Daniel Higgins|Green Bay Press-Gazette
Spotted Cow is more than a popular beer. Name another beer that would drive a bar manager to smuggle it across state lines and risk prisontime to put it on tap.
In Wisconsin, Spotted Cow is just about everywhere. Seriously, you need to go out of your way to find an establishment with a liquor license that doesn't sell Spotted Cow. For example, the brewery's beer finder shows 400 bars and restaurants within 50 miles of Wausau. If you add in the liquor stores and other retailers, you hit 400 locations within 33 miles.
A beer this popular also garners a number of articles and Google searching. Not all the information is accurate.
After archival and internet research of afraction of the nearly endless supply of Spotted Cow articles and watching a documentary, I felt prepared to talk with the brewmaster who created the beer that made New Glarus famous— Dan Carey.
What follows are answers to some oft-Googled questions about Spotted Cow.
Who makes Spotted Cow beer?
New Glarus Brewing has been making Spotted Cow since 1997.
It is the brewery's best seller.Of the roughly 245,000 barrels brewed annually by New Glarus, Carey said abouttwo-thirds is Spotted Cow.
Originally sold in kegs and bottles, Spotted Cow became the second New Glarus beer sold in cans (Moon Man was first) in 2016.
Since 2019, Spotted Cow has been sold by the case. That's a rarity for a craft beer.
More: New Glarus Brewing's Spotted Cow now available by the case
Can you buy Spotted Cow outside of Wisconsin?
No.
Since 2003, New Glarus Brewing has been true to its "Only in Wisconsin" tagline. The brewery does not distribute any of its beer, including Spotted Cow,out of state.
Nor does New Glarus Brewing ship its beer.
You can buy Spotted Cow in Wisconsin and take it out of state for personal consumption or to share, provided you're not selling it to anyone.
MORE:New Glarus Brewing Co.’s Spotted Cow is available only in Wisconsin
What kind of beer is Spotted Cow?
Spotted Cow sometimes gets categorized as a cream ale.
The brewery's website describesthe beer a naturally cloudy farmhouse ale.
Carey said he thinks of all their beers, including Spotted Cow, as "our beer" not in terms of any defined style. Like a musician thinks of their music as "their music" not by a defined genre.
Truthfully, Spotted Cow doesn't fit neatly into one beer style. That makes sense considering the beer's origins. It's modeled after a beer that caught Carey's attention during a trip to Old World Wisconsin. While touring the German farmstead he spotted a pot of beer sitting in the corner. He wonderedwhat type of beer would be brewed by an 1850s-era Wisconsin farmer of German heritage.
Pale beers, like Pilsners and lagers, not hoppy pale ales of today, would have been the trendy, "cool beer" of the time.
Carey figured the farmers would choose high-quality hops from the Czech Republic and readily available grains on Wisconsin farms: barley, wheat and corn.The original Spotted Cow grain bill included about 10% corn. Carey said that in order to avoid using GMO ingredients, they switched to an all-malt recipe a few years ago.
Spotted Cow is unfiltered, which givesit a hazy appearance. That's a nod to Wisconsin's farmers and the cloudy nature of cask conditioned ales popular since long before Prohibition, Carey said.
Pro tip: Brewer's yeast sometimes settles at the bottom of bottles or cans. You can reincorporate the yeast by carefully setting the bottle or can on its side on a flat surface and gently rolling it back and forth with the palm of your hand.
What is the alcohol content in Spotted Cow beer?
If you look on the label, packaging and website for Spotted Cow's alcohol by volume, you're not going to find it.
If you read an article — or 20— about Spotted Cow, you'll find two answers to this question: 4.8% and 5.1%.
Carey said Spotted Cow is 5.1%, more or less.
What does Spotted Cow beer taste like?
It leans sweet with hints of peach, apricotand sometimes strawberry with a little bit of breadiness. That's all balanced by the crispness of a tart snap at the end. The fruity notes come from the fermentation process, not any additions.
The brewer's yeast in Spotted Cow gives the straw-colored beer a cloudy presence, contributes to a smoother drinking experienceand bolstersbready notes.
