46 | Wisconsin Dive Bars and Road Trips with Jared Schutz

Wisconsin Dive Bars can be found everywhere in the state and lately they've been getting the love nd recognition they deserve. Jared Schutz is a Wisconsin dive bar authority, having catalogued over 700 visits so far on his Wisco_Dive_Bars_ accounts on socials and his WiscoDiveBars.com website, which maps them all out. With several thousand visits to go, State Trunk Tour Host Eric Paulsen joined Jared for a candid conversation on the dive bar culture, uniqueness, and value to their local communities. We discuss how Jared got started tracking and sharing these dive bars, how Busch Lights came his rating scale, which bar caused him to give the most negative rating and why, how this endeavor has led him to multiple partnership and even his own brand of vodka, and of course we discuss some specific dive bars and the road trips that lead you there. In this episode, definitely a "part one" of multiples, we focus on dive bars in western Wisconsin. Locations from Kenosha to Superior and near Dubuque up to Door County also get shout-outs in this comprehensive study one of Wisconsin's most precious resources. Dive in and enjoy this episode with Eric and Jared and prepare to plan your road trips to explore these Wisconsin dive bars!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 4 (00:29):
Welcome back to the State Room Tour podcast. I'm Eric
Paulson and this is episode forty six. Today we're hitting
dive bars across the state with one of the foremost
authorities of Wisconsin dive bars. His name is Jared Shootz
and he's made a business out of a hobby. You
gotta love it. His Wisco Dive Bars account, which is
Wisko Underscore Dive Underscore Bars Underscore on Instagram, TikTok and

(00:55):
other socials, has brought hundreds and hundreds of dive bars
to the attention of viewers all over, including beyond the State.
He introduces the bar, he goes through it, talks about it,
and then gives it a ranking of how many bush
lights out of ten that he thinks it is in
terms of how awesome of a dive bar he's in.
His Instagram account alone has nearly fifty six thousand followers.

(01:18):
His website whiskodivebars dot Com maps out the bars he's
reviewed and now there's clearly room for more across the state.
He's just scratching the surface. We'll cover what makes a
good dive bar in Wisconsin, how it's become a compliment,
and some key ones to explore, especially when you enjoy
road trips around Wisconsin. We'll talk with Jared Shoots right
after this on the State. We'll talk with Jared Shoots

(01:40):
right after this on the State Trunk Tour podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Why get all your holiday decorations delivered through Instacart Because
maybe you only bought two wreaths but you have twelve windows,
or maybe your toddler got very eager with the advent calendar,
or maybe the inflatable snowman didn't make it through the snowstorm,
or maybe the twinkle lights aren't whatever the reason, this season.
Instacart's here for hosts and their whole holiday hall. Get

(02:05):
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and enjoy free delivery on your first three orders.

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Speaker 4 (02:45):
And since we know dive bars have their own little
unique character, it's kind of almost an area of study.
And the professor of all things dive bars is with
me right now, Jared Shoots, Welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 6 (02:58):
Hey, thanks for having me on.

Speaker 4 (03:00):
You know we talked separately and some other things about
all the dive bar stuff, but I wanted to get
you on this particular one so we could have a
looser conversation and go with more a bigger variety of topics.
And so for Jared, you are were you located right now?

Speaker 6 (03:16):
So I'm I am born and raised in west central
Wisconsin and little town of Spring Valley town about fourteen
hundred people, a couple of dive bars, a tiny little brewery,
and Crystal Cave.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yes Highways one twenty nine or Highways twenty nine and
one twenty eight come together there, half fast brewing. I
just went there not too long ago. Great little place.

Speaker 6 (03:35):
Really, yeah, yeah, absolutely, great little place. Used to be
a used to be a game room back in the
back in the eighties.

Speaker 4 (03:41):
Well they still have a couple of video games left.

Speaker 6 (03:43):
Oh in the eighties.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
Wow, so you had all the classics. Nice. Yeah, Well,
in some breweries or dive bars, we may get into that.
But your your Instagram handle at Wisco Underscore, dive, Underscore bars, Underscore,
which is interesting, right, Yes, yeah, that was a And
so just take us through a quick A lot of
people have heard of you, and some know the story already,

(04:05):
But for those who don't, how did you get started
doing this? Because this is not your full time job,
but it's certainly a passion. And anytime you can take
a passion or a hobby and turn it into something
that you enjoy, you can share with people and even
you can generate a little revenue on is a wonderful thing.
So take us through it.

Speaker 6 (04:22):
Yeah. So I started this January fourteenth of twenty twenty two,
and I was just talking to some guys at work
about how many dive bars Wisconsin has, just a random
topic that I brought up, and I just love these
dive bars so much, no matter shape, size, weather, big city,
small town out in the middle of the country. And

(04:44):
got me thinking. I thought, you know, I've never heard
a commercial for a dive bar before on the radio
or seen one on TV. I've never seen one on
social media. So why don't I Why don't I start
shooting dive bars a commercial and I give them free publicity.
Never charged a penny for any of the seven hundred
and six bars that I've hit to this point, and

(05:06):
I think people people love it just as much as
I do.

Speaker 4 (05:09):
I would say, So, now we're talking here in late
twenty twenty four, seven hundred and six dive bars out
of how many do you think are in the state total?

Speaker 6 (05:18):
According to Keith Kern, who is the president of the
Wisconsin Tavern League, he said, there's around nine thousand bars
in the state. And I believe there's forty seven hundred
bars in the Wisconsin Tavern League alone.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
Wow, and dive bar.

Speaker 6 (05:31):
No, not necessarily dive bars, you know, that's bars as
a whole. But you know, gosh, as far as the
total dives, and there is such a such a gray
area between oh, is it a dive or is it not? Absolutely,
but if I were to, if I were to guestimate,
I would say there's I would say there's probably twenty

(05:52):
five hundred or three thousand, like true, actual dive bars
in Wisconsin.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
So at the current rate of exploring and researching these
dive bars, you could spend another four or five years
without visiting the same one and still be all the material.

