Ale Asylum - Fvck Covid

This is the first in a series of Fvck Covid beers Ale Asylum is brewing, and it's certainly a sentiment we all relate to, but especially those in the hard hit hospitality industry. The brewery is donating 100% of profits to UW Health's Covid-19 Response Fund and Kessenich's S.O.S. Fund which helps furloughed Madison restaurant workers. Cheers to that. This pilsner pours a pale straw hue capped by a head of bright white foam. On the nose, look for pils malt to come through with a prominent toasty breadiness overlaid with a hoppy dash of earthy spice and light lemony citrus. That generous dose of pils malt expresses itself nicely on the palate, too, offering a surprisingly flavorful bready core for this sessionable, low-ABV brew. The hops offer a noble-like expression of spice, grass and hay, and mild citric acidity, easily keeping this brew dry from the start to the clean, crisp finish. Pairing options are wide; feel free to experiment. Pizza with a fluffy crust, schnitzel, burritos, and fish & chips all sound great to us, along with chicken or pork chops fresh off the backyard grill on a warm summer's day. Cheers!

Madison, Wisconsin's Ale Asylum got its start back in 2006 when partners Dean Coffey, Otto Dilba, and Otto's wife, Hathaway, began brewing in a small industrial park location. Dean and Otto met while working together at the now closed Angelic brewpub in downtown Madison. Dean dreamt of being able to brew on a larger scale than what the brewpub could offer, and to bottle his beer and sell it at retail. Otto was ready to build a business and use his marketing skills to grow it. When Angelic decided to quit brewing to focus solely on being a bar, the time was right—Ale Asylum was founded, using Angelic's cast-off brewing system.

Fast forward to 2012. Ale Asylum had grown too big for their small 8,000 sq. ft. facility, so they built a brand new 45,000 sq. ft. brewery on a 4.5-acre plot of land that provides them plenty of room to expand in the future. Their old 13-barrel brewing system was replaced by a 33-barrel system, and a much larger bottling line was purchased from Atlanta's SweetWater Brewing Company that enables them to produce up to 277 bottles per minute, as opposed to the old line's 70. In addition, visitors to the brewery can enjoy a variety of brews and pub-style food in Ale Asylum's large Tasting Room and outdoor patio. In December of 2014, Ale Asylum, in partnership with restaurateur Tim Thompson, opened the Ale Asylum Riverhouse in downtown Milwaukee, so now "inmates" (as the Ale Asylum team likes to call their fans) in Wisconsin's largest city and beer haven have an Asylum all their own. The brewery currently produces several core beers plus around two dozen rotating seasonals and limited-run beers. For more info, call 608-663-3926 or visit aleasylum.com.