Oregon, Wisconsin
Crusin' Rating: B
Booze Rating: C-
This week, we are checking out another newer brewery a little closer to home! Bodihow Brewing Company opened in October of 2023 and is located in nearby Oregon, WI, a short ~15 minute drive from Madison. Bodihow is an acronym for “Bunch of Dudes I Hang Out With” and was a working title for the brewery before eventually becoming official in an attempt to stand uniquely among the many brewery names already in existence. Like a few other spots that we’ve review, such as Copper State Brewing Company and Gravity Box Brewing Company, Bodihow also doubles as a coffee shop and serves up Mesoamerican dishes, complete with daily specials.
While Bodihow might not be the only brewery that has coffee available, it’s the only brewery we’ve seen so far that actually has an active bike repair shop as well as cycling store sharking space with the brewery. In fact, you can even sit at the bar, enjoy a beer and some tacos and observe various bikes being worked on in real time! Definitely something we haven’t seen before as most breweries live entertainment consists of the brewing itself or live music - which, did we mention Bodihow also has live music available on Saturdays?
Walking into Bodihow, we definitely took note of how tall the space is, with ceilings reaching up high and some hanging hops vines hanging down into a raised planter, complete with bar seats. Hannah and I set up shop under a window sitting 12 feet above us and enjoyed the natural greenery. A server came to us within moments of us sitting down and we were able to order our flight right from him, which was nice on a Sunday to not have to wait at the bar. Although the space is quite large in terms of height, at least half of the space is dedicated to the cycle shop which means only about 50 people can find seating inside. Surprisingly, over half that number, at a whopping 28 can seat at the bar which may be in the running for the longest bar we’ve seen at a brewery! Hannah took note that, although most seating is at the bar and there may not be a plethora of indoor seating for how large the space is, the space is clearly designed to be enjoyed as indoor/outdoor as the weather warms up. Most of the wall of the bike shop is two glass garage doors that open to let some fresh air in from a partially covered patio. The only thing that struck us as a little odd is that Bodihow doesn’t seem to be anywhere near a bike path! That seems like a missed opportunity as the Madison area could use more breweries catering to cyclists. Our recent trip to Amorphic Brewing Company definitely showed that cyclists enjoy their brews!
Bodihow had 11 beers available on tap, as well as wine and some non-alcoholic beverages available. We picked a flight of 4- 4 oz pours for $10.00.
Mexican Lager (6.0% ABV) - Always a tricky one to judge as it’s not necessarily recognized as a distinct style, unless you’re looking at the corn adjunct, this beer poured medium gold with medium-high clarity and relatively high carbonation. Picking up notes of floral hops and corn sweetness on the nose, there was also plenty of corn presence when tasting and a well-attenuated finished but I would say that the hops were pretty pronounced for a Lager and I actually - although Hannah disagrees - did not find enough corn sweetness here to balance out the hops. An overly hopped Lager that I would skip if you’re expecting a Modelo clone.
Citra (7.3% ABV) - A single-hopped (guess which hop?!) Ale that poured very similar in clarity and color to the Mexican Lager, this beer was an interesting experience as so often you find Citra hops paired with other hops such as Mosaic, Simcoe, or El Dorado. It was also interesting that this was not a Pale Ale, rather a simple Ale. If you’re looking for an easily recognizable example of a single hop Pale Ale that uses Citra hops the ever popular Zombie Dust and Pseudo Sue fit the bill. Calling this an Ale though, is not really that informative as an Ale is just a broad category of beer (Ale or Lager are generally the two categories). So it’s tough to really categorize this one. Higher than most American Pale Ales in terms of ABV but really didn’t have the hop amount or presence of an India Pale Ale and definitely not enough malt either. I surmise this was an exercise in beer making, maybe to dial in ingredients. The flavor was low citrus oil with faint bitterness that faded away into a wet finish.
Scotch Ale (6.0% ABV) - This Scottish Ale poured brown with a slight hint of redness to it and featured medium-low clarity. With aroma of caramel and bread crust, this beer tasted of toasty bread malt with overtones of caramel and low caramelized sugar. This one was too booze forward tasting for Hannah even though a relatively low ABV. I thought this had a very light and almost airy mouthfeel for the style. With an ABV falling just below the 6.5% threshold of a Wee Heavy and fairly higher than a Scottish Light beer this one was in an interesting spot. Again, it gave me the impression of an experiment of dialing in a beer in process.
Imperial Chocolate Stout (9.0% ABV) - Interestingly, a Stout with a little bit of clarity and light brown color, this beer was fully expected to be high ABV, high malt, high chocolate flavor ("imperial" after all). We both got low cocoa powder notes and some prunes on the nose. This beer was boozy as to be expected but again we got some dried fruit in there and cocoa powder which reminder us of maybe a home-made attempt at raisinets. While fruit flavors should be present, I really though this should be bigger in flavor and, again, while I expected the higher ABV, this treaded into alcohol territory, rather than a balanced boozy, big beer.
I really think that there is some room for improvement here. I was not really in love with any of the beers and neither was Hannah. My overall impression was that these beers are works in progress and that they are being dialed in by various means, at least that is my hope. We may end up going back based on the proximity of the brewery to Madison, and maybe even to check out the space in the summer, but Madison is a very competitive scene for beer and I cannot see picking Bodihow, in its current state, over The Great Dane or even Vintage, which are not necessarily high on our preferred brewery list. But, we are always open to giving places a second try! I would say, for the time being, maybe let these beers get dialed in before heading out there.
Better luck next time! Keep on crusin’, don’t stop boozin’!
To learn more about Bodihow Brewpub please visit their website at: www.bodihow.com or on Facebook: @Bodihow or on Instagram: @Bodihow
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