By Tim Schuetz
When it comes to drinking in Oshkosh, popular national trends don’t always prevail as local residents tend to know exactly what they want and the kind of consistent taste they are looking for.
But as Wisconsin’s winter gives way to warmth, Oshkosh bartenders are expecting their customers to move way from warmer and heavier drinks and turn to the nice, light, fruit-flavored drinks that are being poured across the country.
Redd’s Apple Ale is an example of the perfect summertime drink.
Will Amacher, manager of Calhoun Beach Club said one of his favorite drinks, Redd’s Apple Ale, will be and has been an incredibly popular drink in summer.
“If I’m drinking a lot of beers and Redd’s is available, I’m probably gonna go Redd’s,” Amacher said. “That product isn’t gonna die. That’s just a product that was damn good, damn marketable and they did a pretty good job on it.”
Amacher said that Redd’s Apple Ale is perfect for incredibly hot days. While he was at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival last year, Redd’s was his drink of choice.
“I don’t think I had anything like malt beverage wise other than Redd’s the whole weekend,” Amacher said. “It was so hot, you could really drink a ton. It’s like 95 degrees and you can’t get good Wisconsin drunk in 95 degrees and no shade if you’re out watching shows for 10 hours.”
As to why Redd’s Apple Ale became so popular in Wisconsin, Amacher said he believes it could have been because of a past fruit crop problem.
“My theory, about three or so years ago there was a really messed up fruit crop for whatever reason throughout the country and one of the only things that really really really flourished was apple crops,” Amacher said. “I remember that year New Glarus, they didn’t make their Belgian Red because Door County cherries, they normally made it with Door County cherries. There was like 15 percent the normal year of cherries in Door County that year so they couldn’t make it. So products weren’t being made so they had to figure out other ways to kinda mess around.”
The Fox River Brewing Co.'s most popular beer is the BLÜ Bobber and can be found at Fratellos Waterfront Restaurant in Oshkosh. The BLÜ Bobber is a blueberry flavored beer that is expected to keep selling like crazy throughout the summer.
Lee Reiherzer, founder of the Oshkosh Beer Blog and contributor to the Scene Newspaper and Oshkosh Independent, wrote an article for the Oshkosh Independent about the BLÜ Bobber. In his article, Reiherzer said he wasn’t surprised that the BLÜ Bobber took first place at a Wisconsin beer festival. He also mentioned how much he personally liked the drink.
"I hadn’t drank this beer in years," Reiherzer said in his article. “It’s not the sort of thing a beer geek drinks. But it turned out to be exactly what I needed.”
Reiherzer is also an expert on craft beer and brewing in Oshkosh. He said that there are particular flavored craft beers people will be drinking in summer.
“If they’re drinking craft beer then their glass is likely to be filled with something that gives off the distinct aroma of American hops,” Reiherzer said. “India Pale Ale is the beer style driving the craft beer movement. These intensely hoppy beers have become the default brews for a large segment of the good-beer crowd.”
Along with the fruit drinks, Dani Anglea, a bartender at Kelly’s Bar in Oshkosh, said Twisted Tea is also becoming increasingly popular. Anglea said one of the Twisted Tea flavors, strawberry and lemonade, tasted like a hard iced tea.
However, Anglea said that there are many fruit drinks people will choose from this summer.
“I would say like cider beer like Ciderboys, Redd’s, Angry Orchard, Twisted Tea, maybe like margaritas or something like that,” Anglea said. “Anything like Summer Hummers are big, which is lime vodka and lemonade.”
Joe Solomon, a bartender at the more up-scale Mahoney’s Restaurant & Bar, said that he agreed that many people will be drinking margaritas this summer.
“Margaritas are probably the No. 1 selling summertime drink,” Solomon said. “Nationwide, margaritas [are] super popular.”
Solomon also said that people will be looking into what drinks Oshkosh has to offer locally.
“People are moving into more of like the fresh, local kinda attitude,” Solomon said. “There’s a lot of that going on. So I have a feeling like peach bellinis or mimosas, stuff like that are gonna become a little more popular. Just like anything with a fruit juice in it is more popular.”