Speaker 6 (06:07):
Absolutely. Yeah, And that's the people have asked me, like,
what are you gonna do when you run out of bars?
I don't know that. I don't know that I will
run out of bars in Wisconsin, And and you know,
and sometimes you know, these bars change hands to when
they change names, and I'm all about stopping back in
and promoting them because, like I said, I'm at seven

(06:28):
hundred and six bars, and I don't care if you
were the first bar, the thirteenth bar, the one hundred
and tenth bar, or the seven hundred and sixth bar.
All these bars are responsible for me being where I'm
at as far as you know my social media following,
so you know, every single one of them absolutely means
the world to me. And I get such positive feedback

(06:50):
from the owners and bartenders and my followers too that
you know, I love to swing back into a place,
you know, sometimes just unannounced and swing in and and
just chat with the locals again that that I may
have seen a year and a half ago, or maybe
even two and a half years ago.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
Well, and you're up to you're pushing fifty five thousand
followers as we speak, and so that you know, and
that did that build gradually over time or did that
have a couple of quick leaps.

Speaker 6 (07:19):
Yeah, it's it's been a pretty steady climb. I mean
on all I'm on, I'm on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube,
and threads, and I'm over a quarter million followers on everything,
TikTok being my biggest format, Facebook being my second biggest format,
and then Instagram is my third biggest format. But but I,

(07:40):
you know, it's weird that the way the algorithm works,
there's times where I will gain maybe one hundred or
two hundred followers a day, and then sometimes Instagram just
gets stuck. Oh I how that works? Like I don't
gain I don't gain followers, you know, for maybe a
month or two, and then I'll and then I'll post
a video that takes off and it'll loosen it up,

(08:02):
and away I go again. And I just feel like
Instagram is my most consistent social media between Facebook and
Facebook and Instagram. But I kind of know what I'm
going to get on Instagram. Like I said, there's it's
not much of a roller coaster ride as as far
as TikTok and and Facebook is. But but I love

(08:22):
all my formats, and I love it when people follow
me on multiple formats. And there's some people that you know,
don't have TikTok, some people don't have Instagram and they
just have Facebook or maybe just new YouTube. And that's fine,
that's why. That's why I spread it across five different formats.

Speaker 4 (08:38):
Well, it is good to do it that way. You
reach you reach a much broader group of people that way.
You even have a website wiscodivebars dot com. And yes,
one of the things you have on here is a
map with all the plots, and I do that on
my State Trunk Tour website where if I visit a
place or if it's like, you know, ten cool things
along this highway or something, we google map it and

(08:59):
you have points at all of these bars seven hundred plus.
There's one in Minnesota. Quickly explain that to me.

Speaker 6 (09:06):
Yeah, So I did a I actually did a podcast
with a group of guys Pine City, Minnesota called on
Tap I did that's been coming up on two years
around Christmas time. And so they're just across not too
far away from Grantsburg, Wisconsin, and their studio just happened
to be half a block away from their go to
dive bar, and so we decided we were going to

(09:29):
pre game it a little bit at their go to
dive bar and and then do their do their podcast,
and then we went back to their froggies, their their
go to dive bar again, and I thought, you know,
just as a just as a thank you to them,
I thought, you know, the first Minnesota bar that I
do is, you know, is their go to dive bar.
So so it's kind of a tribute to the to

(09:50):
the on Tap on Tap with the Boys podcast out
of Pine City, Minnesota.

Speaker 4 (09:55):
A great idea and great reason to do it all
of your other stuff. It's funny. I look at this map,
I zoom in, and boy, you get right up on
the border with so many of these towns. But none
of the other bars you visited are outside of Wisconsin,
keeping it truly Wisko dive Bar. But you've gone every
corner of the state. You've been to the Wooden Nickel,
which is a great one in Pleasant Prairie in the
southeast corner of Wisconsin. I mean it's very very close

(10:19):
to Illinois, and in the corner of the state.

Speaker 6 (10:21):
That was actually that was actually bar number three hundred
that I hit. Hmm, and I remember all these places.
That was the end of March of twenty twenty three.
That is actually the furthest southeastern bar in the state
of Wisconsin.

Speaker 4 (10:35):
Makes sense, there's a cub's neeon there. So yeah, bit
of a bit of a conversation piece there at the
other extreme. Is it called Wabigon Bar and Grill, the
one on the Wisconsin Minnesota line off Highway twenty three.
That's it's right by Mondu Lac Ski Resort, which also
has a little bar that you visited there, and it's Wabigon.
Is that how you pronounce it?

Speaker 6 (10:56):
Yep? Okay, yep, Wabagon. That's it. And that the very
the very cool and unique thing about that place is
if you're driving there, you have to actually drive into
Minnesota to get to it.

Speaker 4 (11:07):
Yeah, it's a very unique thing where Minnesota Highway twenty
three crosses into Wisconsin briefly for like literally half a mile,
and the Wisconsin agrees to help maintain it, but it
stays Minnesota twenty three for road gigs. It's a really
cool little feature.

Speaker 6 (11:25):
Yeah. Yeah, just a really really unique, really unique spot
to have a bar. I guess I actually got there.
We actually got there via boat. I was actually with
the Tavern League president last August, so you're going to
August and we and we stopped in there, and that's
a that's one of those places that I would almost
classify as a dive bar slash supper club like. It

(11:49):
almost had that supper club feel. And we had had
amazing fish fry there when I was there. Yeah, just
a super solid place.

Speaker 4 (11:59):
And at the other northwest extremes in Superior, you hit
the Tower Avenue, Tavern Anchor Bar and Grow, which is
legendary for their burghers. And you've run the gamut also
across haven't gone up into Door County much. You have
a lot of Green Bay area bars. Yeah, but yeah,
I really dived up the peninsula.

Speaker 6 (12:17):
Yeah, and I actually the ironic part is I actually
had a plan on my last trip. I was going
to go to Door County. My girlfriend and I were
going to go to Door County. I haven't hit Door County,
Kiwanee County, or Manitowac County yet. I've been really close.
But then my girlfriend her kids were nice enough to
give her a nasty cold, so she decided last minute

(12:39):
that she wasn't going to go. And I thought, well,
Door County is a little bit too romantic for me
to go by myself, So I backed out on the
Door County trip. And it was you know, I didn't
tell anybody I was coming. It was just one of
those things where I was just going to go over there,
and I ended up going down into down at the
Crawford County and Richland County and Iowa County instead because

(13:02):
I hadn't hit any of those bars down there in
the heart of the driftless area, and I had never
been down there before in my life.

Speaker 4 (13:10):
And Rochester isn't.

