Are you guys ready for your Stevens Point itinerary day two!?! Saturday’s itinerary is a little jam packed because most breweries open later or are closed on Sunday. I always feel like the best way to start your day is with some locally made sweets, luckily Stevens Point has a winter farmers market! If breakfast sweets aren’t your thing, there is also locally grown produce, meats, jams and teas! I had a great time sampling goodies and chatting with the vendors about their products. It all comes back to how friendly the people of Stevens Point are. My favorite thing that I purchased was a jar of Raspberry Currant jam from Joan’s table. The wide variety of flavors made it tough to pick just one!
After breakfast, there are some great little shops that you absolutely have to hit in downtown Stevens Point. The first is The Companion Shop, a pet store. Specializing in dogs and cats, this store has the perfect gift to bring your pet to say, “Sorry for leaving you this weekend!” To make it even better, there are two resident cats that have the best recommendations for toys for your furry friends at home. We took advice from Cindy and got our cat a squeaky mouse. Keep an eye out for Larry as well, he tends to hang back by the register but is gorgeous!
One of the other stores I fell in love with was Agora, a maker’s market, specializing in local artisan made products. It is packed with cute Wisconsin-made gifts to bring home for friends. Check out the photos below for some of my favorite things! We ended up buying a bottle of bourbon barrel aged syrup…yum! Just take a look at this beautiful bottle! I first tried bourbon barrel aged syrup while on my way out of Goose Island Prop Day earlier this year. I love how the bourbon flavor complements the syrupy sweetness (there is no alcohol in the syrup).
After exploring the shops downtown, head to Stevens Point Brewing for a tour! Pro tip: they are only open for tours, there is no tasting room unless you go on a tour! The tour is $5 and you get 3, 8oz tasters and a souvenir pint glass. There are many opportunities to earn another taster coupon while on the tour so make sure you brush up on your beer/ Point brewery facts before you go! I really had a great time on the tour! Our guide was great, she knew a ton about the history of Point which is what makes this brewery so special! This is the original building where they started brewing way back in 1857 so just looking around makes for an incredible trip through time! The tasting bar has a wide range of options from craft sodas to pilot brews that you can only get there and at Point burger bars. If you want to try one of their sodas, I recommend the Diet Root Beer…it was incredible! I won’t spoil the rest of the tour, but it really is a must do when in Stevens Point!
Let’s break down some of my favorites from the tasting room (in no particular order!)
Snow Pilot- Pistachio Nut Brown 6% ABV
This is the only one that I will talk about here that is widely available. For the rest you’ll have to make your way to Stevens Point or a Point Burger Bar! I’ll admit that I’m partial to pistachio beers, Milkstachio from HopButcher/DryHop is one of my all-time favorite beers. While this beer doesn’t have that milk factor, it packs a nice pistachio flavor. Its fairly light in body which makes it nice to have a couple by a fire with friends.
Peanut Butter Porter- Porter 5.8% ABV
This beer might have been my favorite! It is packed with peanut butter flavor, so you have to be a big fan of peanut butter to enjoy it. I’ve had a lot of beers that just fall flat on the peanut butter so this was a nice change! I loved that it was full bodied but had a lower ABV. The low ABV was a nice contrast to other peanut butter beers I enjoy such as Ballast Point’s Peanut Butter Victory at Sea. Ballast Point comes in at 10% so I can’t have more than half a glass but the Point version is much more drinkable for me.
Whole Hog Cuppa Espresso Stout- 6.5% ABV
This is a very coffee forward beer, if you like to drink coffee you will love it! The flavor is strong and roasty with a lighter body. I really liked that a lot of the Stevens Point Brewery beers were lower in ABV and lighter in body. It’s nice to see flavorful beers not be overly heavy or high in alcohol. If coffee isn’t your favorite thing, they have a white stout that I would equate to coffee with creamer and vanilla.
If you find yourself hungry after the tour, there are a lot of great options for lunch in downtown Stevens Point, but my pick was The Wooden Chair. Even from the looks, this place is just too darn cute! It has a bit of a country/northern theme that makes for a great cozy lunch spot! I ordered the Banker’s omelet and it really hit the spot! It had potato, bacon, green onions and cheese…I couldn’t ask for anything more an in omelet!
The last thing I hit on Saturday was Great Northern Distilling. They are literally in the parking lot of the Hampton Inn in Plover so its an easy thing to get to if there happens to be a blizzard like there was the weekend that we visited! I’m not going to try to be a cocktail expert, but I will tell you that I really enjoyed what I had there. The atmosphere is cozy with touches that make you feel like you’re up north which I really liked. I wasn’t able to take a tour because of timing, but they offer tours on Saturdays that seem like a lot of fun. I would have loved to learn more about the distilling process so if you go, please take the tour and tell me how that works!
Details:
Stevens Point Farmers Market
Redeemer Lutheran Church
900 Brilowski Rd
Stevens Point, WI
Hours: Saturdays 8am-12pm
Companion Shop
937 Main Street
Stevens Point, WI
Hours: Saturdays 9am-4pm
Agora Makers Market
1008 Main Street
Stevens Point, WI
Hours: Saturdays 10am-6pm
Stevens Point Brewing
2617 Water St
Stevens Point, WI
Tour Times: 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm
Wooden Chair
1059 Main Street
Stevens Point, WI
Hours: Saturdays 7am-2pm
Great Northern Distilling
1740 Park Ave
Plover, WI
Hours: Saturday 1pm-10pm