Madison WI Tasting Group/Berserkerfest

[R_Hemauer]

OK, now we’re in a more appropriate place.

How does the 10th of October sound in the Corral Room? I can provide buckets, and Riedel Degustazione glasses. The only problem that I see arises with accessibility issues, since we’re an old restaurant and the room is accessible only by stairs.

http://www.tornadosteakhouse.com/corral-room/

What think y’all?


LIST OF ATTENDEES:

Steve R. + 1(?)
Tom D
John E +3
S Nellesen + 1
Daniel Bannan
Doug W.
Me (+1, maybe)
Andrea (from Square)
Andre Darlington
Pat Ducey (from Steve’s)
Tom V

\

• Some random wine geek friends I’ll be wrangling. It’s going to be fun. I haven’t got an appetizer list out of my chef yet, but I don’t want to push him too hard, since we’re coming out of the busiest two solid weeks of the year. (Epic User Group followed by World Dairy Expo.)

This is going to be totally fun!

[John_E]

@R. Hemauer

OK, now we’re in a more appropriate place.

How does the 10th of October sound in the Corral Room? I can provide buckets, and Riedel Degustazione glasses. The only problem that I see arises with accessibility issues, since we’re an old restaurant and the room is accessible only by stairs.

http://www.tornadosteakhouse.com/corral-room/

What think y’all?

That would be awesome. I LOVE the Tornado room. If it needs to be the 11th I can offer up my house. Are you the manager/som of sorts? If so you have decanted my wines a few times.

Should we pick a theme?

[Tom_Demergian]

A fine idea! I’m interested (plus my wife, possibly). While we have a few local friends we like to drink and dine with, we don’t have a regular tasting group at this time.

I think a restaurant may be a good idea for an initial gathering (love those Tornado steaks!), then if it looks like it will lead to formation of a tasting group with regular gatherings, we can figure out the direction folks want to go with it (rotate homes, restaurants, whatever). It’s always nice to see a local restaurant willing to host an event, given our silly BYOB laws in this state.

I only occasionally lurk here at Berserkers, I’m more often found over at the CellarTracker forum (user “petitblanc”). We often get a couple Chicago, Milwaukee, or other CT folks to join us for events here in Madison, so if this thing is going to happen I would gladly mention it over on that forum.

[John_E]

Mention away. Madison Beserkerfest is on!

[AlexS]

Wow, that place sounds great. I’d definitely consider making the drive for good food and especially to meet some Madtown winos (would probably be a +1 of some sort).

Open to all themes, although my cellar is especially strong with the CA force…

[Tom_Demergian]

So it looks like we have an offer of a nice venue, and it sounds like Thursday 10/10 has to be the date. That works for me. At this point, with fall weekends filling up rapidly, a Thursday night is probably best for me and my wife anyway. John, you got this started so it’s your baby. Do you want to lock in 10/10 and run with it? The sooner it’s locked, the sooner we can start trying to recruit others without bogging down trying to find the perfect date for everyone.

I’m hoping this will be an opportunity for some Wisconsin and nearby folks to meet and possibly plant the seeds of a new tasting group. But if you want to also call it a Berserkerfest, bring in as many folks as you can, that’s great!

If anyone joins us from out of town and finds themselves staying in Madison over the weekend and wanting to drink some more wine, and if the calendar works out, we could possibly arrange a second follow-up gathering, either at someone’s home or at another venue.

[John_E]

@Tom Demergian

So it looks like we have an offer of a nice venue, and it sounds like Thursday 10/10 has to be the date. That works for me. At this point, with fall weekends filling up rapidly, a Thursday night is probably best for me and my wife anyway. John, you got this started so it’s your baby. Do you want to lock in 10/10 and run with it? The sooner it’s locked, the sooner we can start trying to recruit others without bogging down trying to find the perfect date for everyone.

I’m hoping this will be an opportunity for some Wisconsin and nearby folks to meet and possibly plant the seeds of a new tasting group. But if you want to also call it a Berserkerfest, bring in as many folks as you can, that’s great!

If anyone joins us from out of town and finds themselves staying in Madison over the weekend and wanting to drink some more wine, and if the calendar works out, we could possibly arrange a second follow-up gathering, either at someone’s home or at another venue.

So I am new(er) to the board. Anyone know how it works to call it a Beserkerfest? Any special rules?

R. Hemaur, were you thinking we would just have the room? How about we pair up some dishes. Coquille St. Jacques for the Chards/Burgs, some duck for the Pinots/burgs, Rack of Lamb for Syrahs/Rhones, Beef for the Cabs/Bordeauxs? Any other Sterotypical pairings you can think of? . Desserts of course.

[John_E]

@John E

@Tom Demergian

So it looks like we have an offer of a nice venue, and it sounds like Thursday 10/10 has to be the date. That works for me. At this point, with fall weekends filling up rapidly, a Thursday night is probably best for me and my wife anyway. John, you got this started so it’s your baby. Do you want to lock in 10/10 and run with it? The sooner it’s locked, the sooner we can start trying to recruit others without bogging down trying to find the perfect date for everyone.

I’m hoping this will be an opportunity for some Wisconsin and nearby folks to meet and possibly plant the seeds of a new tasting group. But if you want to also call it a Berserkerfest, bring in as many folks as you can, that’s great!

If anyone joins us from out of town and finds themselves staying in Madison over the weekend and wanting to drink some more wine, and if the calendar works out, we could possibly arrange a second follow-up gathering, either at someone’s home or at another venue.

So I am new(er) to the board. Anyone know how it works to call it a Beserkerfest? Any special rules?

R. Hemaur, were you thinking we would just have the room? How about we pair up some dishes. Coquille St. Jacques for the Chards/Burgs, some duck for the Pinots/burgs, Rack of Lamb for Syrahs/Rhones, Beef for the Cabs/Bordeauxs? Any other Sterotypical pairings you can think of? . Desserts of course.

