Supple brothers that Bunde be their first brewmaster. The brothers liked Bunde right from the start and hired him to be their first brewmaster. Fratello's and the accompanying Fox River Brewing Company opened in October of 1995.
Within the first 18 months in business, things were going so well with the Fox River brewery that the brothers decided to open a second location in Appleton. They were able to build on to the west side of the Fox River Mall and they opened the second Fox River Brewing Company location in November of 1997. Steve Lonsway was hired to be the assistant head brewer at Fox River Brewing and handled operation at the Appleton location.
Keeping brewmasters is a problem for many microbreweries and with the sudden uptick in the craft beer revolution, Fox River Brewing Company was not immune to this problem. Al Bunde left in 1998 and Lonsway took over the operation of both breweries. Lonsway left in 2002 and Brian Allen came in to take over as brewmaster. Allen stayed for 7 years before moving on to Mother's Brewing Company in Springfield, MO. But a young man who first got his start bussing tables at the Appleton location at the age of 16 stepped in to take over for Allen.
Kevin Bowen also helped out in the kitchen at the Fox River Brewing Company, but he was soon fascinated by everything that Steve Lonsway was doing in the brewery. Bowen graduated high school in 2000 and bummed around for a couple of years before coming back to Appleton. He came back to Fox River Brewing just after Brian Allen took over and Bowen helped out in the fledgling bottle works the brewery had just opened. Learning all aspects of brewing from Allen, Bowen eventually was awarded a scholarship to the Siebel Institute in 2005. Upon graduating in 2006, he was named the brewmaster of a small microbrewery in Wausau, WI. When that place closed in 2008, Bowen came back to Fox River Brewing to work along side Allen. And when Allen left less than a year later, the Supples had no problem naming the 26-year-old Bowen as their brewmaster.
Bowen stayed on for 10 years with Fox River Brewing Company before moving to France to be with his girlfriend earlier this year. But over his tenure, brewing output increased by two and a half times. When he took over, Fox River Brewing had limited distribution in the Fox Valley. When he left last year, Fox River Brewing was found on store shelves all through the state of Wisconsin. Bowen's successor, Andrew Roth - who had been the lead brewer for Fox River Brewing for 10 months prior - was named as his replacement in August of last year.
(A large thanks to Lee at the Oshkosh Beer Blog for much of the information on the history and brewmasters of the Fox River Brewing Company.)
The Fox River Brewing Company is located on the west side of the Fox River Mall. (see map) I probably could have walked over from the hotel, but it was sort of a cool evening and I had only brought a light jacket with me. Parking was plentiful in front of the restaurant.
Inside the Fox River Brewing Company, I found a large bar that had zigs and zags giving it a unique shape. It was a Monday night - usually a slow night for many restaurants - and there were a few people in the place. The beer list for that evening was on the wall near the bar which touted Fox River Brewing's regionally famous Blu Bobber blueberry ale, their Marble Rye Scottish Ale, the Buzzin' Honey Ale, and their 2 Dams Blonde Ale.
There was a short wall that separated the bar area from a small dining area in the back. This area was closed off for the evening as there just weren't enough people there that evening. An open kitchen with a wood-fired oven was off to the side of the dining room and bar area.
I ended up sitting at the bar that evening and was greeted by the very congenial bartender who made some suggestions on beers after he gave me a food menu to look over. He was meticulous in the description of some of the beers, and when he got to the Shakedown IPA I stopped him and ordered one of those.
Much of the food at the Fox River Brewing Company was your typical pub food - shareable appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers, and wood-fired pizza. They had tacos on the menu and a handful of entrees including a porcini mushroom and truffle ravioli served with barbacoa beef in a dijon mustard cream sauce, grilled chicken in a pesto with cavatappi pasta noodles, traditional fish and chips, and Pad Thai shrimp bowl.
I wasn't really up for a burger as I had one the day before with my wife. But their mushroom/Swiss burger made with ground steak was really trying to get me to order it up. However, I ended up getting the jambalaya that evening.
I pretty much knew going in that the jambalaya probably wouldn't be all that great and I wasn't all that disappointed when I found it to be just all right. It featured andouille sausage, smoked chicken chunks, and grilled shrimp mixed with bell peppers, caramelized onions, a black bean with corn salsa and served with a brown rice/quinoa mix with a bit of a tomato sauce and a blackened Cajun seasoning mixed in. It wasn't authentic Cajun, but it was a nice try at trying to come up with jambalaya at a brew pub in the middle of Wisconsin. I ate it and was happy enough with my choice.
Now, here's a Road Tips first - after paying my bill and walking out side to get a picture of the outside of the brew pub, I had snapped a couple pictures (one of which is below) and as I was walking back out to my car in the lot, a security guard - a young guy just driving around the parking lot - cruised up next to me and said, "Uh, sir. Pictures of the mall are not authorized."
I sort of stopped and said, "Huh?"
Once again, he said, "You can't take pictures of the mall without permission."
I turned to the young police academy dropout and said incredulously, "You've got to be shitting me!"
"No sir, I'm not," he replied matter-of-factly.
Now, what was he going to do? Take my phone from me? Tell me to delete the picture? Take me in? I just shook my head and moved on, crossing in front of his mall security car to get to my car.
What did he do? He just sat there as I got into my car, pulled out of the parking spot and moved down the line of cars in the lot. And he followed me - not closely, but close enough to let me realize that he was behind me. I drove through the parking lot and he continued to follow me. I got to a stop sign where I would turn right out of the parking lot and off the property and he came up behind me again. I took the right turn to go back to the hotel and he sort of sat there at the stop sign probably trying to figure out his next course of action. I looked in my rear view mirror again as I made my way down the small frontage road away from the mall and saw that he went straight and wasn't coming after me.
Now, I've been asked just a handful of times by some restaurants as to why I'm taking pictures of their place, but I've never been told that I couldn't take pictures. (Years ago, I did almost get busted at a store in the Kansas City area that had big signs that said "No Photos!") I've since been told by more lawyerly types that the security guard was probably correct - you really can't take pictures of private property without the consent of the owner. But as one person told me, "It hardly ever gets enforced in this day and age of camera phones, Instagram and Twitter." The consensus among the law scholars I talked to was that this mall cop was probably a bit too heavy-handed in his enforcement.
Getting accosted by the mall cop for taking the picture of the outside of the Fox River Brewing Company was just a side light to what turned out to be an OK meal and some pretty good beer. I pretty much knew going in that their jambalaya would be just all right and it didn't turn out to be anything more or less than that. I really enjoyed the Shakedown IPA they had on tap at Fox River Brewing Company. It had a nice forward hoppy taste, but a very smooth finish. The service and recommendations by the very friendly bartender was very appreciated that evening. Fox River Brewing Company was a nice find in my travels. However, it sounds like I need to go to the one in Oshkosh to check that location out at some point.
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