Last night a couple of us caught the Milwaukee episode of Drinking Made Easy with Zane Lamprey on HDNet. Zane of Three Sheets and Have Fork, Will Travel fame started Drinking Made Easy earlier this year. The show focuses on the experiences of Zane, Steve McKenna and Marc Ryan as they travel across the United States looking for unique drinking destinations, traditions and general tomfoolery. Episodes are broken down by city, thus far Chicago and Milwaukee are the only Midwest cities to get the spotlight but a St Louis episode will air on January 5th at 7:30 central on HDNet.

The Milwaukee episode covered

a few staples like the Safe House and Wolski’s but highlighted a few unique destinations and traditions I had never heard of and frankly might’ve been happier keeping it that way. Somewhere between the Turkey Gizzard shot and the Scorpion Shot which featured a dead scorpion, sans stinger, dropped in to a shot glass of Roaring Dan’s Rum from Great Lakes Distillery I was glad I usually stick to beer and have tame friends. Local breweries mentioned were Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee Brewing Company and Sprecher Brewery. The Bomb Shelter, a beer lovers mecca, located in Milwaukee was featured at the start of the show and hosted a viewing which myself and Brittain attended. At the viewing Lakefront Brewery and Goose Island had special beers on tap that we will be reviewing on the site soon.

The Chicago episode doesn’t have anything quite as bold as the Scorpion Shot but they do highlight Goose Island Beer Company, Half Acre Beer Company, Metropolitan Brewing Company and give some good history on Schlitz. I personally enjoyed the prohibition era history and secrets especially the speakeasy’s they visit. The crew also stops by Chicago Indoor Racing which as the name suggests is an indoor racetrack. I’ve been there, it’s a lot of fun, if you have the means I highly recommend it.

I’ve added this show to my list of must watch TV. So should you!

http://www.drinkingmadeeasy.com/
Milwaukee Episode
Chicago Episode

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 30th, 2010 at 10:44 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.