When in New Glarus, drink New Glarus beer

NEW GLARUS, Wis. — In this south-central Wisconsin town best known for its namesake brewery, I figured there must be a downtown bar dedicated to late-night sipping of the brew that makes this place a must-stop for Midwestern beer lovers.

There wasn't such a place. There were such places.

In this town of 2,200, all 12 bars — from the pizza place to the Swiss restaurant to the bowling alley — serve New Glarus beer. Most serve it on draft, if not several drafts. What is not on tap is usually in bottles.

Such devotion allows New Glarus Brewing, perched on a hill above town, to be open from just 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. The rest of the time, the entire town becomes the brewery's pub. Since Deborah Carey started the brewery in 1993, New Glarus has become, without doubt, a town that loves its beer.

"We're very proud of what Deb has done," said Susie Weiss, director of the town's chamber of commerce. "When we have Polkafest or Oktoberfest, we only serve New Glarus beer. The only way to have another beer is to go into a bar and carry it out."

A night in New Glarus isn't long enough to hit all the bars or drink all the beer, but one Friday night, my drinking companion and I did our best.

After checking in at the Swiss Aire Motel (cheap, clean and simple personified), we shook off our 21/2-hour drive by strolling to the farthest bar we could find, Flannery's Wilhelm Tell Club, which, in true small-town fashion, was less than a mile away. In any other town, a bar like Flannery's would probably offer six lousy-to-fine draft beers whose identities you could guess without looking at the taps.

But Flannery's only offered two such beers — Coors Light and Stella Artois — alongside four New Glarus brews: Staghorn (an Oktoberfest), Totally Naked (a light lager), Fat Squirrel (a nut brown ale) and Spotted Cow (a farmhouse ale that is the brewery's staple).

Amid a crowd celebrating the start of the weekend, the bartender gladly poured us a short sample of each. For the full pint, I chose Fat Squirrel for its hearty, roasted balance; my companion picked Spotted Cow. I had sipped both those beers many times, but at Flannery's they came alive. Both were fresher and livelier than I knew they could be, especially the Spotted Cow. Out of Flannery's tap, Spotted Cow was a lesson on drinking locally: refreshing, earthy and bright.

Next we were off to Ott Haus, which might be a play on "outhouse," but it is also the name of the family that owns the bar. Unlike family-friendly Flannery's, Ott Haus is the kind of place where locals raise beers deep into the evening. We eyeballed the eight New Glarus bottles lined up beside the bar.

I chose the Black Top black India pale ale, the well-hopped seasonal at the time, and my companion chose Dancing Man, a surprisingly hearty wheat beer thick with banana and spice.

Rather than a second round at Ott Haus, we headed over to Glarner Stube, which is roundly considered the best restaurant in town. Its name translates to "The Living Room of New Glarus," and for good reason. The menu is full of savory Swiss dishes like Schublig ("mild spiced beef sausage … sure to please a true sausage lover"), Geschnetzelets ("tender veal slices sauteed with white wine, cream and mushrooms") and Roesti (potatoes fried with Swiss cheese).

With eight taps, Glarner Stube is home to one of the most comprehensive New Glarus draft lists in town. That night, the offerings included rarities like Chocolate Abbey (a light-bodied beer that walks a deft line between chocolaty and crisp) and Cranbic (a refreshing, light pink beer that's tart and sweet like the fruit from which it is derived).

Squeezing ourselves in at the wood bar bustling with locals and tourists, we ordered one of each. We also never enjoyed a 45-minute wait more. We downed our beers and then kept exploring: a Moon Man, New Glarus' crisp pale ale for me, and the Staghorn Oktoberfest for my drinking partner. Between us, we were up to nine New Glarus beers on the evening without ever setting foot in the brewery (though we got there the next day).

For my dinner of three large, gravy-covered Swiss meatballs, I went back to Chocolate Abbey to pair with the succulent meat. My co-pilot opted for the Fat Squirrel with her plate of tender scallops in a bright red pepper sauce.

Stuffed with beer and Swiss food, we figured a little activity was necessary to down one more New Glarus beer. In Wisconsin, of course, that means bowling.

