Hinterland goes big for Packers fans in new Titletown District brewpub
ASHWAUBENON - It's taken 22 years for Hinterland to travel 17 miles from its first brewery crafted out of a converted cheese plant in Denmark to its brand new, built-from-the-ground-up 25,000 square-foot brewery and restaurant with a front row view of Lambeau Field.
The brewhouse, which opened in March, more than doubles Hinterland's capacity to 14,000 barrels that, with additional equipment, could reach 30,000 barrels annually. There are more than 200 seats inside to enjoy everything from cheese curds and wood-fired pizzas to wood-fired oysters and venison leg steak from two kitchens and wash it down with a beer poured from one of 72 taps, including four nitro lines — one for Luna Stout, one for Hinterland's IPA and two others that rotate beer selections. Oh, and there's room for about another 250 guests in the beer garden.
After an 18-year stint in the former meat-packing plant downtown Green Bay, owners Bill and Michelle Tressler took full advantage of building a new Hinterland without having to retrofit it to an existing structure.
"We started this process a long, long time ago with tiny little equipment and it's kind of gotten out of control," says Bill in a moment of wistful retrospection before adding a qualifying, "to some degree."
The new building — an anchor in the emerging Titletown District — does its best rustic, cabin-in-the-woods impression, from the exposed wood siding to the 4,100-pound perforated-steel H. It's more striking than the somewhat indistinct signage and functional brick exterior of its downtown location.
While plenty has changed from the downtown Green Bay location — days of moving dining room tables to make room for bottling runs and the handwritten food orders are gone — Hinterland has brought plenty of the ingredients that built its success.
Hinterland has been scaling up in its new home to prepare for the onslaught of Green Bay Packers fans who begin arriving this week for the July shareholders meeting and who will be visiting through December — or January, if all goes well on the field.
The beer comes first
"I love the restaurant, don't get me wrong, but I'm a brewer," says Bill. "That's how I got into the business. I love the equipment. I love the machinery. I love working on all of it and I really love the end result."
Luna Stout and Packerland Pilsner are most often the end result. Luna, named for the local roaster that provides the coffee beans that punches up the java flavors, and Packerland, a feel-good, comeback story of an easy drinker, are the leaders when it comes to sales. Hinterland's IPA and Ever Green, a session IPA, are also popular enough to make the production schedule all year.
Not that Hinterland doesn't have its share of high-demand seasonal and small batch brews.
The maple bacon bourbon stout, which is only available in small batches because it's not possible to render large quantities of bacon fat as an adjunct, is achieving legendary status around Green Bay.
The Cherry Wheat, says head brewer Joe Karls, generates calls for weeks before it's released each spring. Demand for the beer is understandable. Made with tart Door County cherries, it is a light and refreshing but flavorful summer drinker. It was the first beer brewed on the new system.
A system that gives the Hinterland team data. Information. That's useful for quickly dialing in a recipe. It also helps with consistency.
Brewing science with art
There's a lab for on-site testing, a centrifuge, and a packaging system that, says Bill, brings "all of our dissolved oxygen content way, way-way low."
"We spent a lot of time looking at quality control," says Bill because it allows breweries to stand the test of time. "We've gone from the dark ages to extremely modern. It was almost brewing by familiarity versus brewing by actual analytical data provided by the system."
Data is proving to be as useful in brewing as it is in any other business.
"There was nothing wrong with the way we were brewing in the past. But now you bring in data ... all of those things just help to make consistent product time and time again. We have suffered from those growing pains because we were trying to produce a lot of beer on a facility that really wasn't designed at all for that. Every day we were just pushing the limits of what we could physically do there. Now with this facility, we can run it through the paces and this won't feel the pressure."
Looking for the next big brew
"I think breweries today are sort of like rock bands looking for their single," says Bill, who was in a San Francisco-area band trying to land a record deal before finding his way into the brewing business. "You never stop writing new songs, and you never know what's going to be a runaway hit. In today's market a runaway hit might be amazing sales for two years and then people move onto a new style. That's what of sort of drives the craft beer industry."
A few years ago IPA was all about the IBU, (International Bitterness Units, a scale used to rate, you guessed it, a beer's bitterness) with breweries trying to one-up each other to claim IPA bitterness supremacy.
Then demand changed — again.
"So now you have these beers, it's not about the bitterness, it's about the big juicy hop floral aroma and flavor. I remember back in the day when Rogue and some other breweries had the hops arms race, who could brew the bitterest beer, now nobody gives a ... about that."
Hinterland's year round IPA comes in at a respectable 66 IBU. Though its recently released Citra Pale Ale follows more of the demand for floral and juicy characteristics.
Still rolling out barrel-aged beer
Barrel aging was mostly an offsite process, specifically the aging process, during the downtown brewery days. Same at the new location, even with the expanded space.
"It's almost better to have it isolated somewhere where you can control the process."
Somewhere doors aren't constantly opening and closing. Anything to reduce the variance.
"Barrel aging is like somewhat controlled chaos," he says, then reconsiders. "I don't know that I would call it controlled chaos, it's almost like total chaos. But we've learned a lot over the years. As we've gotten better at that."