Speaker 6 (13:11):
Just as beautiful as Door County, so I was being
romantic with myself anyways.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
Don't need those details, Jared, But yeah, no, the hills
and the bluffs and the coolies, and it is such
a stunning part of the state, and it's filled with
a lot of dive bars, and you do just looking
at the map, you have a lot of empty spaces
in here. So there's plenty to discover in that area
as well as Door County and far northeastern Wisconsin, which

(13:37):
is trick you to get to when you live, you know,
over in Spring Valley. So I get that there's a
ton around, you know, from Marinett into Forest County and
up in you know Mountain and Wabeno and Crandon and
all that, so you have a lot left to explore
with whisky dive bars. So yeah, you're in a way,
you're just getting started. You're barely a quarter the way
through this thing.

Speaker 6 (13:57):
So yeah, I've actually hit sixty two of the seven
two counties in the state, and it's I want to
it's kind of my game plan by around February to
finally get to all seventy two, but it's it's kind
of weird how it happened. Like I've like down by Jamesville.
There's Rock County, Walworth County, and Jefferson County that I

(14:17):
haven't hit. Yeah there, yeah, and yeah, there's Door County,
Kiwane County, Manage, wac County, and then Florence, Forrest, and Marinette,
which are all you know, so that's a group of
three as well. And then there's Monominee County that is,
you know, not far away from from those three. So
it's gonna take me three weekend trips to to finish

(14:39):
off the I don't know if anybody has ever verified
that they have drank a beer in every county in
the state of Wisconsin before, but I think you're.

Speaker 4 (14:48):
On your ways, but you're on your way to well
documenting all of this. That's the key. You have also
hit the southwestern corner of the state, Sandy Hook Tavern Chops,
and Kelly the Supper Club that's right there. And then
there is a bar called Eagle Point Barge and Bar.
I don't know if it's a dive bar, but it
sure looks like it.

Speaker 6 (15:06):
Yeah, and that's a barge floating on the floating on
the Mississippi. So that is probably the Furthest Southwestern Bar
in the state of Wisconsin as well.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
It's not the Furthest Supper Club. This three mile houses
the Furthest Southwest Supper Club, but it does look like
the Furthest Southwest Bar. And it's right at the edge
of where the old bridge between Dubuke and Wisconsin used
to be before they built the current one. So okay,
it's a cool spot. Just historically, the old Eagle Point
Bridge was there up until about nineteen eighty two or

(15:37):
so when the new bridge opened, so there's a piece
of history there. So yeah, you have a lot of
reasons to hit all these different corners of the state,
but you've certainly hit bars throughout the state to this
point to an unbelievably impressive level.

Speaker 6 (15:50):
Yeah, and it's you know so many of these places too.
You walk into them and they're just they're absolute time capsules.
And the ones that look exactly the same as they
were back in nineteen seventy five, those are the ones
that just that. Like I said, I love every single
bar that I have been to, but those ones just

(16:13):
you know, there's so many, so much family history in
so many of these places too, Like, and I see
the comments on everything that I post on social media
and the people I remember going there with my grandpa,
you know, he would play cards. And as matter of fact,
I just had somebody comment, just like an hour ago
of Bob's Bar in Prairie Machine, the video that I

(16:35):
posted last night, there was a lady that commented and said,
I remember I used to go there and watch my
dad play cards with his friends, and I would always
get a snicker bar, and I remember that snicker bar
always tasted like cigarettes.

Speaker 4 (16:49):
A cigarette vending machine was a must in every dive
bar until fairly recently, but some still have them, right.

Speaker 6 (16:55):
Yeah, you know, and I've especially when you get up north,
I've the bar is that you can still smoke in.
I'm not going to call any of them out, but
it seems like the further north you get, the more
the laws relax.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
So it makes sense now, not that we have to
go into what makes a dive bar a dive bar,
but are there a couple of musks? What makes you
say this place qualifies for me to review it as
a dive bar.

Speaker 6 (17:21):
I think there is a lot there. There is a lot,
But I would say the few things that definitely gets
it well on the way to be in a dive
bars that it has to be historic. You know, almost
a landmark in its own you know where it's your family.
You know, three generations of your family have been drinking
at this bar. That's that's probably a dive bar. Yeah,

(17:46):
And if it has wood paneling, it's it's a dive bar.
You know, you're you're pickled eggs, you're pickled pig feet,
you're pickled gizzards behind the bar, your cheap beer, you're
worn out, beat up bar top. That could write the
coolest book in the history of books if it could

(18:07):
talk like those are just definite U you know, just
some of the definite things that a dive bar needs
to have. And you know, you've got your shaka day
and your pull tabs and you know, and stuff like that.
But but you know, like like I was saying earlier,
there's definitely kind of a gray area of is it

(18:28):
a dive bar or not, But there's some where people
will agree that, yes, that is a dive bar. And
and there are so many of those in the state,
all over the place, and and uh, man, I just
I just want to make them, you know, stay open forever,
because because they really are historic landmarks of Wisconsin, without

(18:49):
a doubt.

Speaker 4 (18:50):
Little exposure doesn't hurt. Course, some may not want the exposure.
I'm sure you've opened the door, and some people sitting
in the bar like, ah, man, don't tell those people
about this place.

Speaker 6 (18:58):
Yeah, And you know, I didn't get that a little bit,
you know at first, where people are like, ah, like,
you know, we kind of just like our clientele the
way it is. You know. There was one bar in
particular that the owner I didn't video because he didn't
want me to and them by the time I left,
I still hung out there for three hours. Yeah, and
uh it wasn't too far. It wasn't too far from

(19:18):
my girlfriend's place in Chiplell Fall, so and by the
time I left, the owner said, why don't you come
back next time? And I'll you know, I'll let you.
I'll let you take some video, but I and I
never go into a place just videoing. You know, I'm
always one hundred percent respectful. I go into a bar first,
and it is it's pretty crazy that I could be

(19:40):
at a bar five hours away from home and people
know who I am as soon as I walk in.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
And that's the funny part when you have so many
followers and you kind of get known. Plus and if
you look at your videos, I mean what they call
the thumbnails, the little still that you click on to
watch the video, it's usually you usually on the left
side of the frame with your red shirt. You've got
to Whisko dive bar hat, your beard and your glasses.
I mean, you're pretty distinctive with that look. And so

(20:06):
if you walk into a bar with the with that
gear on, you're starting to get recognized right right.

Speaker 6 (20:12):
And and it's it's amazing how many times I've been recognized.
It might not be at a bar, it might be
it could be at a quick trip. It could be
you know, at sleep farm or whatever. People will just
hear me talking to somebody and they'll recognize me by
voice without even seeing me, you know, maybe just seeing
my back and and I guess I just have I
just have that distinct voice, which I think you have

(20:33):
one of those distinct voices as well.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
I've had that happen from these podcasts and from the
Discoverer's Constant podcast and from being on the Discover Wisconsin show. Certainly. Yeah,
I mean people people sitting like they might stare at you,
and you can't have attitude and like what are you
looking at you? Like, oh, they might recognize me from
the show, they might recognize my voice, And that's happening
to you too in a dive bar.