We walked to Swiss Lanes, an alley stuck gloriously in the 1950s but updated just enough to offer one New Glarus beer on draft: Spotted Cow. We ordered a pint each, got our shoes, grabbed a lane and clinked glasses. Whether we were toasting New Glarus the beer or New Glarus the town, I'm not sure.

If you go

Just south of Madison, Wis., New Glarus is a 21/2- to 3-hour drive northwest of Chicago. Known for its Swiss charm (and beer), the town does brisk tourism business, especially during warmer months and festivals, so it's worth getting a room in advance. One of the great advantages of New Glarus is that almost everything is walkable.

There are several types of accommodations, including large hotels like Chalet Landhaus (608-527-5234, 801 Wisconsin Highway 69, chaletlandhaus.com simple motels like Swiss Aire (608-527-2138, 1200 Highway 69, swissaire.com and rental houses and cabins.

No visit is complete without eating Swiss food at Glarner Stube (608-527-2216, 518 First St., glarnerstube.com which has eight drafts dedicated to New Glarus beer. Other spots to sample the local brew include Flannery's Wilhelm Tell Club (608-527-2618, 114 Second St., flannerysnewglarus.com Ott Haus (608-527-2218, 406 Second St.) and Sportsman's Bar and Grill (608-527-2225, 506 First St.). For bowling, there's Swiss Lanes (608-527-2414; 1019 Highway 69). If you want to get close to nature, check out New Glarus Woods State Park (608-527-2335, W5446 County Highway NN), which has more than seven miles of trails.

Finally, be sure to visit the New Glarus brewery (608-527-5850, 2400 Highway 69, newglarusbrewing.com. Perched on a hill above town, it's part of a relaxing, pastoral scene that is perfect for sipping beer and boasts some varieties you probably can't find elsewhere. Don't miss the self-guided tour (do it with a beer in hand), and be sure to browse the ground-level shop that sells whatever New Glarus beer is available at the moment.

For more information, visit swisstown.com.

jbnoel@tribune.com

View the original article here

A Hyatt boutique

While nowhere as big as its local Hyatt brethren, this upscale boutique hotel oozes cool the moment you step into its dark, mahogany-toned lobby highlighted by an impressive art collection (the "Piazza del Duomo Milan" hanging near the front desk is the original).

King guest rooms offer picturesque views of Lake Michigan to the east and the city to the west. But the room's true beauty lies in the bathroom, which sports an oversized tub, walk-in shower and privacy door that opens into the bedroom and its cityscape.

Even greater are the views from NoMI, the hotel's Michelin-rated seventh-floor restaurant, which offers both eye-pleasing aesthetics, courtesy of its Dale Chihuly chandeliers, and sumptuous tastes from its globally inspired menu.

One added feature: special room filtration for hypo-allergenic and smoking rooms.

Park Hyatt Chicago

Neighborhood: Gold Coast

800 N. Michigan Ave.

Chicago, IL 60611

312-335-1234

parkchicago.hyatt.com

Getting there

Cross streets: Chicago and Michigan

Public transportation: CTA bus: 66-Chicago, 145-Wilson/Michigan Express, 146-Marine/Michigan Exp.; Red Line "L" stop: Chicago

Parking: Self and valet

Wheelchair access

The basics

Prices start at $395 excluding taxes.

Floors: 18

Rooms: 198

Hotel amenities: Ballrooms (one), meeting rooms (six), restaurant and bars/lounges (one), 24-hour business center, 24-hour fitness center, pool, whirlpool, sauna, steam room

Room amenities: Flat-screen television, work desk, mini-bar, coffee maker, in-room safe

Features: Room service, turndown service, pets allowed, Wi-Fi complimentary, shopping nearby

View the original article here

NFL star Lance Briggs unwinds in cozy Costa Rica

NFL linebacker Lance Briggs has always had a love for comic books, and creating his own has been a dream come true for the 31-year-old football player. "Seraph," created by Briggs and co-written with Phil Hester, is one of eight titles in the Top Cow and Image Comics Pilot Season Competition. Throughout December, fans may vote for their favorite title at Topcow.com. "Vote as often as you like," said Briggs, who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., when not playing in Chicago with the Bears. "Just like when you vote for the Pro Bowl."

