As I stepped out onto the sidewalk from the Thomas Family Winery at 208 E Second St in Madison, I reached for the keys in my front pocket and nearly dropped the bag containing four bottles of Gale's Hard cider I'd just purchased. Whoa, nearly disaster! I shifted the bag more securely and snagged my keys. I checked for traffic and started to cross the street. Damn! I forgot to ask Steve where I could get a nice pint and some lunch.
Actually, that might not have been the most sensitive thing to ask the shop owner anyway as it precluded eating in his establishment. The one in which I had just spent an entirely enjoyable twenty minutes talking (listening mostly) and tasting his wonderful cider. It wasn't that I didn't want to eat there. I just really wanted a nice pint of beer with lunch; not wine or cider.
I hurriedly loaded my haul into the insulated bag I keep in the car which was parked across the street. I had noticed a liquor store a couple of doors down so I recrossed the street and went in. It was a small shop and I made a perfunctory show of checking the unrefrigerated beer stock and the whiskey. There was a fair selection of each but nothing I wanted. I chatted with the friendly woman and finally asked where I might get a pint of good craft beer and a bite to eat. She mentioned several places I remembered seeing as I drove into “old town” Madison. I asked if any were likely to have Great Crescent on tap. She didn't know but she said the man at “The Pub” brewed his own beer. Enough said. I started to walk out when she added “and they have sushi.” I don't eat sushi.
It was a bright day and I felt buoyant just then. I had a light schedule for a Wednesday and the drive up, nearly sixty miles, had been enjoyable – mostly. I'd just come from a newly constructed home in a little place called Nabb. Nabb was really never very much, but after the tornado visited in early March, it was much less than before. In fact, on my initial visit a couple of weeks after the giant storm, I couldn't locate the property at all. The home previously on the site was just...gone. When I finally found it with the help of the owner, there was only a single row of concrete blocks marking the spot where the house had been. I asked the owner if he'd had the debris hauled away in preparation to rebuild. He spoke very matter-of-factly and said that the tornado had taken care of that.
The new brick house was smartly constructed and represented a bright new start I thought. I felt happy for the owner and his family. They could now get on with their lives. Oddly, they didn't seem as happy as new home owners usually do. They expressed satisfaction with the new home. This one even had a basement, but none of them smiled the whole time I was there. They seemed anxious to me. I remembered on my first visit they were all living in a small RV parked next to the site. They had seemed much the same that day.
Theirs was my last scheduled stop and as I started to pull out of the drive I realized I was only twenty odd miles from Madison. I had been wanting to try some of the hard cider made there by Steve and Elizabeth Thomas for some time. I thought today was meant to be that day as I seldom got this near to Madison while working.
I turned left onto Indiana 362 and began the drive northeast. As I did, I passed field after field of corn burned brown and desiccated beans left over from the hellish dry summer that had followed in the wake of the March disaster. I started to feel a surge of melancholy lurking at conscious edge trying to creep in. I needed to resist that otherwise I'd likely abandon my little sojourn and just go home. I was reminded then “that living life is all that life's about” in the hauntingly beautiful harmonizing of Chris and Thomas issuing from the cd player. Something like that has been my creed for some time now. I simply think “Life's too short. So take every opportunity to revel in it while you can.”
So I had finally tasted and purchased my cider and it was time to backtrack the way I'd come through one of Indiana's most beautiful river towns. I gawked as I traveled marveling at the beautifully restored buildings on either side of tree-lined streets dressed up in gaudy fall finery. I was eagerly anticipating that first taste of delicious beer as I pulled up and parked in front of the “Trolley Barn” building. Hanging from the sign out front were two of my favorite words in the world. “The Pub”
I opened the door and was presented with a hallway proceeding straight away from me. The hall had entrances on either side and I stopped to peer at the signs to see which was my destination. Ah there it was at the far end. I started that way and someone in the shop on the right greeted me. I glanced through the open door and realized it was a restaurant. An empty restaurant. I waved back and said hello feeling slightly guilty as a passed the entrance to Sakka Blue restaurant and opened the door to the pub.
