*This is the eighteenth post in an on-going chronicle dubbed the Great Wisconsin Brewery Tour. Follow the journey here.*
Second Salem Brewing Company. All photos by Joe Powell.
Second Salem Brewing Company
111 W Whitewater St
Whitewater, WI 53190
(262) 473-2920
Visit date: 07/31/15
Quick Hits:
1) How many different beers?
7 standards and 4 seasonals
2) How long operational?
Opened brewery and pub December 2014
3) Why? (here, this, etc)
The space was a different pub. The owner was spit-balling with friends on a business venture and decided to start a brewery too.
4) Distribution?
1-barrel system, currently available in-house; working on getting labels approved by government for bottling.
5) What sets you apart?
“Every beer has a story behind it.”
6) How did you get your name?
Whitewater was nicknamed the “Second Salem” in the 1800s due to odd happenings.
Whitewater is a quaint town, with small storefronts and bars on the main street and beautiful creek and lake views. The city also is home to UW-Whitewater, a state school nationally known for its D3 football program. It’s quiet, charming, and friendly: the perfect place for witches and devil worship. Second Salem Brewing Company serves up beer with a side of paranormal history.
6 of their beer-artworks, depicting unexplained phenomena in the surrounding Whitewater area.
This brewpub overlooking Cravath Lake is full of spooky artwork, comfortable bar and lounge areas, and an outdoor patio. The front features a full bar with a pub feel: they have pool and TVs, and proudly display large poster-versions of each beer’s label artwork.
The front pub area.
The back is a larger event space and bar leading to a gorgeous outdoor patio, which is where we took our beers.
Plenty of outdoor seating, a shady trellis, and the lake to the left.
For $12 we got a taste of each of the 6 haunted house brews they had that night. Each of the beers are linked below to a description of their namesakes!
These people watched us drink from their place on the wall. Not unsettling at all.
Old Main Golden Ale
Slightly malty, slightly spOoOoky light ale.
The Reaper Pale Wheat Ale
Very clove-forward, great with the lemon in your nose to keep the smell of fast-approaching death away.
Witchtower Pale Ale
Odd musty Amaretto taste, though that’s certainly better than eye of newt and toe of frog.
The Beast of Bray Road Amber Ale
Malt-forward with hop aftertaste. Perfect during a full moon.
Second Salem Porter
Light body, heavy taste.
Wildman of LaGrange Hefeweizen
Hard to pin down, just like the wildling namesake; definite malty mouthfeel and definitely good.
A blue moon rises.
Second Salem Brewing Company is a comfortable respite from the hustle and bustle of the big city. It provides an interesting, and sometimes unsettling, trip down a dark local history. It was only suiting that we watched the blue moon rise over the lake while drinking Second Salem’s spooky suds.