Q: What is your favorite vacation destination?

A: At the end of the year, I want to go some place warm. There's nothing like going to Costa Rica, where it's beautiful and you get more bang for the buck. We went zip-lining and stayed at this cool little place off the beach. I went to sleep listening to the waves. That, for me, is a vacation paradise.

Q: Have you ever roughed it and gone backpacking?

A: Yes. In 2006, I backpacked around Europe and stayed in hostels. I went to Rome, Venice and Paris. It was a lot of fun. I took a trip to London last year and also went to Ireland. I just spent hours in a pub with some of the locals who were talking about the history of their country and the United States and England and how it all tied together. I didn't backpack on that trip though.

Q: Do people overseas give you a hard time about playing the wrong kind of football?

A: (He laughed.) It depends on where you are. If you go to the Bahamas, you're going to see a lot of football fans. But you're not going to find too many people who're interested in American football in England. When I was in Costa Rica, there was an international soccer match, and one of the teams was from Africa, and they got a lot of attention. No one knew who I was or cared that I played football. Soccer was the main thing. It's kind of nice.

Q: Where are your favorite weekend getaways?

A: Miami's always nice. Going back home to Sacramento and Elk Grove, Calif., is fun. And I love taking a nice road trip because you can find a lot of peace.

Q: What are some of your favorite cities?

A: In Europe, London and Venice are right up there; in the United States, Miami, Scottsdale, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Q: Where have you visited where you didn't feel particularly welcome?

A: People in Paris were pretty unfriendly, which was kind of surprising because people were so nice in other places — Amsterdam, Rome, London. Maybe we just ran into the wrong folks in France. I don't hold a grudge though. I don't speak French, so I'm sure that was part of it. I speak a little Spanish, so that helps when I visit Costa Rica.

Q: What have you learned from traveling?

A: I've visited quite a few places where the people aren't as concerned about material things, like a lot of Americans are, and they lead kind of a simple but extremely fulfilling life. And they're happy. I have a lot of respect for that.

For more from the reporter, visit jaehakim.com.

View the original article here

Ski resorts around the world use artist's hand-painted panoramas in their trail maps

LOVELAND, Colo. (AP) — If you've ever gone skiing at an unfamiliar resort without getting lost, chances are you have James Niehues to thank.

Niehues, 65, is the man behind the trail map. His hand-painted panoramas have been reproduced into millions of pocket-sized maps handed out by ski resorts in North America, Japan, Korea, China, New Zealand, Australia, Chile and Serbia.

"His trail maps are as much a part of the sport as snow," said Greg Ditrinco, executive editor of Ski Magazine.

That's high praise for a fellow whose formal art training consisted of a "learn to draw" mail-order course, taken in ninth grade while home sick from school.

Niehues always wanted to find a job that "had a little art." After the Army, he worked as an offset pressman, an ad layout artist and a designer before contacting Bill Brown, who painted the majority of the ski maps in the 1970s and 1980s.

Niehues went to Brown looking for some encouragement, but left with a commission. Brown was moving away from maps and into video, and asked Niehues to take over painting an inset for a Winter Park, Colo., trail map.

From his start in 1987 until today, Niehues has painted about 300 panoramas, mostly of ski resorts, but also of golf courses, hiking trails, resort property and tourist regions.

His style is distinctive. He paints from an aerial perspective, distorted if necessary to bring a labyrinth of runs and mountain faces into a single plane.

"That's why I've lasted so long doing what I do," explained Niehues. "Every ski slope is a puzzle to me; to turn all those slopes so you can get the best view. "

Niehues works out of a well-organized basement studio in the modest house he shares in Loveland, Colo., with his wife, Dora, who handles the business end of things.

To craft a map, Niehues researches his subject, checking satellite images on Google Earth, existing maps, blueprints and photographs. Then, whenever possible, he visits the resort, taking photographs from the air while being flown over at various altitudes.