It's more complex than you'd expect from an easy drinker with mass appeal.
Is Spotted Cow good beer?
The beer delivers flavors as promised, drinks smooth and finishes clean. Any beer that delivers what it promises is good beer.
If you want further proof, online ratings and reviews are generally good when it comes to Spotted Cow.
Beer Advocate's official rating scores Spotted Cow an85 (very good)out of 100. Spotted Cow has amassed about 4,000 ratings from the online BA community with an averagearound 3.76out of 5 stars.
Spotted Cow has been rated more than 200,000 times on Untappd, a beer rating site and app, earning a3.89 out of 5.
Wine Enthusiast Magazine gives it 92 points.
Of course there are naysayers and haters, but on the whole Spotted Cow ratings land it solidly in good beer territory.
Is Spotted Cow the best beer?
Aperfect beer is a marriage of complexity and drinkability, Carey said.
By that definition, you could say Spotted Cow is close to perfection.
Ultimately, only you can say if Spotted Cow is the best beer. The best beer is the beer you like best. Period. Don't let Google, beer snobs or this reporter tell you which beer is best.
What beer is similar to Spotted Cow?
That's the million-dollar question. I have not had a specific beer I'd be comfortable saying is similar to Spotted Cow. Then again, with Spotted Cow's wide availability in Wisconsin, I haven't had a reason to search for something similar.
Maybe an unfiltered wheat beer might work. Possibly.
Many recommendations I found on blogs and messageboards most often mention cream-style ales.
Or, you can look for an unfiltered beer made witha blend ofPilsner malt, white wheat, and caramel malt, Saaz hops, and a German ale yeast strain. That would get you closer. Maybe.
However, Spotted Cow is brewed with water from a well on the brewery's property, which can't be replicated. (OK, if a brewer obtained a sample of the water from the New Glarus well, analyzed it, and has the equipment to mimic those water characteristics, then it would be closer.)
Who owns New Glarus Brewing?
Deb Carey founded New Glarus Brewing in 1993. She is the brewery's chief executive officer while her husband, Dan Carey, is the New Glarus brewmaster.
More:There's a love story behind New Glarus Brewing
The Careys started anemployee stock ownership plan in 2015 in an effort to assure continued local ownership of the company.
Why is New Glarus beer only sold in Wisconsin?
Because New Glarus doesn't want to sell its beer outside of the state. Nor does it need to sell to other markets to be profitable.
In previous reports, Deb Carey said New Glarus pulled out of markets like Chicago because it wasn't worth the freebies (graft) and hassle to get places to carry their beer.
Since then, New Glarus has done just fine selling its beer only in Wisconsin. According totheBrewers Association— the trade association representingsmall and independentAmerican craft brewers— New Glarus ranked 12th in among American craft brewing companies and 21st among all national breweries in terms of beer production in 2021.
So, don't expect New Glarus to expand outside of Wisconsin anytime soon.
"We have more lab technicians than salespeople," Dan Carey said. "When you sell beer in far-off places, you become one of many beers. You need more salespeople and marketing. It's expensive to sell in far-off markets."
By focusing on just Wisconsin, Carey said, they put more effort into sourcing "the best raw materials, which is how I spend much of my time."
He also said money needed for sales and marketing outside of Wisconsin instead goes to local charitiesand paying living wages to their staff.
Why is the beer named Spotted Cow?
The name came first. During a trip to England to receive an award for their Wisconsin Belgian red ale, Dan and Deb toured the countryside north of London. Deb was amazed at how manysheep she saw and began thinking tourists to Wisconsin probably have similar thoughts about all the spotted cows here.
She decided they weregoing to name a beer Spotted Cow.
The name fit the farmhouse-inspired beer Dan later crafted.
Who designed the label?
Deb Carey drew thecow jumping over the state of Wisconsin artwork featured on the label.
Contact Daniel Higgins dphiggin@gannett.com. Follow @HigginsEats on Twitter and Instagram and like on Facebook.