Speaker 6 (20:55):
Yeah, yeah, it's you know, I think I'm I'm well
on my way to becoming Wisconsin's version of Norm Peterson.
I think I don't you know, nor Norm. Norm made
a living just going to one bar. Well, I'm making
a living going to all of them.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
And that's really the key. You should be able to
walk into any dive bar and say afternoon, everybody, and
everybody else Jared or dive or something.

Speaker 6 (21:19):
Yeah. Yeah, it's it's a great thing, though. I mean,
I love every single second of what I do. And
I didn't do this too. I didn't do this to
become well known or you know, I hate to even
use the word famous. But I did this to make
these bars famous, and and I know how fast they

(21:39):
can disappear, and especially you know, when we went through
COVID four years ago, I know we lost a bunch there,
and I just thought, you know, if I can promote
these bars, let's instead of sitting at a bar and
talking about how cool this bar was or that bar was,
let's sit in those bars and talk about how awesome
they are versus you know, talk about them in present
tense instead of past tense, because because we all know,

(22:02):
like once they're gone, they're not coming back, you know.
It's it's just that way. And like, there's a bar
up in Long Lake up by Sarona. Duffy's was a
bar that very very well known. Unfortunately I never got there,
and Duffy, the owner passed away. I want to say,
maybe he passed away during COVID. So it was just

(22:24):
before I started doing the dive bar thing. And now
it's actually reopened. Somebody reopened it this summer and now
it's called Muffy's and I haven't been there yet, but
it still looks divy. But but there's no coffin in
the corner. There's no. Yeah, so I mean it's it's
still there, but it's you know, it's not the same

(22:45):
kind of thing. You know. It's like it's like Journey
without Steve Perry, Like, yeah, it's still cool, but but
it's it's.

Speaker 4 (22:51):
Not peak form. Yeah, totally get that.

Speaker 6 (22:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
You know a side question, have you ever done your
tried to research a dive bar. You walked in and
you're like, you know what, this isn't enough of a
dive bar.

Speaker 6 (23:05):
You know, and I'm people question that sometimes on you know, oh,
of this isn't a dive bar. But you know, I'm
totally cool with going to a place that I know
definitely isn't a dive bar as soon as I walk in.
But you know, sometimes for me, maybe it's not a
true dive bar. But it's all about location. If you

(23:26):
are a bar that's been open for forty years and
you're in a town of two hundred and fifty people
or five hundred people, and you are basically the community
center of that small town, that almost classifies you as
a dive bar. It's that cheers. You know, you just
want to go where everybody knows your name, and you

(23:48):
know it just like I said, sometimes location is almost
makes makes the bar a dive bar just all of itself.
You know, it's off the beaten path somewhere you struggle
to find it with GPS, let alone by just getting
directions from locals.

Speaker 4 (24:05):
And sometimes that's because you're so far away from anything
else there's no cell service.

Speaker 6 (24:09):
Oh I've been there, and I've been to bars where
my GPS on my truck it looks like I'm just
driving off into Lake Michigan, or like it's just my
screen is just blue. I'm not even on a road,
And if my Toyota Tacoma could talk, it would be
asking where in the world are we going, because I'm
not even on a road right now, But what we

(24:31):
definitely were, And there's always there's always that pot of
gold at the end of the rainbow with these dive bars.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
It's one of the things I noticed in your posts
when you post and I think I know a lot
of places across the state, and you've found places that
I didn't even know where the towns existed. So it's
one of the things that's interesting on your dive bar thing.
And for example, there are no new dive bars right
It takes a while to become one, and there's really
people would think, oh, dive bar sounds like an insult

(24:59):
or Is there a stigma around him? I don't think so.
I think they're getting celebrated more than ever now in
part because of what you're doing.

Speaker 6 (25:05):
Yeah, and I don't think there's any question. I was
really surprised when I started doing this how many people, like.
It's definitely not a majority of people, but I couldn't
believe how many people thought that a calling a place
a dive bar was an insult, which it is an
absolute badge of honor. And you know, and I think it,

(25:29):
you know, as bad as things were with COVID and
as many you know, bars and small businesses as a
whole closed down because of COVID, I really think that
COVID was responsible for bringing these dive bars back to life,
making dive bars great again, you know. Not to make
it a political thing, you know, I don't want people

(25:50):
to take that as a as a Trump thing, but
I've even thought about making t shirts that say make
dive bars divy again or make dive bars great again,
just because I think and maybe it's because people are
a little bit more strapped for money with the economy
being the way it is, and people want the social time,
but they don't want to have six dollar beers. They

(26:13):
want to have two dollars beers and three dollar beers.

Speaker 4 (26:16):
So, you know, Jared and you're talking about that, I'm
thinking one of the big buzzwords lately is authenticity, and
I think dive bars kind of bring an authentic nature
that a lot of the kind of more fashionable bars don't. Plus, yeah,
you can walk in there with twenty bucks or thirty
bucks or forty bucks and enjoy a whole evening or

(26:38):
even ten bucks in some cases, whereas other places sometimes
it feels like they're just trying to see how much
money they can get out of you.

Speaker 6 (26:45):
Yeah, right, Yeah, that's and that's it. A lot of
times these dive bars don't have food, so everything you're
spending is either it's on pull tabs, it's on beer,
the shaka day and the jukebox. You know, basically is
you know, is how you spend your money. And I
matter of fact, I just a friend of mine, Kevin,
text me today and he asked me if I'd been
to Porks in De Soto, and I told him I

(27:07):
hadn't been there yet. I know exactly where it's at,
but he told me that place is so weird. He said,
if I go in there, especially on a packer Sunday,
I'll go in with twenty dollars, I'll come out with
forty dollars and I'll be absolutely wasted. He's like, I
don't know what it is about that place, but I
go with more money than when I come out and
I come up, you know. But it's a lot of

(27:28):
times that's that's how dive bars work. You know. You
get shaken for drinks and you might sit in there
for three or four hours and have five or six
drinks and never have to pay. But there's other other
times where it can go the absolute opposite way too.