When it comes to drinking in Oshkosh, popular national trends don’t always prevail as local residents tend to know exactly what they want and the kind of consistent taste they are looking for.
But as Wisconsin’s winter gives way to warmth, Oshkosh bartenders are expecting their customers to move way from warmer and heavier drinks and turn to the nice, light, fruit-flavored drinks that are being poured across the country.
Redd’s Apple Ale is an example of the perfect summertime drink.
Will Amacher, manager of Calhoun Beach Club said one of his favorite drinks, Redd’s Apple Ale, will be and has been an incredibly popular drink in summer.
“If I’m drinking a lot of beers and Redd’s is available, I’m probably gonna go Redd’s,” Amacher said. “That product isn’t gonna die. That’s just a product that was damn good, damn marketable and they did a pretty good job on it.”
Amacher said that Redd’s Apple Ale is perfect for incredibly hot days. While he was at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival last year, Redd’s was his drink of choice.
“I don’t think I had anything like malt beverage wise other than Redd’s the whole weekend,” Amacher said. “It was so hot, you could really drink a ton. It’s like 95 degrees and you can’t get good Wisconsin drunk in 95 degrees and no shade if you’re out watching shows for 10 hours.”
As to why Redd’s Apple Ale became so popular in Wisconsin, Amacher said he believes it could have been because of a past fruit crop problem.
“My theory, about three or so years ago there was a really messed up fruit crop for whatever reason throughout the country and one of the only things that really really really flourished was apple crops,” Amacher said. “I remember that year New Glarus, they didn’t make their Belgian Red because Door County cherries, they normally made it with Door County cherries. There was like 15 percent the normal year of cherries in Door County that year so they couldn’t make it. So products weren’t being made so they had to figure out other ways to kinda mess around.”
The Fox River Brewing Co.'s most popular beer is the BLÜ Bobber and can be found at Fratellos Waterfront Restaurant in Oshkosh. The BLÜ Bobber is a blueberry flavored beer that is expected to keep selling like crazy throughout the summer.
Lee Reiherzer, founder of the Oshkosh Beer Blog and contributor to the Scene Newspaper and Oshkosh Independent, wrote an article for the Oshkosh Independent about the BLÜ Bobber. In his article, Reiherzer said he wasn’t surprised that the BLÜ Bobber took first place at a Wisconsin beer festival. He also mentioned how much he personally liked the drink.
"I hadn’t drank this beer in years," Reiherzer said in his article. “It’s not the sort of thing a beer geek drinks. But it turned out to be exactly what I needed.”
Reiherzer is also an expert on craft beer and brewing in Oshkosh. He said that there are particular flavored craft beers people will be drinking in summer.
“If they’re drinking craft beer then their glass is likely to be filled with something that gives off the distinct aroma of American hops,” Reiherzer said. “India Pale Ale is the beer style driving the craft beer movement. These intensely hoppy beers have become the default brews for a large segment of the good-beer crowd.”
Along with the fruit drinks, Dani Anglea, a bartender at Kelly’s Bar in Oshkosh, said Twisted Tea is also becoming increasingly popular. Anglea said one of the Twisted Tea flavors, strawberry and lemonade, tasted like a hard iced tea.
However, Anglea said that there are many fruit drinks people will choose from this summer.
“I would say like cider beer like Ciderboys, Redd’s, Angry Orchard, Twisted Tea, maybe like margaritas or something like that,” Anglea said. “Anything like Summer Hummers are big, which is lime vodka and lemonade.”
Joe Solomon, a bartender at the more up-scale Mahoney’s Restaurant & Bar, said that he agreed that many people will be drinking margaritas this summer.
“Margaritas are probably the No. 1 selling summertime drink,” Solomon said. “Nationwide, margaritas [are] super popular.”
Solomon also said that people will be looking into what drinks Oshkosh has to offer locally.
“People are moving into more of like the fresh, local kinda attitude,” Solomon said. “There’s a lot of that going on. So I have a feeling like peach bellinis or mimosas, stuff like that are gonna become a little more popular. Just like anything with a fruit juice in it is more popular.”