Valkyrie

Yesterday, Adam, Kyle and I took a trip up to Dallas, Wisconsin, and Chetek.  Valkyrie Brewing, where we visited many years ago, was adding a tap room and we wanted to see it.  So we packed up everything for an overnight camping trip we didn't actually stay for, and drove two hours to check it out.  The owner was at a local beer festival, but his wife put up with us for about four hours, perhaps more, showing us the brewery, telling us about all the work she'd done on the concrete bar and the stenciling and the faux-stone walls, and talking about local beer laws and what it had been like after they'd sold their Viking Beer name to an Icelandic company and waiting for the Valkyrie name to clear for eight months.  Very educational.

While we were there, a little girl came in and bought the only four pack of root beer in the fridge.  But it had been mentioned earlier in our conversations that there was a new batch being bottled downstairs.  So the owner was nice enough to send her daughter down to bring back four unlabeled bottles and then she (the pregnant daughter in charge of bottling) signed a cap for Eryn.



After Valkyrie, we headed over to Chetek to have a yuck burger at B&B's.  We remembered to ask for onions this time, but I agree with Kyle, the amount of peanut butter seemed diminished once the onions were in place.  Delicious, nonetheless.  Although we ate entirely too much during the day.  Big breakfast.  Big lunch.  Dinner with pie.  Oof.

We also went over to Gilligan's where we had joked Adam would be cornholed.  We played a beanbag game only to learn that that WAS cornholing.  The loser of the game had to stand on the sunny side which resulted in an overage of sun after the trip up in the convertible.  Ron had recommended Gilligan's, and it was ok, but the crowd, at least while we were there, seemed a bit old.  The cover band, the Thundermen, averaged about 65.  Kyle felt bad for the bridal party that was just wandering around surrounded by old folks because they had committed to hitting every bar around the lake.

The owner at Valkyrie told us Oktoberfest is a very family-friendly event in Dallas.  There's a Kubb tournament.  A giant bratwurst.  And the day wraps up by 5:00 p.m. so things don't get too wild.  We're pondering a trip up there around that time with the families.