Milwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee

Beer Battle for the Hipster Crowd

In an obvious attempt to squeeze its way into the highly lucrative hipster market, the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company has reintroduced its 1960's formula with all its kitsch value intact.

I'm sure it's been excruciatingly painful to watch Pabst Blue Ribbon get all the attention from the young and beautiful throngs--although my father's been enjoying PBR as of late and he's 79 years old and beautiful, so I guess they could shot for that market, too.

Schlitz has been hosting its "Go for the Gusto" events since May 22, but only in Illinois and Minnesota. The official reintroduction event in Milwaukee--and in all of Wisconsin, for that matter, because apparently IL and MN are more important than the company's traditional home state--thanks for that--is today at Libiamo Restaurant, 221 W. Galena Street, starting @ 11AM. Let the battle begin!

Mystery Solved: Why Butchers Don't Display Dead Animals in Windows Anymore

If you've ever sat around wistfully reminiscing about the good old-timey days when butcher shops and counters used to display the stripped, whole carcasses of freshly killed birds and beasties for human consumption and wondered why, oh why they no longer offer us this tempting visual smorgasbord--and, really, who hasn't?--this may be one of the reasons: a 1944 how-to pamphlet on creating artistic window and exhibit displays from bacon fat back. My reaction is a plain and simple eeew.

Written by Otto F. Fleiss--author, entrepreneur, meat lover--the full title is a powerful example of the snappy and succinct: White Art in the Meat Food Business. A Practical Handbook for Butcher, Pork Stores, Restaurants, Hotels and Delicatessens on How to Make Lasting and Transferable White Art Decorations out of Bacon Fat Back for Window Displays, Ornaments on Meat Food Cold Buffets and for Exhibits and Advertising Purposes. Kinda says it all, doesn't it?

Link (via Boing Boing)

Illy Plans Infusion into Middle East

Three-quarters of a century seems like a long time, but in terms of human history, not to mention geological time, it's not even a blip. Nevertheless, the 75 year old Italian coffee upstart Illy is planning to bring their specialty coffee right into the heart of the java roasting and imbibing elder region of the Middle East via Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Illy's coffee is apparently already available in Dubai, but only at five-star hotels, so the majority of locals haven't yet had the chance to sample the brew and make their pronouncements.

Compared to the nearly 1000 year tradition of coffee roasting in the Middle East, Illy is but a mere infant, so we'll see just how well they make out in a world where the java juice is profoundly venerated.

Link (via Coffee Talk)

Historic and Folkloric Coffee

I admit I'm a bit late with this, but, hey, there's a lot of coffee news to wade through, so there ya have it. Anyhoo, a beautiful little post appeared on Boing Boing back on March 20 about Gillies Coffee Company, complete with pics of the roasting facility!

Please a take a moment to click through, where you can thrill to still photos of New York's oldest coffee roaster and the oldest coffee merchant in the United States. How I wish those geeks would hurry up with Smellnet™.