Speaker 4 (27:44):
So definitely again, Yeah, Pork's Bar that's on Highway eighty two,
right before it meets up with Highway thirty five in
the Great River Road, And that's such a beautiful area
to Soto, in the heart of the dreadfless area, as
we noted. And yeah, you have I'm looking forward to
what video you're going to create for that place, because, yeah,
you know, here's another good question. You have a rating

(28:04):
system for these bars. Yes, And I don't know if
I've ever seen you have something with less than five
or six out of ten, But your standard is bush Lights?
Why is that.

Speaker 6 (28:17):
So? I it's funny that you asked that, because I
the I think the winds of change might be blowing.
Let's put it that way. Bush Light is is just
a beer that I've always drank, you know, probably ever
since I was I'm from Wisconsin. It's a bar beer
since I was fifteen. Yeah, And and I do get

(28:38):
some I do get some flak with some of my
followers like, well, why don't you drink a Wisconsin beer?
And and uh, like, I'll always mix it up, you know.
I you know, I'm definitely a bush Light drinker, There's
no question about that. But I have been contacted by
a couple Wisconsin Wisconsin beer companies maybe getting some sort

(28:58):
of partnership going. So I won't I won't let the
cat out of the bag. Like I said, there's nothing
set in stone yet, but I think either one would
be an absolute great thing. And you know, bush Light
is the number one selling beer in Wisconsin. But hmm.

(29:19):
Getting getting as deep as I am into this, I
never thought it would get this deep. You know, I
think it's uh, I think it's time that that I
rally with with a Wisconsin company and and team up
with Wisconsin company and help them out promotional wise and
and and everything else. So I've we'll we'll, we'll see you.

(29:41):
We're like I said, we're working on it.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
I'm looking forward to seeing how that shakes out. Then
that's that's pretty cool.

Speaker 6 (29:47):
Yeah, So that's that's that's something that's been in the
last two or three weeks. I actually was approached by
one company and I was approached by another, So you know,
it's it's a it's a business. You know, it costs
a lot money for me to do this. So if
you know, if a company wants to jump on board
with me and they love what I do, that's you know,

(30:09):
I love that. And to get the support from other
Wisconsin based companies means the world to me. Everything Wisconsin
is what Wisconsin Night's love. And I even have I
have my own vodka out since I've talked to you
last Yeah, so and that's that's going. Well, that's a
nice smooth, nice smooth, smooth vodka made right in Wassaw.

(30:30):
So yeah, now we're just trying to promote that more
and we can never sell enough of that. But obviously
there is plenty of plenty of options as far as
vodka goes in Wisconsin.

Speaker 1 (30:40):
Oh absolutely, Why get all your holiday decorations delivered through
instacart because maybe you only bought two wreaths but you
have twelve windows, or maybe your toddler got very eager
with the advent calendar, or maybe the inflatable snowman didn't
make it through the snowstorm, or maybe the twinkle lights
aren't twinkling, whatever the reason, this season in instacarts here

(31:01):
for hosts and.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
Their whole holiday hall.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
Get decorations from the home depot, CVS and more through
instacart and enjoy free delivery on your.

Speaker 3 (31:08):
First three orders. Service fees in terms supply.

Speaker 6 (31:10):
Liquor as a whole.

Speaker 4 (31:12):
So yeah, okay, quick aside on that. I think a
lot of people might be curious about that. How did
that come about? How is it done? And what's the
arrangement with that? I mean, everybody who loved to have
their own branded vodka right for something similar, you know, yeah.

Speaker 6 (31:28):
It was. It was something that honestly was not even
on my radar. It never it was never a thought
that ever entered my head. And Dan that owns Timekeeper
Distillery and wasaw reached out to me probably back in April,
and he you know, messaged me and said, hey, I've
been following you for quite a while and here's you know,

(31:49):
I've got this this distillery that's an old train depot
and he's been a brew master for sixteen or seventeen years,
I believe, and I think he's he's owned the distillery
I think for six or seven years. But he asked
me if I'd be interested in having my own line
of liquor, and I was like, yeah, I didn't even
know how to I didn't even know how to respond
at first, but uh, but yeah, So we we went

(32:12):
back and forth with that, and and it was probably
a four month process to really get that, you know,
to get it, to get it launched and and to
you know, by the time it hit the shelves, like
there's a lot that goes into you know, basically just
throwing my name on it, like I trust him with
his with his vodka making. And and I'm not I'm

(32:35):
not a huge vodka drinker, but I've drank more vodka
in the last three or four months than I have
in my previous forty seven years. I can guarantee that.
And and and my vodka is great. It's it's smooth,
it's just still six times and and I don't get
hung over off of it. So that's a that's a
really good thing. But at the same time, I'm not, uh,
you know, I'll have a vodka Eliminator two and you

(32:56):
know I don't. I don't get too crazy with it.

Speaker 4 (32:58):
But well, part of it depends and what you mix
it with, of course. So that's good. And you know
that isn't that better than getting a call that where
they say, I've been trying to reach you about your
car's extended warranty.

Speaker 6 (33:10):
Absolutely, yeah, it's you know, to get that phone call,
it's I guess I would almost say, like it's every
every Wisconsin Wisconsin boys dream to have their own liquor, right,
And I guess I But like I said, it was funny.
It was something that I you know, I didn't reach
out to them. And and like I've just had a
lot of stuff falling my you know, fall in my

(33:31):
lap that way, like you know, with my vodka, and
you know, I've got a sponsorship with Quick Trip. I've
been under contract with them for a year and a
half and I got that because they reached out to me,
and and traveling in Wisconsin, you may have seen a
couple Nicolay Law billboards. Very good. Yeah, I've got a
contract with Nicolay Law too as well, and and it's

(33:53):
great and nicol and Quick Trip actually, you know, have
since started working together since you know, since I've been
with Nikolay. So that's really cool that my sponsors are
actually working together doing stuff as well. And that just
shows you, you know, what Wisconsin's all about.

Speaker 4 (34:11):
And it's funny that they're doing the whole dive bar thing,
I mean, especially for a quick trip. I mean, you know,
when you go to a dive bar, what do you
want when you leave snacks?

Speaker 6 (34:21):
Exactly?

Speaker 4 (34:23):
So actually you mentioned a little earlier dive bars. There's
two types of dive bars. Some that don't serve food
at all, other than you know, the peanuts and potato
chips that are on the little clips on the wall,
and you might the pickled eggs and stuff that you mentioned.
Other dive bars serve some of the best damn food
you can possibly find.

