Author Archive
What is Bikini Fishing?
With the The Pro Water Ski Tour coming to town this August, we have an imperative question to ask you: What is Bikini Fishing?
In conjunction with the Pro Ski Tour Event, (to be held at Juneau Park Pond), we will host a Bikini Fishing contest. Why not? This is clearly an awesome idea.
Only one problem though. We’re not sure what this new sport entails. Please detail your coherent response as a comment, and we will award a FREE CASE OF BEER to the person who is able to adequately describe this contest.
Supporting Local Businesses
I actually wrote this a few months ago and never published it. A conversation with @lanora of Next Chapter Book Store sparked me to put it out there…
I’m going to take a moment and deviate from my normal light-hearted quick and easy blog posts to try to bring to light the power of YOU in YOUR community. Now before I go off on a big tangent here I’m not saying you don’t support your community if you shop at Target or Wal-Mart, obviously companies like those employee several people within the community. Anyway, I’ll get on with my actual point now!
Since I have been in business for myself I have taken on a much greater appreciation for where I shop and where the money I spend is actually going. The gas station up the block from my South Milwaukee store is never the least expensive, but I have met the owner, he lives locally and works at his station trying to make a living. Same with the guy who owns the Subway just up the block. Same as me.
Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person who knows what I’m going through and as I lock up the doors and go grab a beer at a bar that one of my friends owns, he is standing behind the bar I realize I’m not alone. Also I realize without each other we wouldn’t survive. Theres no way he can compete with the corporate bar giants the likes of “Bar Louie” and “Buckheads” and I can’t compete against Metro Mart/Pick ‘n’ Save. I never opened my store at “The Blatz” thinking “I’m going to bury the Metro Mart” or any other place that carries beer, wine or liquor. All of these businesses have their place, there will always be people that just want to grab a six pack while getting some groceries and people that want to go to a bar with impersonal or downright rude bartenders and pay $9 for a drink. I don’t fault people for that, in fact I myself participate in such activities every now and then. I just want people to think twice before they spend their hard earned buck.
I know several people that will tell me about buying beer or wine or liquor some where else and I ask them why and the response is typically the same, “I was there and it was only $10″. Now I can’t fault them for the “I was there..” part of the argument. I have not forbidden my friends or customers from ever shopping anywhere else. I’m not unreasonable, I would like to get as much business that I can from everyone, but I also know there are times I need gas and am nowhere near my typical gas station. Its the “it was only $10″ part of the argument that makes me want to jump up and scream! I feel like people don’t understand the impact and power of EVERY dollar they spend. Between Facebook, Twitter and my blog there is close to 1000 people that here me plug my store daily. If Half of those people came in once a week and spent their $10 at my store it would pay my rent. Those “only $10″ add up and mean a great deal to us little guys.
I don’t expect everyone to now only spend their money at locally owned stores. I just urge you to take a moment, get to know some of the local small business owners, if you have the 2 extra minutes it takes to go to their place do it. After you have made your purchase you can feel good about that dollar staying local and going on to be spent again locally.
Joe
Welcome to Blatz Market & Liquor
After a series of budget meetings resulting from the economic turmoil that has gripped much of the banking sector, the decision got passed down that the Blatz Market & Liquor site located at www.blatzliquor.com should be redirected here to the Blatz Cave Beer Blog site.
Don’t worry, we’ll be making some updates here in the near future (as time allows) to integrate some new things into the site to keep you coming back.
In the meantime, look forward to Joe’s posts on the new things available in the store, and the other promotions that we have going on.
Ale Asylum Hopalicious
Ale Asylum Hopalicious Available at the Blatz Market & Liquor
Ale Asylum is “Bottled in Madison – Brewed in Sanity”… which sounds questionable, at best. With eleven separate additions of hops in the recipe, Hopalicious may not typically appeal to those who consider themselves “adverse” to “hoppy” beers. But Ale Asylum keeps it on the straight and narrow with this local favorite.
Hopalicious is sweet and smooth, which are characteristics rarely associated with such a huge dose of hops. Ofcourse, if you’re desperately in search for the hoppiest of hops flavored beers out there, Ale Asylum won’t let you down either. The flavor of hops stays true, without giving you a smack in the back of the mouth like many hopped up variety.
Stocked regularly in the Blatz Market and Liquor, you can find this beer both in our Blatz Cave and in our Build Your Own 6 Pack Cooler tonight!
