Sun Prairie, WI
Crusin’ rating: C-
Booze Rating: C-
We decided to stay closer to home this week and check out Full Mile Beer Company in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Sun Prairie’s only remaining brewery after Right Bauer closed, Full Mile is mere steps away (across a small parking lot, really) from the former location of Right Bauer which used to make hitting everything Sun Prairie had to offer in terms of beer an absolute cakewalk, or, should I say, beerwalk! Full Mile Beer Company occupies a large 1.5 story (at least) space on the first floor of The Loft at 132, a wedding venue. With the wedding venue upstairs, I always get the impression that Full Mile may be somewhat limited in what choices they can make as far as their own design goes and I feel like they decided to play it safe which isn’t necessarily bad, just a little bit of more of what we have seen so many times before.
Full Mile, as I said, takes up the bottom floor of The Loft at 132 building and has been steadily improving their space since they opened in 2018. I can remember a time before their outdoor space was finished and have seen other improvements as time has passed. We made our review visit on a chilly, wet day and we immediately asked to be seated by the fireplace in the bar area. Full Mile is a little unique since it is not only a brewpub, but it seems very focused on whisky. When you walk into the space, the first thing you see in the entryway are some barrels from a local distillery, Driftless Glen out in Baraboo, WI, a Crusin' For Booze favorite. We also spotted barrels from Dancing Goat Distillery, which you’ll know is one of our favorites. It’s cool to see Full Mile using local distillery barrels mixed in with barrels that are sourced from a barrel company, and I give them some major points for that. You know we here at Crusin' For Booze love what Wisconsin has to offer and it’s always amazing to see how different companies within the industry cooperate and promote each other. Back to the point about uniqueness, though, it’s interesting that you walk into a spot that is clearly named for beer and whiskey barrels serve as a main focal point in the decor.
Going off of that, Full Mile sports a menu that features lots and lots of whiskey. I counted 30 bourbon offerings, 20 rye offerings, and fourteen scotch offerings, among other spirits with a wide range of ages, prices, and origins. I saw local items from around the state mixed in with well-known best sellers such as Buffalo Trace. It’s not every day where a brewery’s beer menu is only a tenth as large as their spirit menu. I think that sets Full Mile apart as I know the first time I visited, before I was really a “beer guy” I in fact did get a pour of bourbon and the people I was with treated themselves to cocktails. However, now that we are deep down the rabbit hole of being imbibement nerds, looking at this in hindsight sort of muddles (pun intended) what Full Mile is really going for. If the most prominent thing on your menu is a variety of whiskies, then what does that suggest, intentionally or otherwise, about your beer? Is the beer at this brewery playing second fiddle? In this case, yes, I think it definitely is which is odd since they have a pretty large brewing space right on site, larger than some of the hardcore niche breweries we’ve been to.
Full Mile also becomes a victim of the brewpub paradox. While I will say I think their food is a little better than Lone Girl Brewing Company and definitely better than Hop Haus Brewing Company or Vintage Brewing Compny, It’s still just alright food. I know everyone can find something they are looking for but I see the focus on spirits and cocktails to muddy the waters even more. Whereas most places that prove this brewpub paradox often will offer some sort of cocktail, that menu usually seems a half-hearted ad-on and can be written off as the space more so being a restaurant, like with the Great Dane or Vintage. Here though, with such a focus on the spirits it really gives the impression that the beer is last on the list of priorities. There’s a considerable food menu, a huge spirit menu and then a dozen beers on tap. I really feel like the focus is lost on the beer with Full Mile and it is really trying to be a cocktail spot, rather than a beer spot, which from our perspective is a bummer. You’ve read time and time again how these places try and do food, cocktails, and beer, and then everything ends up as “meh”.
All of this being said, we forged ahead since there has been more than one occasion where a brewpub offered solid food and some great beer, like Hillsboro Brewing Company or even last week’s entry, Copper State Brewing Co. Who knows, maybe Full Mile is shooting for the stars and wants to be the go-to spot for food, beer, cocktails, and spirits. It’s an ambitious and, certainly, tall order to fill in a city like Madison where not only do we love our beer, we really, really like our secret food spots.