Speaker 6 (34:42):
Right, absolutely, one hundred percent, And I actually had somebody,
so I'll get your opinion on this. Somebody said told
me that the Anchor Bar in Superior is not a
dive bar. Speaking of dive bars with great.

Speaker 4 (34:54):
Food, well, some might call it a restaurant first, because
they're famous for their burgers, and their burgers are indep
eat excellent. But boy, you walk into that place and
it is that is of all the bars and restaurants
in the state, it probably has more stuff per square
foot packed into it than any place I've seen, from

(35:15):
books to globes to just weirdness. And you're like, I
don't want the lights to be turned up, and I
certainly don't want anybody lighting up a match irresponsibly in
this place.

Speaker 6 (35:25):
Yeah yeah, but you know, getting back to what you
were saying, like, some of the best food that I've
ever eaten mm hmm has come from a dive bar.
And there's something about the patina on a flat top
at a dive bar that makes burgers just tastes so
much better.

Speaker 4 (35:44):
And yeah, they range for me, you know, the big
thick burgers to the smash burgers that they love to
do on the flat top, the fish fries. I mean,
some of the best fish fries you'll ever have in
the state come from the most unlikely places. I've gone
to some dive bars where the building looks like it's
about to fall down, and I'm like, they probably don't
even have peanuts in this place. And you walk in
and they make some really nice sandwiches and they'll have

(36:05):
a fish fry. They'll just knock your socks out. And sometimes,
like you show, these places are in the middle of nowhere,
and it's like, how do they get all this stuff
in here?

Speaker 6 (36:16):
Yeah? And the people just come out of the hills
and they just show up. And that happened recently. I
was coming back from Rheinlander. I took a county road
and I was in I came through Gleason. It was
Fork Corners, not four corners, Fork Corners, Barn Grill in

(36:37):
the middle of nowhere, and there was between cars, trucks
and side by sides. There were probably forty vehicles there.
And as soon as I got out, I opened the
door of my truck and I told my girlfriend, I'm like,
this is a fish ride going on, Like you can
just I parked fifty yards away from the bar, where

(36:57):
the closest parking spot was and you could just smell
that fish fry and it's like I had just eaten
a half hour ago when we left Rhinelander. But I
wish I I can't eat at every bar that I
go to. I wouldn't. I wouldn't hit in my truck anymore.
But but you know what, when it comes to that too,
you know, as far as me doing my rating stuff,

(37:19):
if I don't eat and there's locals there eating, like
I will, you know, I'll ask, you know, multiple locals
you know how the food is, and you know, they'll
tell me like, oh, well, the fish is great, and
they you know, they have a buffalo chicken wrap that's
just to die for. And you know, so I you know,
the locals do help me on rating the place as well.
It's not just it's not just my opinion. So I

(37:41):
think it's just a it's an all around team effort,
I think from what I do, and I just happen
to be the one that ends up throwing it all
together and spitting out the finished product.

Speaker 4 (37:50):
That's kind of wild ZS four Corners, which is by
the way on County Z at like Best Show Road,
a couple miles east or south, depending on your trajectory
from Highway seventeen and it's south of Gleason by a
couple of miles on Z. That's a great example of
a bar that's out in the middle of nowhere. Yeah,
and thank god for Google.

Speaker 6 (38:11):
Maps, huh yeah. And that's what I like to I
like to call them county bars.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
Oh I should correct myself. It's these four corners, but
it's county X that it's on.

Speaker 6 (38:20):
Yeah. So yeah, and somebody can be like, well, where's
the bar at? Well, it's in such and such county,
like it's not really in a town. And that's a
lot of it that I do too. It's like because
I because I have to do research and like where
is this bar at? Like, and I'll even ask the locals, like, well,
according to Google, you know, that bar might be an Anago.
You know, I don't, I don't know what the Google says,

(38:42):
but you know, for that one, but you know, you're
you might be fifteen miles away from Annago. But but
it's a you know, but there's a maybe a mailing address,
right yeah, yeah, yeah, So it's some of them are
some of them are hard because I, like you said,
I do, like my my website. I usually update it
every it's every two weeks at least. Usually I'll update

(39:03):
it every like every weekend, I'll update it. But you know,
it has all the tabs on it, and you can
click on any tab and it'll pull up my video
off of YouTube and then and then there's a big
blue button that says navigate here and and we'll give
you the GPS coordinates right to the place. So it's
it's just kind of a little handheld dive bar bible

(39:24):
that you can use. And I know that so many
people use it. I know the last I looked at
the analytics, like I'm getting seven eight thousand hits a
month on my website alone. So and it's just one
of those things where people are always going to use it.
And you know, whether you're on vacation somewhere or you're
out of town for work and you're like, well, what
dive bars are you know in my area? And sure enough,

(39:46):
like you know, I've got I've gotten a lot of
great feedback off of it, and a lot of people
have found a lot of bars because of that website.

Speaker 4 (39:53):
Very cool, and you know a lot of them are
along you know, state main highways, but a lot of
them are also off the beaten paths. So that's one
of the cool things. Some of these roads, I mean
they're almost trails, they're almost dirt roads, you know, like
there can't be anything down this way. And then you
go and you find a bar and you know they
might have like an amazing sandwich that you've never heard of,
right along with two dollars beers.

Speaker 6 (40:15):
Yeah, And it blows my mind that a bar can
be say, a bar can be seventy five years old
and it is twenty minutes away from civilization, and they
they survive and like people know, like it's it's so crazy.
It's you know, they're not next to an interstate. You know,
it's not easy for people to get to. But that

(40:35):
just really goes to show how amazing these places are
to be able to run up business like that, you know,
in the jurisdiction that they are, and have them be
able to keep the doors open and keep the clientele
coming in.

Speaker 4 (40:49):
Yeah, And it's not easy to run a business in general.
A bar is particularly difficult. Sometimes your clientele gets out
of control. They are drinking, after all. A restaurant is
very hard to run and you have a lot of
things to keep track of. So the owners of these
dive bars, it's not like it's super smooth and easy
all the time. It takes a lot of work, and
you know, it might look like a divy bar, but

(41:10):
they put a lot of love into those.

