Burgers and Brew

It's so easy to be uninspired to blog. But sometimes you have an event so great that it inspires you to start blogging again. Not sure how long this will last but lets give it a whirl. For some reason I didn't hear about the Capital Brewery Burgers & Brew event until Saturday morning. And then I wasn't sure if I should go. But I called up my great friend Kyle who also enjoys the gourmet burgers and the brew and he was more than willing to come with. Excellent! The good news is that there were 10 places serving 11 burgers. The bad news? For the $25 entry fee I got to try 3 burgers and 3 beers. I quickly made the decision that I would base the decision of what to get by the burger and not the beer. Kyle at the fest:


Burger 1: "Little John Burger" featuring John Priske's beef patty topped with Widmer's brick cheese, Jordandal Farm bacon, garlic aioli and fresh lettuce, red onion and tomato created by L'Etoile. On the bonus side I got a porter from Sand Creek Brewing which is from Black River Falls which is where both of my parents grew up. It was an excellent choice and my favorite burger of the day. The patty was prepared perfectly (medium rare) and the combo of cheese, bacon and garlic aioli were perfect!
Burger 2: Brasserie V's "V Burger" which is grilled beef with Muenster cheese, onion straws, romaine lettuce, tomatoes and classic aioli will please the classically trained burger lover (we were under a blue tent in the photo, so sorry for the photo.)This was the third best of the three I tried. But it was still a most excellent burger. The patty was above average and the combo of muenster (the most underrated of cheeses) onion straws and ever more aioli hit the spot. The peppered ale served with it was a great combo.

Burger 3 was a hard decision. 8 burgers available and only 1 more to eat. I did decide I wanted to stay traditional which eliminated the lamb, pork and vegetarian burgers. While finalizing the decision I see people walking away with a burger with crazy cheese sauce. Yep. I got the "Burger to Relish" from the Old Fashioned which was a beef burger spiced up with roasted red bell pepper and cherry pepper relish, topped with a 12 year Brunkow aged cheddar sauce made with Rocky's bourbon ale on a Sheboygan hard roll. Excellent choice! The Tyranena beer that came with was the worst of the three, but again that isn't saying much. The blend of cheese and peppers aboard a perfect patty made this one another favorite! Outstanding!

Kyle tried two of the same burgers I tried and added the "Weary Mexican Traveler." He seemed rather unimpressed with that and the pale ale he was forced to have with it. He thought the patty was ok and the toppings were marginal. Afterward we decided to sample one of Capital's pints before calling it an afternoon. Overall, I would eat any of these three burgers frequently if it was offered on a menu somewhere as they were all around Top 10 worthy and a couple might even be Top 5 worthy if I could try them again at a restaurant. So while the $25 was steep it went to a good cause and I hope to come back next year as it was very worthwhile!

Earlier in the week, Jess had a TGI Fridays hankering. Who am I to argue, especially since it was $5 burger night. Any burger on the menu for $5!!! Awesome! I got the triple stacked burger as it seemed very unique. The description: A juicy beef patty with a zesty red pepper pimento blend of sharp Cheddar and Monterey jack cheeses topped with ham, crispy bacon, pickles and more cheese, all stacked on a toasted bun..

It came as advertised and I must say, I never thought of ham on a hamburger before but it worked. It was actually very good and I'd order it again for sure. While their burgers aren't as large as other chains (Chili's for example) when it is stacked this high it didn't matter. Definitely worthy if you are on the west side and need something quick, especially on a Tuesday night!

Thanks for reading. Hopefully I'll hit back again soon!