Back to the space. I mentioned a fireplace and Hannah, regardless of Winter or Summer, but more so if it falls below 70 degrees, enjoys sitting close to a fire. On cold, rainy, and windy winter day it was more than welcome as I will admit I was a little chilled myself from being out in the rain and then coming inside a space that has some pretty considerably high ceilings, plenty of windows, and two garage doors that lead to an outside space that sits at least 50 people. While I wouldn’t say the space is drafty by any means, I think those high ceilings and open concept make it a beast of a space to keep warm, especially on a Sunday evening leading up to Christmas with only a handful of patrons. The windows are a fantastic choice and the garage doors are also great, the space is open and allows a bit of a breeze in summer and there is tons of natural light that gets in. Going off of this year’s reviews, I think the only other brewery that tops it in terms of windows is G5 Brewing Company which sits up on a hill near the border of the state-that-shall-not-be-named. Outside of the barrels that are used as decoration and literal beer storage that dot some of the corners the two center pieces of this generous space are really the huge wall of old books in the dining area and the absolute massive backdrop behind the bar that features taps, every spirit bottle they have, and a large row of crowler cans. Again, going back to the fact that spirits are really seem to be the focus of Full Mile, rather than beer. The tables are wooden, featuring booths in the dining section, low two and six person tables, tall four person tables, and the large community table we sat at with a little divider in the form of a planter with some live plants. Some of the walls feature murals and there’s black metal all over the place which we have seen tons of other places. To the right of the bar is a glass wall/door combo that shows off the brewing space.
Hannah and I were both starving so we will give just a small insight into the food. We ordered an item off of the “small fare” menu, incorrectly assuming it would be appetizers to share, and it sort of was an appetizer, just not really conducive to sharing. What I thought was going to be little pretzel dogs was in actuality a hotdog encased in a pretzel bun that came with some really good beer cheese but cutting it apart to share between two people soon saw the dog and pretzel bun as independent items. A small quibble, but would not be the item to order for sharing. We then moved onto entrees and I was grateful for a green vegetable side to go with my Carolina Pork sandwich. Hannah got a pickle burger with dill cheese, pickle relish, pickles and all manner of things. The pickle burger was not much different than a regular burger and I was crestfallen to find a pulled pork sandwich, juicy as it was, really lacking any of that vinegar-based Carolina sauce that I have been chasing after a visit years ago to those states. Other than those small disappointments the food was good enough but Hannah and I both found our portions a little small with her burger being a little shy of a quarter pound by the looks of it and my sandwich being somewhat small as well. We, again, making our incorrect assumptions, ordered a wurst platter assuming (incorrectly) that it was going to be a German style charcuterie board with breads, pickled veggies, dips, and sausages. Nope. It was quite literally 3 sliced wursts, beer cheese, mustard and a couple pickles. I guess we read between the lines a little too much there, which is on us, but we weren’t quite prepared for a solid three sausages and some cheese. Now we know for next time.
We moved onto the beer, with a dozen offerings at around $6.50 a pint and a flight of four samples running you $10.00. There was wine options available, the aforementioned many spirits, and cocktail options that ranged from $8-9 as well as N/A options. Anyone could find something to drink here and it would be the spot to go for that guy in your group who is a “whiskey neat guy” but then pulls a face he tries to hide after every sip : D
Lazy Bones (4.7% ABV) - This Coffee Cream Ale was something we were intrigued by since we enjoyed the cream ale so much in the form of the beer cheese. Cream and Coffee is a pretty well-known relationship, so why not give this one a go? Rusty Dog Coffee is used in the brewing process along with 2 Row Malt and flaked barley. Hannah and I have both become fans of this somewhat retro-style. Warm gold ingot in color, Hannah smelled Jalapeno on the nose of this beer and excitedly asked if this was a spicy beer I ordered. I gave it a sniff and I picked up vinegar-based hot sauce - without smelling any spice, if that makes sense - which was definitely intriguing. This beer also tasted oddly of the flesh of a Jalapeno, again, sans heats and while it was smooth and featured just a little bit of hotel coffee right and the end Hannah and I were both confused and off-put by the flavor profile here. Skip this one.
