Round Man Brewing Company - Spooner, WI

We were up in the Shell Lake area of Wisconsin and we’re always on the lookout for breweries we haven’t tried – totally kidding, since it’s always ME that’s looking for new breweries. This place has a really nice looking interior with lots of space and both a great-looking food menu and tap list. 

Ordering beers is always easy for me, since I usually go for a flight, since I don’t want to have to make decisions. Here’s what I got and how I ranked them:

• Log Chain Lager - B+
• Mud Duck (Milkshake Stout) - B+
• Red Headed Stepchild (Red Hazy IPA) - A-
• Omaha X (Imperial IPA) - B
• Ha-Spoonah Colada (Tropical Hazy IPA) - A

I was sampling these beers while I was perusing the menu, which is exactly how I prefer to do things. I had my eyes on a few things, but kept coming back to the Friday Fish Fry (which is basically fish and chips in Wisconsin). I decided to go for that, but I also had a hankering for a weird appetizer. I’m a sucker for Medjool Dates, and they had a dish with them in it on the appetizer menu – I’m not sure who talked who into getting this one, but it happened. D.Rough went with a strong choice of the Prime Dip – which is basically a fancy French Dip.

 

The appetizer was four dates sliced like a taco and stuffed with cheese and walnuts, and then drizzled with a sweet chili sauce and ancho aioli. These were good, but not mind-blowing, which definitely means we’ll need to go back and try one or two f the other appetizers. They had good flavor, but they were just fine.

D.Rough’s Prime Dip was sliced prime rib served with au jus and a side of pickled hot pepper relish (we skipped the horseradish). It was actually really flavorful and even with the dip it never really got soggy. It just added even more flavor. It was quite delicious, actually. 

I’ll apologize in advance for not having a photo of this impressive dish – I dug into this thing as soon as I saw it and completely spaced it out. The walleye (although it was Canadian walleye, not from Shell Lake) was fried to golden perfection and you actually tasted the fish and not just the batter. A generous portion, as well. The fries were really crispy and large and weren’t just filler like at some places. And the best part is that it’s all you can eat. When you get near the end of your dish, the server comes back and asks if you need a couple more pieces, which I did. And again, forgot to take any photos of the evidence. I suppose you’ll just have to trust me that the thing looks really delicious so I don’t have to steal someone else’s photo from the internet anywhere. Just get this thing. 

 

I actually liked the Ha-Spoonah Colada so much, I bought four crowlers of it to take home with me. I don’t do that very often, if that tells you how good these beers were. Top notch, especially for drinking at the lake.

http://www.roundmanbrewing.com