Field Trip: Forbidden Beer in Little Switzerland

By Carrie Becker in Food on Mar 26, 2010 4:00PM

The entrance to the new Hilltop brewery. A gloomy day but the free tour and beer to drink along made up for it.

Beautiful copper kettles.

Stairway to Heaven.

The locals have it made. They can pick-up exclusives at the brewery any time.

Like kids in a candy store.

Good eats in a Swiss-chalet, The Glarner Stube.

If we lived here, we would belly up to this bar every night.

We don\'t think its physically possible not to order fried cheese curds when in Wisconsin. Go ahead, try us.

We all want what we can’t have and this is ever so true when it comes to exclusively distributed craft beers. So, when we heard Lush Wine & Spirits had a field trip scheduled to visit the new Hilltop New Glarus brewery and a bus big enough to smuggle back some “Forbidden Beer,” our beer bellies giggled with excitement and we hopped on the bus.

The new brewery is absolutely gorgeous (our pictures don't do it justice) and the tour is free and self-guided. However, the true reason to make the two-plus hour trip is to dive into the beer cellar and purchase exclusives like the Old English Porter, a beer that has the nose of a porter and initial taste then a nice sour finish, or the fun and lively Cran-bic. Sure, you can score the infamous Spotted Cow or Fat Squirrel, but those can be found anywhere in the state of Wisconsin.

We also enjoyed noshing on traditional Swiss treats at the Glarner Stube in downtown New Glarus. And with the Chalet-style architecture, we almost forgot we were in Packer country.

To sum it up - go for the beer, stay for the Swiss-hospitality and…. a bigger waistline.