Alternate title: the night Shane’s taste buds were broken so his review can’t be taken seriously, but Ted and I left happy.

This little brewery – emphasis on little, as we worried we weren’t going to be seated as we were walking up looking in the window – is tucked into a strip plaza near a Marc’s, a comic book store and a foot spa. All the essentials.

They specialize in German-style beers, with a hearty menu to match. All the essential German food groups are represented: sausage, chicken, buttered noodles, and onions.

Even the flatbreads have a German flair, topped with onions or cabbage (or both), and the meat options are more like German inspired bacon and something called Döner chicken. Which I don’t really know what that is, but the name has those fancy little symbols over the o so I know it’s German.

Yes I know they’re called umlauts. I took German in high school and retained at least that bit of useless knowledge.

Anyway.

For those less adventurous, they do have a few more American-style sandwiches like grilled cheese and Reubens. But you won’t find burgers and wings here.

Look at us, branching out.

Let’s start with the beer, because we are at a brewery after all.

Shane just jumped right in with a single glass of the Honest Man with Habenero, while Ted and I both decided to do some sampling with flights.

My flight included the smoked coffee porter, fruited Belgian witbier, dunkel and the selzer. Interestingly they let you pick from different flavors to be added to the seltzer, so I chose the apple pie. It is fall, after all.

Meanwhile Ted just got all the dark beers: imperial stout, coffee porter, dunkel and winter warmer. 

Now for food, you know Shane and I have a hard time passing up a pretzel on an app menu. Especially one called a “colossal pretzel.”

Fair warning, even if you share this with other people (which I fully recommend doing) it could very much be a meal all by itself. The name doesn’t lie, folks. We tried to find something to put near the pretzel to give it scale in the photo (hence the knife and salt shaker) and failed miserably. I think just knowing that block it’s sitting on was taking up a good quarter of the table is probably the only way I can aptly attempt to describe how large this pretzel truly is.

In an attempt to counterbalance the bread I was about to be consuming, I got the cucumber salad as a side/app.

Ted went all in on German fare this evening, opting for a beer brat with fries and a side of Spätzle.

Apparently they get those brat buns at the same place they get the pretzels, no? Is everything just larger in Germany?

I decided to try the classic flatbread. This one includes cooked onions and thick cut bacon.

Not feeling adventurous with the German food this evening, Shane ordered the Reuben with fries, as well as a side of Gouda bites.

I think we need a bigger table. Especially because we hadn’t made it very far on that pretzel by the time the meals arrived so it’s not like we could clear anything away.

I’ll just start by saying Ted loved the food. He was a big fan of the Spätzle, saying it was very flavorful with the butter and garlic. He also did finish the entire meal – even all the fries – but may have been regretting his life choices just a touch by the time it was all said and done.

Admittedly I wasn’t a fan of my pizza – but that’s 100% my fault and not because of the quality of the meal. And I say this because it arrived exactly as advertised on the menu, but I guess for future reference I should remember that the combo of thick bacon and cooked onions is not something I wish to experience ever again. The dough and the sauce were good, so I’m sure if I had gotten a different flatbread – perhaps the Döner chicken one that the server suggested but I stupidly ignored – I would’ve enjoyed my meal more.

Fortunately I was so full from that gigantic pretzel – and, well, beer – that I was happy to take most of my flatbread home.

Over on the downer side of the table, Shane was not super impressed with, well, anything. This is where we believe his taste buds might’ve been temporarily removed for the evening, because he kept commenting that everything he tasted seemed to have no flavor. He tried my apple pie selzer and said it was bland, he claimed the pretzel didn’t taste right (tasted OK to me?) and complained that the meat on his Reuben was dry.

Someone was having a bad night.

You know he’s off when he even claims that the Gouda bites aren’t flavorful. Since when has Shane ever had a problem with cheese? I mean, more for me I guess – but I think his review is to be taken with a grain of salt since he was throwing out some major distress flags.

I liked the atmosphere at New Berlin. There seemed to be a lot of regulars – I’m sure due to Wednesday being trivia night – but it was a lively crowd and made the space feel really homey. So homey, in fact, that one of the pre-teens with the group seated near us kept sprawling out face up on the bench seating like it was her living room couch as she played a game on her phone. I’m not sure when it became acceptable to treat a public space like your own home – and also completely ignore your children as you drink and play trivia with your friends on a school night – but that lack of awareness and inability for anyone to say anything about it was probably my one big complaint about the evening.

Oh, hey, remember how I brought most of my pizza home because I was full on pretzel and wasn’t so crazy about the onion and bacon topping combo? Well once Shane regained the use of his taste buds he gave it a try and actually thought it was tasty. So I guess that worked out.

Picked by: Steph