It too was empty but obviously open so I quickly took a seat at the bar. Someone came in the door behind me and I realized it was the woman from the restaurant. She came around the bar and gave me a dazzling smile.
Her name was Chelsea. In a flash she was offering me the beer list, asking me my preferences, and describing the brews. I felt a surge of appreciation well up. In this world of usual incompetence and casual indifference it's so nice to find someone enthusiastic and knowledgable providing your service. I asked if the IPA was in good shape today, not really expecting her to say it wasn't but its a habit. She said is was great but the Porter was giving her an issue. Before I could say anything else, she sat a sample in front of me. On first taste, I thought it a typical APA with a strong floral nose and some citrusy notes. I'd been drinking such beer most of the summer and well it was a warm day so I said go ahead. It was only after I'd had another drink or two that I realized this was something else.
It was nicely flat, soft on the pallet, and best of all, did not present much lingering after taste thus tempting you to have another drink to experience its subtle complexity all over again. This would be a terrific session beer! It reminded me of my bitter drinking days while living in England. In short, it tasted like the English style bitter ale I'd been looking for but had nearly given up hope of finding. By this time another woman, Karen, had come around and both of these two lovely ladies began talking beer to me on a level that I find very infrequently.
I was so enamored by these two that when a menu, labeled “Sakka Blue” was put in front of me, I decided that I would be having sushi for the first time. I let Chelsea guide me to order though I glanced apologetically at the chop sticks she laid down and asked for a fork. I took a picture of the menu with my phone and sent it to a couple of my foodie friends. I could hardly believe I was losing my sushi cherry in a pub in Madison!
With some instruction from Karen and Chelsea I gobbled up my spicy crab roll with avocado. You must eat each pre-sliced section whole I was instructed. I was a little doubtful about this as each segment seemed rather large. Karen assured me that there was no graceful way to eat sushi! They showed me how to mix the wasabi with the soy sauce and seemed just as excited as I about my new experience. Before I knew it, the sushi was gone and I'd ordered another IPA.
While I ate, the the girls proudly described the beer mixtures featured on the back of the beer menu. They placed tastes of several of them in front of me. I've always been aware of such drinks, but I've never given serious thought to mixing beers. Just recently I've begun to rethink many of my long-held opinions regarding what I do and don't like about beer. All of the mixtures were tasty and each brought something distinctly interesting to the palate. I'm still not sure I'd go to the pub and drink mixed beer for a whole session but I think I might have one on occasion now.
Chelsea had to leave then but before she did, I asked if she and Karen were related. They looked at each other and beamed saying not officially but they were family none-the-less. It turned out that Karen was one of the owners and her husband Scott was the master brewer. Karen went on to tell me the story of how this all got started. It was fascinating and I admired the couple's courage to take on such a venture. I've attached a couple of links that will do a credible job of completing the tale of Sakka Blue and Mobreki Microbrews. The pertinent details are there.
If you want to hear about the time that the sushi cooks didn't show up for work or you want to know about the three amazing daughters that inspired the name MOBREKI, then you simply must turn left or right and travel a while to one of the most beautiful river towns and have a visit with these inspiring people.
Thomas Family Winery
http://www.thomasfamilywinery.us/
The tasting room offers hearth-baked breads, fine cheeses and salamis to compliment the wines and ciders.
Gale’s Hard Cider
Gale’s Scrumpy Cider “Liam’s Hill”
Gale’s Scrumpy “Chieftan’s Blend” (draft only)
Madison
http://visitmadison.org/
Jefferson County
North bank of the Ohio
55 road miles from Louisville
Charles Kuralt wrote after a visit “For me the princess of the rivers is unquestionably Madison. It is the most beautiful river town in American.”
Indiana's Porkopolis - in the mid-1840s it was the third largest pork-packing center in the mid-west.
Sakka Blue and The Pub
719 W Main St
The Trolley Barn
http://www.madisonhistoricdistrictshops ... _Barn/pub/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sakka-Bl ... 95?sk=info