Speaker 6 (41:11):
Places, absolutely, And you know, and that's my thought too,
with promoting them and them making more money. And let's
just say, there's no way of really telling how much
money I can pull into a bar, but let's just
say at the end of the year, you know, they're books.
You know, they always want to make fifty thousand a year,
and and the year that I was there, they made

(41:33):
an extra five hundred dollars. And they're not gonna, oh,
we'll buy that new TV that we've wanted for a while.
It's like, there's probably a good chance that that extra
money is going to get pumped right back into the
community with some sort of fundraisers, some sort of donations,
and that's and that is what it's all about, is
you know, helping the less fortunate. And so many of
these bars do host. If they don't host, they donate to,

(41:57):
you know, charities and benefits that you know, for the
people that are less fortunate that have, you know, come
across some bad luck or and it's cool to go
to these benefits and just see how these communities rally
together and help each other out. Like it's especially this
time of year with the negativity of the election that's
going on, Like these dive bars really make me not

(42:19):
lose faith in humanity because it's I tell people, it's
the coldest beers and the warmest hearts are at these
dive bars across the state of Wisconsin.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
Yeah, and you know you do great examples with every
video that you have. I tend to follow you more
on Instagram than any other of the of the platforms,
but of course you know you do it on all
of them. But like a great example recently did Turbos
in hub City, Wisconsin, which they had a unique food
feature there. They had a good look and burger and
like what three pounds of hash browns that they pile

(42:48):
on the plate.

Speaker 6 (42:50):
Three pounds of hash browns They literally put down the
bun in a half pound burger and then three pounds
of hash browns and then there's some cheese and then
and then the top of the burger. I So when
I got there, I'm it literally says on their sign.
You know it's uh, you know Turbo's you know pub
and grill or barn Grill at like home of the Hashburger.

(43:12):
And so I went in there and I was I
actually hung out there for probably two or three hours,
and I was like, well, nobody's eating that hashburger, like
I probably somebody's got to do it, right like so
I so I ordered one, and I think I ate
about seventy five percent of my hash browns and it
took I was eating for about ten minutes before I

(43:32):
found my burger underneath there somewhere, and then I maybe
ate like a third of my burger and then I
took the rest to go. So but yeah, it's you know,
they had their fish fry going on. People were calling,
you know the whole time I was there, calling in
reservations for their you know, for their fish fry, and uh,
I thought, well, I've I've got to get I've got

(43:53):
to get a hashburger. So and I love burgers and
I love hash browns. So I thought it was amazing.
The burger was great and the hash browns were were perfect,
just the way I like him, and the entire staff,
the owners and everybody that worked there was was wonderful
as well, and as were the locals. I enter as
a stranger, but I but I feel like I leave
his family at these places.

Speaker 4 (44:14):
A lot of times that does have I've walked into
a few where like people glare at you and by
the time you leave, you're slapping each other's backs and
laughing and everything. It's a fun time. So that that
Hub City, the Turbo Bar and Grill, that's just off
Highway eighty, like half a block off the main road
in hub City, which is one of those blink and
you'll miss it little towns. But it's a great place.
I think it's Richland County still. It's basically kind of

(44:36):
between Richland Center and Casanovia. So yeah, that's just that's
one example of this what seven hundred and six, you.

Speaker 6 (44:42):
Say, seven and six, Yeah, and just and the next
day I actually drove by that place and I went
south of there through the little unincorporated town of Rockbridge,
and maybe the most beautiful rock formation I have seen
in the entire state.

Speaker 4 (45:01):
Was it Elephant Trunk?

Speaker 6 (45:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was Elephant Trunk. It was like
just incredible, like it was it was so beautiful, like
it was a postcard, Like I was driving through a postcard.
It was. Man, I was. I was blown away. And
to have lived in this state for forty seven and
a half years and never been down in that specific area,
I was like, what, you know, like I need to
get out more. I guess I don't. I don't know.

Speaker 4 (45:25):
Well, yeah, there's a lot of them. Actually. Elephant Trunk
Rock is off Highway fifty eight, also in Richland County.
And when you're in Rockbridge, there's so much cool land,
natural land formation. There's the grocery store is called Natural
Bridge Grocery in there nice. And as you go further down,
you know there's other rock formation things that are named
after it, Steamboat Rock, Woodies Rock and things like that.

(45:48):
So if you go on a road trip, you not
only see natural beauty, especially in the drift list, but
when you stop at these dive bars, they're just good
places to hang out, enjoy a beer or two or
whatever on what the situation is and who's driving, and
get some great food. And man, it's just it's amazing
how many you've done and how many more there are

(46:09):
to explore.

Speaker 6 (46:10):
Yeah, Since like I said, since I started this January
fourteenth of twenty twenty two. Like around the Clock twenty
four to seven three sixty five, I average reviewing a
bar every one point four to three days, so a
little less and little less than thirty six hours.

Speaker 4 (46:25):
It's a hobby but part business. So you get to
deduct these trips too, Miles. Oh yeah, it's all nine
and it's legit.

Speaker 6 (46:31):
Yeah, And there's so many people, you know, I see
people spinning off of me or maybe even trying to
copy me or you know whatever. But that's it's flattering.
But those people are they only push me to do better,
to go harder to you know. And and I just
love this so much too. And I go out of
my road trips and I'll hit numerous bars on a
weekend and then and then it's the fun is over with.

(46:55):
I get back home. I have to do all the editing,
and I'm so excited too, like I just want to
hit them all and throw them all on because I
see so many cool things and great things. And and
I actually posted a bar that tonight is actually a
packer bar in Prairie to sheen. It may not be
a dive bar, but it is maybe the most packer

(47:15):
memorabilia I've ever seen at a bar, and I think
people are going to absolutely love it.

Speaker 4 (47:18):
And that's Jim's Bar okay.

Speaker 6 (47:20):
Just down the street from Bob, so that's that was
a really unique place too. So but yeah, I, like
I said, I've seen it all. And like up not
too far away from Turbos in Hub City is the
little town of Yuba, which I found out is the
smallest corporated town in the state of Wisconsin, AH.

Speaker 4 (47:41):
And they also are host to a beautiful venue called
Driftless Music Gardens, which is really starting to get better
known and they're really starting to draw some some really
cool acts there.

Speaker 6 (47:50):
Yeah, and well, the population sign says ninety one, but
the locals actually told there's actually two great bars there
on the Pine River in the still just around the corner,
and I hit both places, and the locals at both
places I heard it. At each bar they said, well,
all the population's actually fifty three, but we just don't

(48:12):
have the funds to change the signs. Like I said,
was echoed at at two different bars, so I know
it has to be true.

Speaker 4 (48:19):
Right, Yeah, probably, And well that's beautiful too, at the
Pine River running through it and all that that's right
by the Dreftless music gardens venue and everything. And that's
the thing. These littlest towns you find the most unique
little little bars, and that's part of the dive bar spirit.