Gamma Squeeze (4.5% ABV) - This Berliner Weiss smelled of pineapple and other tropical fruits along with a touch of hay bale. Cloudy and the color of dried corn husks, this beer tasted of mango and orange juice and was heavy on the sourness with plenty of carbonation that leaves behind a dry mouthfeel. Hannah approved of this one. For me, it was a solid example of the style.
Ol’ Slap & Tickle (11.5% ABV) - This name cracked me up because it was audacious and nonsensical for what was a Bourbon Barrel-Aged English Style Barleywine. While that is a handful of adjectives, they are all simple and straightforward. Remember, a barleywine isn’t a wine at all but they can often be quite strong and complex. Without going off the deep end, American Barleywines tend to lean hoppy and English Barleywines tend to lean more balanced and typically a lot if barley malt is added to give the yeast more food which leads to more alcohol volume which is a trademark of a barleywine (deep breath).
This one was aged in barrels from Four Roses out of Kentucky and featured English Maris Otter Malt. Hannah and I are just becoming familiar with our hop varietals and haven’t quite nailed down niche malts but I appreciate Full Mile listing the malt nonetheless, giving credence to the claim this is an English style barelywine. This beer was the color of light root beer and Hannah and I both picked up tons of barrel character when smelling, I picked up newly sawn wood and Hannah picked up caramel notes and generic whiskey aromas. When tasting, Hannah detected some toffee sweetness and thought this one didn’t taste overly boozy, a problem she often finds with other barleywines I’ve coaxed her into sipping on. I found cherry notes, toasted wheat and a deep sweetness going from front to middle on my palate and Hannah thought there was definite caramel toward the end with a rather sibilant mouthfeel. We both enjoyed this one.
Night Rally (6.1% ABV) - Who even makes black IPA’s? Surprisingly, it’s not the first one we’ve seen on a menu this year so they must be somewhat trendy. This IPA was, obviously, black in color and Hannah immediately identified Citra hops. We picked up some darker malt notes when smelling along with mango and guava. This beer went full-pine needle to Hannah that stuck on her tongue as soon as she tasted it. I found notes of blended prairie grasses mixed in with those pine needles and the somewhat recognizable smooth bitterness that we’ve come to associate with Cashmere hops. I know we say we find that pine needle flavor often, but sometimes them’s the breaks. A lot of IPAs use hops that have piney, herbal, and earthy qualities that have come to be valued by IPA extraordinaires like Mr. Tinfox.
So, the food was serviceable, if not a little disappointing in size, the spirits list is large, we both enjoyed the Barleywine and Hannah liked the Berliner Weiss. I’d say that, unfortunately, while Full Mile definitely fits on the higher end of the list of brewpubs, it still is a victim of the paradox, that, for my money, is only more muddied by the large focus on their spirits. I know they won't change, but a brewery simply does not need that extensive of a spirit list when they are clearly looking at neat pours (there were only a handful of cocktail options). It’s out of place at a brewery I think and only confuses the issue when it comes to a brewpub. While we did enjoy the barleywine, it wasn’t so good we were dying to take some home. We really like that they use local barrels and serve up some local spirits but we both really wish that they would focus on making good beer. Being the only brewery in what I constantly hear is Madison’s fastest growing suburb, they really need to step their game up.
Keep an eye out for an upcoming list of featured brewpubs for the Madison area if you are looking for one. While okay, Full Mile falls short in the food and beer category in a very competitive market. Stop in for a Barleywine if you’re in Sun Prairie but I wouldn’t travel from outside of Madison for the sole purpose of stopping here. There are just so many options for excellent food on Madison’s east side as well as beer that Full Mile would only suffice as a place where you really wanted beer and food in the same place and had a strong aversion to the Great Dane.
Until next time, keep on Crusin’, don’t stop boozin’.
To learn more about Full Mile Beer Company, please visit their website at: www.fullmilebeercompany.com or on Facebook: @FullMileBeerCo or on Instagram: @FullMileBeerCo
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