Sweet Mullets Brewing Co.

My friends and I are really making an effort to get out to dinner and try new places (or new to some of us places) more often. Because we each live in a different city, we are trading off where we go to keep it fair.

Sweet Mullets Brewing Co. in Oconomowoc was suggested and we agreed to meet up on a Wednesday night after work and check it out. The sunsets are so pretty right now, so I snapped a quick shot on my way out to Oconomowoc.

If you haven’t been to Sweet Mullets before, you might have a hard time finding it. It’s all the way on the west end of Oconomowoc in an industrial park. They brew in the same building that houses the bar, so that’s why they are in an industrial setting.

Once inside, you would never think you are in an industrial building. They did a great job doing an industrial,, but homey cabin feel inside the place and even have some games for people to play. Jumbo Jenga anyone?

The bar is against the back wall and the windows show the brewing area. We asked if we could take a tour and were told that we can call and schedule one with a group, but they aren’t offering them regularly to the public at this time. The mugs on the wall are a part of the beer club and are created by a local artisan.

Our server came over and offered us some samples of new beers on tap to try. What a nice treat. Because I hadn’t tried any of the beers before and those samples were decent, I decided to order a flight of beers and try them all!

My friend Tory followed suit while Kacey order cocktails made with Great Lakes Distillery’s Roaring Dan’s Rum. (Kacey has Celiac’s Disease so he couldn’t partake in the beers too much). Our other friends Angie and Jeremy have had some of Sweet Mullets beers before and just chose a pint or two to enjoy.

With all of this beer, we knew we were going to need to order some food. I chose the corn chowder, two others chose sandwiches and the others split nachos. Shauna was able to join us a bit later in the night and ordered the chili when she arrived.

I thought the corn chowder was really good with a ton of flavor and very filling. Shauna said the chili was great, but shouldn’t be called mild as it had quite the kick. As for the sandwiches, they were just ok and a little bland on flavor. The nachos were interesting in that they came with cheese, olives and onion and then a chopped chicken breast laid over the whole thing. 

The food filled us up, but it definitely wasn’t what we were there for. I did see that they just started serving pizzas as well from Slinger. In regards to the food, one suggestion I have for the company is to incorporate the beers into the food. They could already be doing that but the menu didn’t say for sure. I think the jalepeno beer (see below for my thoughts) would be great as a marinade for the chicken on the nachos or as a little boost in the corn chowder. The chipotle beer could be used in the sandwiches and chili.

Ok – onto the main feature – the beer flight. A clipboard is hung on the edge of the table and has the menu of beers on it. I used this to help me keep track of my beers that I was drinking. To follow the picture below, start with the bottom row (moving right to left) and then proceed to the shorter top row (also moving right to left).

Celebration – Slightly heavier light beer – it was ok
Jorge –  Like a Jalapeño in a cup! A bit spicier but I think would be great to cook with.
Five o One – A nice easy red ale
Buckwheat – Resembles an IPA slightly…it was decent
Athletic Stout – coffee caramely–hoppy – it’s an oatmeal stout
Black Hops – coffee and caramely – the more I drank, the more I liked it. It would be nice to drink alone and not with a meal.
Day Dreamer – wheaty and summery – this was my favorite.

Funk – pretty tart – almost sour – Wheaty, sweet smelling. I would not drink this with a meal.
Rasp – very tart, lots of fruit, super sour
Rafael – Really hits the back of the tongue with full spicy flavor. I couldn’t even drink it aside from my initial sip but Kacey loved it. I think this would be good to cook with, though, for adding flavors to meat.
Eleven – Pretty hoppy, light in color
BIRA – slightly hoppy but still good.  Malty

My overall opinion of the flights was that the beer maker really knows what he is doing. The flavors are very complex and each beer was really unique. I will definitely come back here again and enjoy my favorites from the flight.

The beer maker took a moment to come over and thanks us for stopping in. He chatted with us a little bit about the beers as well. After dinner, our server brought us some complimentary peanuts to share at our table as well.

The place seems to have decent traffic as quite a few tables were filled while we were there. Good beer draws people in and keeps them.