Hook & Ladder Backdraft Brown
Just in today at the Blatz is Hook & Ladder Brewing Company! Hook & Ladder is out of the Washington, DC area and was started by a volunteer firefighter in his kitchen. Now it’s become one of the fastest growing craft breweries in the country, and has just taken Milwaukee by storm.
Hook & Ladder Beers available at the Blatz Market & Liquor
Hook & Ladder supports local burn centers all over the country with their “Penny a Pint, a Quarter a Case” philosophy. This means that every time you come into the Blatz and pick up this beer, you’ll be supporting Milwaukee area firefighters… hopefully there aren’t any firefighters in the local burn center but I suppose it’s inevitable in their line of work.
Since 2005, Hook & Ladder has donated over $60,000 to burn centers around the country.
Much in the tradition of firefighters, they’ve named their different brews with great dry humor: Backdraft Brown, Lighter, and my personal favorite, Ember Ale. Unfortunately the Ember Ale is only available in their new Variety Pack, but that’s still no reason to avoid trying out all of their great brews!
We’ve strategically placed Backdraft Brown and Golden Ale in our Build-Your-Own-Sixpack cooler.
The Backdraft Brown (which I most recently enjoyed) is a full bodied, yet very smooth concoction, which when poured into a glass and held up to the light, I daresay resembles the color Fire Engine Red…
Tastey Beer Tasting
Posted by Wade in Beers, India Pale Ales, Lager on January 23rd, 2009
Free Beer Tasting at the Blatz
Last night, for those of you unfortunate enough to be working or unable to make it in, we hosted a hugely successful beer tasting right here in the store. We sampled the Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA and the Lakefront Brewery’s Big Easy. What a great combination of beers — of course, you know just as well as I do that beer always tastes better when it’s Free!
Our next tasting is next Thursday — it won’t be beer… but it will be Scotch! And it’s still free! Stop in from 5-7 on the 28th to take part!
New This Week
We’ve just received a few new arrivals into the Blatz Cave! Come down tonight and check out these great new beers:
> Sierra Nevada Torpedo
> Lakefront Bridge Burner
> Bell’s Hopslam
Also we still have 2 Sam Adams Winter Classic variety packs available, as well as just 3 Lakefront Variety packs… for some reason we even have 3 more Belgian Variety packs left. Come snatch these up before someone else does!
Furthermore, Fatty Boombalatty: A Dangerously Drinkable Belgian
On January 29th, we are excited to announce that we will be hosting the Furthermore Fatty Boombalatty Re- Release Party! Come on down to the Blatz to taste Furthermore’s latest creation:
Fatty Boombalatty release party at the Blatz, February 27, 2009!
The conception and naming of this beer happened in one fell swoop. Unsure whether to offer a light session beer or a fun ball-buster as our warm weather seasonal, we decided on a beer that would be “a big, fatty boombalatty” version of a Belgian white. And away we went, taking a recipe for a white beer and ramping up the grain bill by 50%; we dropped the amount of wheat by 75% to keep the beer rough around the edges. We bucked tradition by steering the bitterness in the direction of a pale ale, and coupling hops with coriander in the fermenter. The resulting beer gives you all the bubblegum goodness of a big Belgian, with enough crispness to cut through the sweet profile, thus making you want to sip it again and again. Dangerous, indeed!
Stop by February 27 at 5-7PM to taste Furthermore’s latest creation!
Ofcourse, if you’re as impatient as I am, you’ll be pleased to hear that there will be a beer tasing THIS Thursday, January 22 at 5PM. For more upcoming events check the Calendar
How Brett Farve F’d the NFL
Joe and I went to see Brett Farve’s last game before he retired… and he won! It was a frosty first of the year, 2006, when he faced off in his Last Game Ever against the Seattle Seahawks. He was wearing green and yellow… and he was playing on Lambeau. Unfortunately he just couldn’t sit down on the sidelines…. or become the best quarter back coach in the league and continue to get himself more super bowl rings.
Unfortunately, Brett managed to keep coming back for a beating over the past 3 seasons. Fast forward to today, and my New England Patriots are out of the playoffs with an 11-4 team that would have won their division for the 6th year in a row if Brett Farve hadn’t come to the damn New York Jets.
The Jets, ofcourse, threw out their incumbent quarterback, one Chad Pennington, for Farve. Farve, ofcourse, who turned down a twenty million dollar offer to stay retired. Pennington, who was traded to the Dolphins and just made Brett Farve’s last game ever a big LOSS.