"By the time I get down from the flight I know what perspective I can get to represent the mountain," he said. If he can't make the flight personally, he asks the resort to supply aerial photographs.

Niehues starts by providing the client with a couple of small sketches, followed by a large pencil on vellum drawing. The sketch time can take from a day to a week, depending on the size of the resort.

Once he gets the client's approval, he begins painting in gouache, an opaque watercolor, on a 30-by-40 inch prepared illustration board. This method allows him to lift the color and update sections as resorts change over the years.

Small ski areas might require three days of painting, while large resorts require 10, depending on the number of trees. Regional representations can take up to three weeks.

Niehues licenses the image to the client, but he maintains the copyright. His most lucrative job was $13,500 for a regional map, six years ago.

"If there were two really good artists in this business, we'd both starve," he said.

Niehues will sketch one resort while painting another, but he only paints one at a time.

"I tried doing several at a time in my early career. It was OK but they would end up looking similar and I didn't like that," he explained.

View the original article here

A grand place on the North Shore of Lake Superior

GRAND MARAIS, Minn. — Sandwiched between the magnificence of Lake Superior and the Sawtooth Mountains, Grand Marais seems ho-hum. But don't let its disheveled downtown deceive. This is one of the best bases for exploring the North Shore. Stay in a hotel overlooking the lake, stroll to a gourmet dinner, shop at an art gallery or a classic five-and-dime, and explore the outdoors. The town may not have the charm of Lutsen's clapboard lodge or the flash of Naniboujou Lodge's painted dining room, but in the end it wows as much as the surrounding scenery.

THE BASICS:

Tucked against Lake Superior, Grand Marais, population 1,351, was once a sleepy fishing village. All that's changed, in part because it occupies one of the most scenic spots along the Arrowhead. At the edge of town, a windblown spit of land juts out into the lake, helping to form a big bay and a calm harbor, so the town looks embraced by Superior.

Get tourist information at http://www.grandmarais.com.

WHAT TO DO:

The Gunflint Trail — which cuts inland to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and where moose sometimes wander onto the road — begins its winding way in Grand Marais, but you don't really need to drive along that road to feel lost among the elements. Instead, take a walk along the bay beach to Artists' Point, the peninsula of rock and pine trees that juts out into Superior. It's the locals' go-to hike.

If you want more miles, not to mention views, of the lake, head just outside of town to Pincushion Mountain Trail System (www.pincushion trails.org). Or pop onto the Superior Hiking Trail (www.shta .org) from a number of entry points near Grand Marais.

Perhaps you'd rather hike from store to store downtown. The Sivertson Gallery (www.sivertson.com) offers warm tea for sipping while browsing its collection of works from Inuit, Alaskan and regional artists. The locally made jewelry is nice eye candy, too.

Joynes Ben Franklin Department Store can hook you up with everything from Uggs and Carhartts to Barbie dolls and Norwegian sweaters (joynesbenfranklin.com).

With its diminutive size and purple shutters next to the beach, Drury Lane Books looks like a fairytale house (www.drurylanebooks.com). That's appropriate given its small but spellbinding collection of books for children and adults.

Around the harbor bend from downtown is the North House Folk School, a collection of clapboard buildings where artisans preserve northern crafts by teaching hands-on classes (www.northhouse.org). Subjects include knitting, kayak-making and surprises such as "deer processing for carnivorous locavores." Visitors are welcome to explore the campus and stop by the gift shop.

HIDDEN TREASURE:

If you're in need of gear — or inspiration — check out Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply (www.stoneharborws.com) on the bay. The hot spot for outdoor sports opened in June 2010 and has been selling and renting essential supplies — and some unusual cool outdoor toys — ever since.

In the summer, there are kayaks, canoes and paddleboards. But when snow flies, this place becomes the cutting edge of winter fun. You can rent the usual cross-country skis and snowshoes. But you can also rent — or buy — Wintergreen clothing (beyond warm and pricey to own), Snowtrekker winter tents and the wood-burning stoves to keep them cozy, and Marquette skis, a sort of ski-snowshoe hybrid that lets you hike up a snowy trail and ski down the other side. Want some tips for your first time? Snow Harbor offers guided outings.