Exhibit A: Stovepipe, the brewery's 20th-anniversary bourbon barrel aged imperial stout hopped up on Luna coffee at a rate of 10 pounds per barrel. Exhibit B: Hinterland's 21st Anniversary Ale that was a blend of two bourbon barrel beers and a non-barrel aged brew.
Hinterland, the restaurant
Bill may say he's a brewer first, but don't be fooled. The menu and dining experience at Hinterland is far from being an afterthought. This is a restaurant that built a reputation, deservedly, as a downtown dinner destination.
Hinterland's longtime executive chef, Kelly Qualley, and his culinary team are carrying on that reputation. Just on a bigger scale. More often.
Downtown, Hinterland was a lunch spot once a week. Here, in the Beer Hall under the vaulted ceiling that leaves plenty of head room to open glass garage-style doors to the beer garden, lunch is served daily. So is dinner.
Both the lunch and dinner menus are a blend of new items and greatest hits from downtown.
Pizzas are still wood fired. Truthfully, there's more than pizza going into those wood-fired ovens — chefs have three at their disposal. Cooks may sear a fish then finish the dish in a wood-fired oven, says Bill, that gives it a different flavor than if it had been finished in an ordinary oven.
Wood-fired ovens are hardly the only thing separating Hinterland dining from other nearby restaurants.
Curds are a mix of cow and goat cheeses. Fried Brussels sprouts, a fan favorite says Qualley, pack an almond crunch.
Wings are of the duck variety served with a bourbon honey mustard glaze.
Nachos are topped with chorizo along with pickled onions and pickled jalapeno.
Burgers are made of beef from grass-fed cows.
The meatloaf recipe calls for venison.
Blackened barramundi, a fish Qualley describes as the walleye of the sea, is still served with the red hot sauce. The dish’s popularity predates Qualley's time as a chef at Hinterland.
Going high gravity
Still, it's upstairs in what Hinterland dubs as the High Gravity kitchen where the chefs really cut loose. Searching out seasonal foods. Changing the menu on a whim. Preparing it all — or at least 90 percent Qualley estimates — within full view of diners.
"I think Kelly was a little surprised when I revealed how it would go down," says Bill of the open and up-close nature of the High Gravity kitchen.
A line of seats — just a few feet from the action — treat guests to dinner and show. That show includes a medieval-looking contraption that with a turn of a metal ship's wheel allows chefs to raise and lower the grate loaded with everything from steaks to vegetables over a bed of hardwood coals.
Diners at more conventional tables are treated to a view of Lambeau Field.
Bill sees the exposed kitchen as an opportunity for the culinary team to share the wins and losses with the servers.
"A lot of times they're doing special stuff and they're looking for feedback from the servers," says Bill. "Now they can walk over and ask, 'how was that?'"
Try the pastrami
The pastrami sandwich, hidden in plain sight on the lunch menu, is a bit of an unexpected hit even though it was built to satisfy the cravings of just one person. The one person who's opinion carries the most weight: Qualley's.
"I love a good pastrami sandwich," says Qualley.. "We're smoking our pastrami here and slicing it for each sandwich and we're really trying to do a really nice stacked pastrami sandwich. I've had a hard time finding a good pastrami sandwich in town so I'm glad that we're doing it and glad it's been well received."
Tuesday nights downtown were taco nights. Here, taco night has gotten a tweak. Namely, the pork for the al pastor tacos that gets a slow roasting turn on the rotisserie before being shredded onto a platter alongside taco fixings and shells to be served fajita style, minus the sizzling skillet.
Order fried chicken, only available on Sundays, and you'll get a side potato salad made with Bill's mother's recipe. She had made it for a Hinterland staff gathering and one taste was enough for Qualley to ask for the recipe and get it on the menu.
For the observant foodie, there are more hidden treasures
Bringing it all together
Most notable is the presence of Hinterland beer in the ingredient list. It not something Qualley says he forces into the menu, but at the same time he wants to take advantage of the beer as an ingredient when it makes sense.
Currently, the bone-in pork chop comes with a mustard glaze featuring Citra Pale Ale.
A menu mainstay, Luna Stout with its dark roasty flavors is a natural fit as a brownie ingredient.
Beer in the barbecue sauce is another constant, though the beer style changes. Currently the pulled pork sandwich is sauced with a Cherry Wheat barbecue sauce.
Beer and food. Beer with food. Beer in food. Regardless of the combination Hinterland staff plans to keep the momentum rolling.
"We're trying to still represent the things that got us here, you know at the old spot," says Qualley. "But then also elevate them and try to make them to fit this kind of service and this atmosphere."
"It's hard work, you know, and all of the guys that are doing these jobs for us, it's a labor of love. It's a lot of really, really long hours," says Bill. "Brewing — there's something fantastic about it. To me, there's something magical about it."
Daniel Higgins writes about food and drink for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Email: daniel.higgins@gannettwisconsin.com,
Twitter and Instagram @HigginsEats, facebook.com/gwmdanhiggins.