By David G. Firestone

I had planned to talk about some winner circle hats this week, but we’re going to put those on the back burner for a bit. My cousin and I had the opportunity last week to go to the Miller Brewing Company and take their brewery tour, so I did. I hadn’t planned on really traveling this year, but when the opportunity arose, I took it.

The drive from Chicago to Milwaukee is not a difficult one, and it gave us a chance to hang out. Once there, we found the visitor center, albeit with a lot of difficulty, as the signage there can be pointlessly confusing at times. The cost is $10, and for that, you get a 1 hour tour, four samples of beer, and a souvenir pint glass.

Aside from Miller, Milwaukee has a great deal of beer history. Brands such as Schlitz, Pabst, Blatz, and Milwaukee’s Best can all trace their history back to 1800’s Milwaukee. Milwaukee’s proximity to Chicago is a major factor in the success of the breweries. Beer is so attached to Milwaukee, that their baseball team is named the Brewers. There are also some well-known craft breweries in Milwaukee, including Sprecher Brewing, Lakefront Brewing, and Milwaukee Brewing.

The brewery was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller. Miller was a German brewer who moved to Milwaukee with the lessons of German brewing, and a special strand of brewer’s yeast. He moved in to the Plank Road Brewery on Watertown Plank Road, and began producing beer in what is now known as “Miller Valley.” The business was a family one until 1966, when the family sold it to W. R. Grace and Company. One acquisition after another led to MillerCoors, which runs the business today.

The tour starts in the lobby, where there is a history of the brewery on the wall, some artifacts, and the gift shop.  The tour is every half hour, and you start by watching a movie discussing this history of the brewery. You then head down to “the caves.” The caves are a set of man made caves dug into the valley. These were used to store beer in a cold environment. Barrels were stacked into the 600 foot deep caves, and ice was packed around them to keep the beer fresh. With the advent of pasteurization, the caves were not needed. All but one of them were filled in, in order to help the structural integrity of the valley. The next stop on the tour is the Miller Inn. This 1800’s Bavarian inn has a lot of old world charm and a lot of Miller memorabilia. Your stop here includes a sample of beer, I went with Blue Moon Mango Wheat. You don’t have to drink, because for those who choose not to drink, or those under 21 can have some soda. During the first half of the tour, the history of the brewery is the focus. The next half of the tour focuses on the brewing of the beer, You go to the brew house, and you go up to the lauter tun. A mash made of barley, water, barley malt syrup, corn syrup, yeast, and hops is transferred to the lauter tun, which converts the mash to wort. The wort is then transferred to the brew kettle, which separates the liquid from the solid.

The rest of the brewing process is then diagrammed on the wall near the brew kettle.The next stop on the tour is the packaging plant, where you watch a movie about the packaging process and history. You can see the plant in action from the safety of the balcony. As you exit the top balcony, you approach the storage area, and you see what I consider the highlight of the tour: That is a Rusty Wallace Ford Taurus circa 2001, with the Winston Cup, and Busch Pole decals removed. That was a nice surprise. The tour then concludes back at the visitor center, where you get your final sample, and your free pint glass. It’s not long, but it’s fun nonetheless.

By pure coincidence, I had taken the Budweiser tour one year ago to the day I took the Miller tour. I thought next week, I would compare the two tours.

By David G. Firestone

I cover a lot of topics here on The Driver Suit Blog, but one thing I haven’t touched is the category of signed non-race used gloves. I’ve covered race-used gloves and signed race used gloves before. Drivers will sign most things, so a brand new pair of racing gloves isn’t that strange. From my perspective, I’m into race-used memorabilia, instead of replica items, for obvious reasons.

Nicknamed The Rocket Man, Ryan Newman has done a lot in his NASCAR career. He won the 2008 Daytona 500, the 50^th Anniversary of the Daytona 500, the 2013 Brickyard 400,, and the 2002 Winston. He has 18 wins in the Cup Series, 7 wins in the Xfinity Series, and 1 win in the Truck Series. At some point, he autographed a series of Simpson SFI-certified gloves, which are unused, and in great condition, showing no use at all. The right glove has the SFI certification. The glove is signed just below the fingers, and is the duller of the two signatures. The left glove is rather unadorned, but has the brighter of the two signatures. OK, with that done, let’s get to:

TAILGATING TIME

One of my favorite chicken recipes is:

Hasselback Fried Chicken

5 Servings

Ingredients:

5 medium sized chicken breasts

2 cups flour, sifted, in a bowl

3 eggs, beaten

2 cups breadcrumbs

3 liters oil

Directions:

1-Preheat the oil to 160°C/380°F.

2-Take each chicken breasts and cut parallel lines almost all of the way through, around 1/2 a cm apart, down the length of each breast.

3-Dip the breasts in the flour, making sure it gets down all the slits, then shake off the excess.

4-Dip them in the eggs and shake off the excess then roll them thoroughly in breadcrumbs.

5-Pick them up cut side up with a pair of tongs, letting them drape over the sides, then dip them in the hot oil, letting them cook to hold their shape before letting go and letting them cook in the hot oil for around 4 minutes, until brown and cooked through.

For the next couple of weeks, I will examine some victory lane caps. Next week, I will look at a couple of Jason Line caps.

By David G. Firestone

Hailing from Maylene, Alabama, Dave Mader III was a driver who had some success in the lower echelons of auto racing, but on the national level, didn’t really do much. He beat Mark Martin at the 1978 Snowball derby. He also scored four consecutive championships in the All-American Challenge Series win the 1991 Michigan ARCA 200, and had one top 5, and 9 top 10’s in the Xfinity Series, but his career results are otherwise unremarkable.

Coming off a 1992 where he raced 10 races in the Cup and Xfinity Series, it looked like Dave would have a ride for 1993. While he did race in the NASCAR Southeast Series, he didn’t race in the Cup Series again, though he did race in other series. This Simpson custom made double-layer suit was prepared for Mader sometime in the 1990’s. I’ve noticed something odd about the Winston Cup logo, but more on that later. The suit was worn, as it shows decent use, including stains on the yellow stripes.The collar is a Velcro version, and is black outlined with yellow piping.The standard Simpson warranty label is in the cowl.On the right chest, there is a zippered pocket. On that pocket are a couple of Simpson patches, and DAVE MADER embroidered.On the left chest, there is a NASCAR WINSTON CUP patch circa 1993-1996. The patch is covering something on the suit, but I can’t figure out what it is.The front torso is unadorned, except for the quilt pattern.The black belt is unadorned, except for the white stitching.The legs have white and black stripes up the side that extend to the arm pits. They have no logos, and are boot cuffs.The shoulders have black epaulets, outlined in white piping. The right sleeve is unadorned, except for a small Simpson patch near the cuff. The left sleeve is unadorned. The back of the suit is unadorned, and doesn’t show any wear. It’s rare that I’ve encountered a suit where I can clearly tell it has been used for some time, but not been able to find out anything more than that. Simpson stopped adding flag tags indicating when the suits were made around the mid 1990’s. The Winston Cup Series patch would date it 1993-1996, but since it appears the patch was added at a later date, this doesn’t help much. I’m going to go with what I have already, since I’ve hit the wall in terms of what and where I can search.

Next week, a pair of Ryan Newman autographed gloves.