It’s easy to miss the beers of Noble Roots Brewing Company on Madison shelves. The small Green Bay brewery makes only about 750 barrels a year. That’s not a lot even to supply Green Bay, yet co-owner Alex Falish, a UW-Madison grad, calls distributing to Madison “a passion project.” Falish and his father, Marvin, started the brewery after venturing into homebrewing together nearly 20 years ago. Falish tries to make the trip to Madison to distribute every six or seven weeks to Garth’s Brew Bar, the Longtable Beer Cafe and BarleyPop Tap and Shop, often with new releases.

The brewery’s Strict Observance, a Belgian tripel, recently caught my eye. It has musty, fruity Belgian yeast character that’s sweet at the start, yet finishes dry and warm at 9.5% ($15/four-pack). Noble Roots takes special pride in its Belgian releases. “Our area of Wisconsin is known for Belgian settlement and people here like those styles,” says Falish. Noble Roots also makes Kermis, a Belgian dubbel originally created for the local Belgian heritage festival.

Among the brewery’s core offerings is Mackinac Island Amber ($13/four-pack). That brown ale has been offered since the brewery opened in 2017 and is among its flagship brews. It’s made with orange peel, which lends a sharp tropical fruitiness to the dry-hot spicy kick of ginger. 

In February, Falish has three new beers headed for Madison. Alpine Folly is a cold IPA with assertive tropical flavor from Citra, Mandarina Bavaria and Sorachi Ace hops, and ends up at 6% ABV. If you like the German dunkles bock style, watch for The Goatman’s Oath. It has floral sweetness and finishes warm at 6.6% ABV. And, just in time for the height of bock season, there’s Winnie’s Honey Bock, made with additions of honey and finishing at 6.8% ABV. These latest beers are packaged in 16-ounce cans and four-packs ($13). Note: The weather does affect Falish’s ability to make it to Madison.

More beer news: Delta Beer Lab and Vintage Brewing were recently paired up by random drawing in the Madison Area Craft Beverage Producers’ Blind Date program that matches local breweries, cideries and distilleries and asks them to create unique limited releases in time for Valentine’s Day. Crews from both breweries were at Delta’s brewhouse in early January for a joint brewday. “We’ve been wanting to make a Baltic porter and never have, so when Vintage offered some malts that would work well, it all came together,” says Delta's Tim Piotrowski. A Baltic porter is a robust dark beer made with a porter recipe and fermented cold with lager yeast. Watch for it on tap at both breweries beginning Feb. 14.

A big beer to try while it’s still winter is Broken Bat Brewing Company’s 762* (a.k.a. The King), an imperial stout aged in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels — perfect in front of a fireplace on a cold night. It has strong chocolate and roasted coffee flavor and finishes at a warming 10.4% ABV ($17/four-pack). 

Upcoming beer events

February 20-23

Sloshed and Slushy Winter Beer Fest at Working Draft Beer Company. Three days featuring at least 17 different beers, music and food. Look for an ice version of the brewery’s GABF gold medal winning doppelbock Klosterade.

February 21

Battle of the Barrels at Lake Louie Brewing in Verona. More than a dozen local breweries and distilleries will be side-by-side in the Wisconsin Brewing Company brewhouse offering comparisons of barrel-aged beers and spirits. 

February 28 

29th Annual Bockfest at Capital Brewery in Middleton. Features the release of the brewery’s Blonde Doppelbock.

7th Anniversary Celebration at Delta Beer Lab. Among the special beer releases will be Schrödinger’s Honey Bock, a lager made with 20 pounds of honey in every seven barrel batch.