Fitgers and New Glarus Binge

Last week I had the rare opportunity of two days without daddy duty, and a beer filled trip with a couple close friends. The original plan was to go to the New Glarus brewery outside of Madison, Wisconsin, but the trip plans became too expensive. Plan two became a trip to arguably the best brewpub in Minnesota, Fitger's in Duluth. My parents' cabin is two hours southeast in Hayward, Wisconsin, so we had a free place to stay. I'd been to Fitger's before, but it was the first visit for El Jefe and our friend Bob. Fitger's is impressive, inside an old building that was the site of the original brewery founded in 1881. All three of us got a flight of 7 beers, along with a few samplers of the other specialties on tap. I regrettably forgot my geeky beer notebook, so I'll give a very brief description/impression of the beers we enjoyed:
Light House Golden Lager- The least favorite amongst all of us, a pretty straight forward lager. Nothing wrong with the beer, none of us are particularly big lager fans.
Breakwater Red- A raspberry wheat beer. Smelled great, tasted very good, but very fruity. Not a beer I could drink a lot of, but would be good on a hot day.
El Nino Double Hopped IPA- One of my favorites of the day. An outstandingly hoppy, aromatic IPA. Piney, citrusy, caramely...just great.
Starfire Pale Ale- I can push this pale ale amongst the top pale ales I've had. Great floral hop aroma, quite hoppy and a great balance between caramely sweetness and slight bitterness.
Big Boat Oatmeal Stout- An outstanding oatmeal stout. Creamy and chocolaty with a great roastiness and nice bitter balance. Perfect mouthfeel and just a great balance of flavors. I could drink a lot of this stout.
Amsterdam Ale- This was a Belgian ale, spicy and malty. It was good, but not amongst our favorites of the day.
Witch Tree ESB- This was a great ESB. It was biscuity with some nice floral aromas. A nice, drinkable ESB, a perfect session ale.
Wildfire Lager- An amber lager brewed with chilli's. This was probably one of the worst beers I've ever had. Not because of execution, but because this beer was just way way too peppery for my taste. We all had a hard time choking down the three ounce sampler we split. Pure pepper all the way down to the esophagus.
Daisy Ale II- This was a very hoppy amber ale, and was outstanding. Great citrus and floral aromas, wonderful maltiness. Another excellent hoppy ale from Fitger's.
The Bearded Brewer, Bob and The Jefe enjoying some flights.

A great drinking experience, and worth the trip if anyone can get up to Duluth. I think it's a toss up between Fitger's and Minneapolis' Town Hall Brewery for the best variety and quality of brewed beer in Minnesota.

After Duluth, we headed south stopping in Hayward's Marketplace grocery store to stock up on New Glarus for the night. We were there a night before a bear wandered through the front door of the store and into the beer cooler. Seriously. We missed the bear, but we did pick up a sampler pack of New Glarus, along with some Hearty Hop IPA and Spotted Cow. While Jefe cooked up some great Iowa pork chops, we delved into the sampler pack, which included their Fat Squirrel Brown Ale, Cracked Wheat, Stone Soup, and Coffee Stout. I've written a lot about New Glarus in the past, but the reoccurring comment of the night was "this one is great too." I was especially impressed with the Coffee Stout. I feel that Surly's Coffee Bender is the best coffee beer I've had, but New Glarus' is a very close second. We went through quite a few New Glarus through the night, and as usual it delivered.
We agreed that if we were to list the top beers of the trip, in no particular order it was New Glarus' Cracked Wheat, Coffee Stout, Hearty Hop, Fitger's Starfire Pale Ale, and Big Boat Oatmeal Stout. A great trip, nothing like excellent beer, good food, and good friends.
(And I think have broken my personal record for using the adjective "great" in a posting.)
Salud!
Bearded Brewer