I also presume that the attendees offer up bottles to bring? I will be bringing a wonderful Kendall Jackson Chard. Reserve (of course).

[R_Hemauer]

John, all-

Yeah, I’m the GM/Somm of sorts at the Tornado (I also do the wine for the restaurant & other companies that my wife is a partner in, Underground Food Collective.) If your wine needed to be decanted, I’m sure that I did it, especially if it was a weekend evening.

As far as how the event looks, I’m cool with whatever. We could just do a tasting, or I could arrange appetizers/cocktail food or I could arrange a dinner…maybe family style? I tend to prefer tasting dinners that are a little less stuffy, and a little more pop & pass. Whatever people want to do. This is going to be fun.

John, why don’t you email me (bob @ tornadosteakhouse . com) or call the restaurant (12-4 Tues through Saturday) and we’ll get some of these details hammered out?

Everyone who might be interested, why don’t you look at your calendars & let’s start getting some firmer commitments so we know what the numbers look like. I’ll be definitely be there.

[John_E]

@R. Hemauer

John, all-

Yeah, I’m the GM/Somm of sorts at the Tornado (I also do the wine for the restaurant & other companies that my wife is a partner in, Underground Food Collective.) If your wine needed to be decanted, I’m sure that I did it, especially if it was a weekend evening.

As far as how the event looks, I’m cool with whatever. We could just do a tasting, or I could arrange appetizers/cocktail food or I could arrange a dinner…maybe family style? I tend to prefer tasting dinners that are a little less stuffy, and a little more pop & pass. Whatever people want to do. This is going to be fun.

John, why don’t you email me (bob @ tornadosteakhouse . com) or call the restaurant (12-4 Tues through Saturday) and we’ll get some of these details hammered out?

Everyone who might be interested, why don’t you look at your calendars & let’s start getting some firmer commitments so we know what the numbers look like. I’ll be definitely be there.

Sounds good Bob, I will be in touch.

[John_E]

Bob, you may want to change the thread title to say “Madison WI Tasting Group Beserkerfest”. It sounds like we may get a better turnout that way.

[Robert_Pollard-Smith]

I think Bearserkerfest is better.

Thursday night football that night, Bears v Giants. Kinda reduces the odds of Chicagoans riding up the pike for your event… especially since none of you Cheesesuckers came down for ours in May.

[John_E]

Visited Square Wine and Steve’s today and both had employees that knew about the get together. Too cool.

[John_E]

@John E

Visited Square Wine and Steve’s today and both had employees that knew about the get together. Too cool.

Bob, is putting together a list of appetizers and small plates for the Madsion Beserkerfest at the Tornado Steakhouse, Thursday October 10th. Once the menu is complete we will field a list from the group of offered up wines for pairing. I have already had an enthusiastic response from some individuals out there in Madison’s wine community (thanks Bob!). This is shaping up to be a really nice gathering. Please share you thought and ideas here.

I see some good wine in our Madison group’s future!

As for the Chicago contingency, I am a rabid Bears fan(please forgive me WI natives. I was born and raised in IL). I promise there will be some quality way of tracking that game.

[D.Weber]

Forgive me for being late to the game. I just joined the forum, but am a seasoned geek though I’ve recently moved to Madison. I’m down for the 10/10 get together, excited to bring a bottle or two to share. I’m so stoked to meet other Berserkers here in MSN. I don’t think we should stress too much about pulling off an immaculate event, food or not. As long as we have a venue, I’m sure the people who come will not disappoint with bottles. Cheers!

[John_E]

@D.Weber

Forgive me for being late to the game. I just joined the forum, but am a seasoned geek though I’ve recently moved to Madison. I’m down for the 10/10 get together, excited to bring a bottle or two to share. I’m so stoked to meet other Berserkers here in MSN. I don’t think we should stress too much about pulling off an immaculate event, food or not. As long as we have a venue, I’m sure the people who come will not disappoint with bottles. Cheers!

It will be kept reasonably simple. Nice apps and/or small plates from the Tornado Steakhouse and good wines(from the beserkers) to taste.

[Tom_Demergian]

@D.Weber

Forgive me for being late to the game. I just joined the forum, but am a seasoned geek though I’ve recently moved to Madison. I’m down for the 10/10 get together, excited to bring a bottle or two to share. I’m so stoked to meet other Berserkers here in MSN. I don’t think we should stress too much about pulling off an immaculate event, food or not. As long as we have a venue, I’m sure the people who come will not disappoint with bottles. Cheers!

Looking forward to meeting you D. Weber. I’m mainly hoping this will be a chance to make fresh connections with a few Madison wine (and food) lovers, whether or not the Berserker theme draws many out of towners.

[Tom_Demergian]

@John E

It will be kept reasonably simple. Nice apps and/or small plates from the Tornado Steakhouse and good wines(from the beserkers) to taste.

I don’t know how many spouses will end up attending, hopefully as many as possible. Mine will likely come if others do, she tends to prefer the social aspect of these gatherings as she doesn’t drink very much.

[John_E]

@Tom Demergian

@John E

It will be kept reasonably simple. Nice apps and/or small plates from the Tornado Steakhouse and good wines(from the beserkers) to taste.

I don’t know how many spouses will end up attending, hopefully as many as possible. Mine will likely come if others do, she tends to prefer the social aspect of these gatherings as she doesn’t drink very much.

My wife Elizabeth will be there because she loves the Tornado and she loves wine!

[Terence_T-Bone_Livingston]

My last 2 visits to Madison…I just park myself at the Tornado Bar and always have a fantastic time! They make me feel completely at home there. You all are gonna have a blast.