The place also sells nordic skates, which are specialized blades that attach to cross-country ski boots and are made for gliding over the bumps and cracks of frozen rivers and lakes. It's your route to explore the Boundary Waters by skate.

WHERE TO EAT:

Judi Barsness not only cooks exceptional meals at her sophisticated harborside restaurant, Chez Jude, she also teaches others how to do the same by offering cooking classes (www.chezjude.com; closed in November and April). At Crooked Spoon Cafe, inventive, delicious dinners include Lake Superior fish with cucumber-corn relish (www.crooked spooncafe.com; closed after today until Dec. 27). For live music and chili with a micro-brew beer, head to Gun Flint Tavern (www.gunflinttavern.com). Breakfasts are divine at the Pie Place (www.northshorepieplace.com); don't miss the maple sausage.

WHERE TO SLEEP:

Only in Grand Marais' website (www.grandmarais.com) offers links to a variety of lodging options, from cabins to B&Bs. I've enjoyed East Bay Suites, with luxury units that have sleek kitchens, stone fireplaces and expansive views of the lake just beyond the balcony (www.eastbaysuites.com).

GETTING THERE:

Grand Marais is northeast of Duluth, Minn., on Lake Superior, along Hwy. 61. The drive from the Minneapolis/ St. Paul takes about 4 12/2 hours.

View the original article here

Stretching your miles isn't easy

Airlines and their partners, especially co-branded credit cards, lavish miles on you these days. The challenge isn't accumulating miles; it's in finding ways to use them. And getting full value can be tough.

This biggest barrier — this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone — is that scoring a frequent-flier seat, at the low or "saver" mileage value, where and when you want it is a challenge. IdeaWorks statistics show overall success ranges from a decent 50 to 60 percent for American, Continental and United to a dismal 25 percent or so for Delta and US Airways.

The situation is even worse in business class, said AlphaFlightGuru's Tim Gibson. He and I agree that the best use of frequent-flier miles is for international trips in business class, and here, he said, a typical traveler's initial success rate is less than 10 percent. His company (alphaflightguru.com) specializes in helping business travelers get the most from their miles, and he said his company ultimately can "help 80 percent of the people." But his agents really have to work at it, sometimes mixing and matching airlines within alliances or even using different alliances.

The strategy with the best odds of success, Gibson noted, is to wait to confirm seats until three to seven days before departure. That's the time when airlines finally decide how many seats they really aren't going to sell and release them for frequent fliers. Even when clients have to set firm travel dates well in advance, AlphaFlightGuru helps them by providing highly discounted consolidator tickets when the mileage awards don't become available.

My own experiences confirm Gibson's view, though I've often found even more trouble. Service at my home airport (Medford, Ore.) is almost entirely on regional airlines, so just about anywhere I want to fly requires at least one connection. Getting seats on a single flight is tough enough; getting seats on a decent connection is almost impossible. Right now, for example, Delta's online booking system shows no one-week trips on any dates through June from Medford to Paris at the lowest award level, in economy or business class.

Why is international business class the best use of miles? Because those awards give you the biggest return. Even at a sale price, a round-trip business-class ticket to Europe or Asia is likely to cost somewhere around $5,000. On most lines, that trip would require around 100,000 miles for a "saver" award, so your frequent-flier credit theoretically is worth about 5 cents a mile. By contrast, using 50,000 miles for an economy international ticket you could buy at a sale fare of $750 makes the miles worth a cent and a half. And at the other end of the scale, these days a long-haul domestic coach ticket generally costs less than $500, so if you can score a seat at the typical 25,000 miles, your credit is worth 2 cents a mile or less.

Of course, when you're trying to value your miles realistically, you have to apply a big discount factor to compensate for the difficulty in finding seats. "Get almost any seat" awards generally require at least twice the "saver" requirement — often more — which automatically devalues your miles by 50 percent.

How about using your miles for nontravel purchases, as some airlines now urge? The reason is simple: You realize even less value than using your miles for travel. In most of the programs I've examined, the purchase value is about a half-cent a mile, and I've never seen a deal valuing credit as high as even 1 cent a mile.

Given the problems of scoring seats, I believe that if you aren't interested in overseas business class, you're better off accumulating miles through one of those "bank buys a ticket" credit cards programs or even a straight cash-back card. These days, quite a few cards average around 2 cents for each dollar you charge, and that's usually enough to buy coach tickets without worrying about seat limitations.

View the original article here

Pick the right international hub

If you're planning an overseas trip this spring or summer, you may well have to change planes at an airline "hub" somewhere. And the choice of where to change can have a big impact on how smooth your trip will be. Here are my suggestions for hubbing.

The best hub is no hub. If you can find a nonstop flight schedule at a reasonable fare, take it, even if it means a little extra driving to a bigger airport at either end. No matter how smooth the process, compared with a nonstop, changing planes adds a minimum of two hours to your flight time and more likely four or five hours. Changing planes also increases your chances of delay, missed connections, misdirected baggage, and other such ills.

These days, you can find plenty of nonstops for most big U.S. cities to most big European and Asia cities, and some nonstops from medium-sized U.S. cities to big overseas cities or from big U.S. cities to medium-size overseas spots. And the chances of finding nonstops will increase as airlines finally start taking delivery of the new 787s, which are designed for long-haul routes with insufficient traffic to support the biggest planes.

Hub to cut costs. Even on routes with nonstops, however, you can sometimes find a lower fare on connecting flights. I just received a press release from Finnair, for example, that promotes round-trips from its U.S. gateways to Moscow, via a Helsinki connection, that are about $200 less than round-trips from those same gateways just to Helsinki. For travel next spring, Polish airline LOT is currently pitching connections to a handful of major European cities through Warsaw that undercut nonstops by as much as $400. These cases illustrate a common situation on long-haul routes. Even though flying you nonstop costs the airline less than making you connect, airlines know that many of you will pay a premium for the convenience of a nonstop. The result: connecting fares that undercut nonstops. You see this quite often on long-haul trips within the U.S. and from the U.S. to Europe. The big airfare search engines are pretty good at posting these deals: On Expedia, for example, the summary box for any trip search often shows lower one-stop fares than nonstop fares.

Choose the most convenient hub. When you have a choice of hubs -- at roughly the same fares -- try to select the most convenient connecting itinerary.

-- Total flight time usually trumps other reasons for choosing a connecting itinerary. And, contrary to what you might think, the shortest distance usually isn't as big an influence as the connecting time. If you're flying from Chicago to Europe, for example, an Atlanta connection may involve more miles than a connection in New York, but a shorter connecting time may offset the mileage difference.

-- Try to avoid hubs with a bad history of delays. According to a recent trade report, the most delay-prone U.S. international connecting hubs are O'Hare, Miami, Newark, JFK, San Francisco, and Baltimore; the best are Charlotte, Houston Bush, Dulles, and Seattle-Tacoma.

-- Overseas, most travelers give high marks to the big Asian airports. In Europe, most travelers I know avoid London and Paris when they can and instead hub through Amsterdam, Munich, or Zurich. Helsinki is apparently an easy hub, as is Reykjavik on flights to/from Northern Europe. Try to avoid hubs with multiple and separated terminal buildings, especially if you have to connect between two different airlines. You may have to leave and re-enter security.

-- Avoid connecting at a U.S. hub on an inbound international itinerary. Typically, you have to claim your baggage, go through customs, leave the security area and re-enter the check-in system -- baggage and security. By contrast, most big international hubs outside the U.S. let connecting travelers remain in "transit" status without having to check in all over again.

Clearly, you often have limited choice of hubs. In those cases, just make sure you leave enough connecting time to compensate for the occasional delay or glitch.

Send e-mail to Ed Perkins at eperkins@mind.net. Perkins' new book for small business and independent professionals, "Business Travel When It's Your Money," is now available through www.mybusinesstravel.com or www.amazon.com

View the original article here