Speaker 6 (48:36):
Absolutely.

Speaker 4 (48:37):
Now, as we go through this, I think maybe we
can talk in future episodes about different parts of the state.
You are headquartered in Spring Valley, that is Wisco Dive
Bars corporate World headquarters, and so you can talk a
little bit about maybe Spring Valley, but some of the
parts of like west central Wisconsin. That's if you really

(48:57):
want to be technical, part of the Minneapolis Saint Paul.
I mean, you're kind of facing the Twin Cities there,
and I'm assuming in a lot of those dive bars,
as I've witnessed, it's it's Packer fans, some Viking fan
stuff starts seeping in. Same with Brewers and Twins, same
with Badgers and Golden Gophers. But what are some of
your favorite unique bars that are kind of, say, you know,

(49:18):
west of Eau Claire, kind of in your zone. We'll
focus on your area maybe from Saint Croix Falls down
to Pepin and over to Spring Valley. Can you name
a couple of unique places and what makes them cool
to visit?

Speaker 6 (49:31):
Oh, there's there's so many and there's so many unique
ones too. Like the first thing that pops into my
head is Elk Lake Tavern just on the southeast or
southwest edge of All Claire. It's a basement bar and
they have a giant sign out front. Their slogan is
fall in and Crawl out, and it is a it
is a dive bar through and through one percent. And

(49:54):
as a matter of fact, I haven't been there in
a little over two years and I definitely need to
stop back in there. That is just one of those
you know, absolute absolute dive bars from from top to bottom.
And that's the Elk like Elk Lake Tavern.

Speaker 4 (50:10):
Yeah, that's on that's on County E a couple of
miles west of I ninety four. Uh And that's yeah.
That looks like it's one of those places where once
you get it feels like it's twenty miles out of town,
but it's only like.

Speaker 6 (50:20):
Six right, Yeah, yeah, it's not. Yeah, it's not far
from uh. I guess from kind of maybe a ten
minute drive maybe from the old like the the Monard's headquarters,
I guess.

Speaker 4 (50:31):
M hm, Yeah, it's all pretty close. There's also a
cool some of the names of these places. The Welcome
Matt kind of along thirty seven that's just southwest of
Eau Claire. And then you have another one like the
Dude Dodge in which is more in town.

Speaker 6 (50:43):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (50:44):
Some of these dive bar names are just so unique
and fantastic that draws the in alone. Right.

Speaker 6 (50:51):
A matter of fact, I hit a bar last weekend
that the name somebody suggested it for the first time,
like a year and a half ago, and as soon
as I heard the name, said, I'm going. And it
took me a while because I get pulled in every
different direction. But I believe it's the town of Eastman.
It's right on beautiful thirty five, kind of taking us

(51:11):
back down to the driffless area. But Mitchell's Liquor Box,
it's the liquor the liquor Box. It's brilliant, Like it's
absolutely brilliant. Like that video will drop tomorrow night, and
I think I think everybody's gonna love that one because
there is there's something really unique that happens in that video,
something that I've never done in my life. And you

(51:31):
guys will have to uh, you have to check it out.

Speaker 4 (51:34):
What did you do at a place called the liquor Box.

Speaker 6 (51:38):
Well, it's a It's Mitchell's Liquor Box, bar and tackle.
So it is also a bait store. Okay, so so
why why not? You know? You can, you know, it's
almost like a like a mini mall. You can. You
can kill two birds with one.

Speaker 4 (51:55):
Stone, absolutely well. And that's the thing. Some of these
dive bars double as not only restaurants, but bait and
tackle shops. Sometimes you can get your fishing license there.
Sometimes all kinds of other things can take place.

Speaker 6 (52:07):
Yeah, yeah, you sometimes you just never know. And some
of them are little convenience stores too, that are just
out in the middle of nowhere. And and I've stumbled
across some really great almost dive bars, campground dive bars
that are you know, I didn't realize how cool some

(52:28):
of these campground bars were until I started doing this.
So like I've been learning along the way too, Like
there's parts of you know, these dive bars that I
didn't even didn't even realize, like Elk Point Resort kind
of between No Nominee and Colfax area that used to
be that used to be a dive bar. And I
actually stopped in there a couple months ago and they

(52:51):
they remodel and it's it's gorgeous, and but they kept
the original wood floor, which I think was so huge
for them to do. And I told them that that
it's it's so cool that they kept the original wood
floor that's probably one hundred years old. And yeah, it's
just a really cool place with great food and great owners.
It's it's yeah, just a just an all around great place.

(53:14):
And I hadn't been there in probably ten or fifteen years,
so I was I was really glad to get back,
even though it's really not even that far away from
where I live. I just, you know, I kind of
get pulled all over the place.

Speaker 4 (53:26):
Yeah, trying to stay on top of all this is
part of the trick here. One thing I have note
you mentioned redoing the bars. A lot of bars love
to use old bowling lanes, the wood from old bowling lanes, yes,
to make kind of the ultimate bar top.

Speaker 6 (53:41):
Yeah, they had that old is that parqueve Would that be?

Speaker 4 (53:44):
Like, well, I don't know what it's a variation of it,
but yeah, that can be.

Speaker 6 (53:49):
Yeah. Yeah, I've seen it a few times at bars
and and like some of them still have the old
like like it's a nineteen thirties farmhouse and just has
old laminate bar top. You know, some of them are
so unique, Like the one that sticks out in my
mind that has that old white for Micah bar top

(54:10):
is the White Pig in in Mondovi. That is a
super popular, super popular place better known as the Albino
Swino they call it. But it just has that It
has a bar top that's probably older than ninety percent
of the patrons that go there. Well, for Mike, it
makes it a dive bar.

Speaker 4 (54:30):
Yeah for Micah and wood paneling two key things for
a dive bar. White Pig is in Mindovi, just off
US ten by where thirty seven hits. It's on a
commerce court if you want to be technical. Yeah, a
couple of other quick dive bars in that region kind
of the western north and west central Wisconsin. And well
then we'll focus on other regions in future episodes. What

(54:52):
else do you have that really pops in your head
that's near you?

Speaker 6 (54:56):
Another super unique one is the hide Wild Bar north
of Mondovie between Mondovi and Rock Falls. Actually an old
schoolhouse and Becky Tron that owns it. She's an amazing owner.
She's really good friends with my girlfriend, and that's kind
of how I discovered that bar, and I was actually

(55:16):
just a really big benefit down there maybe a month
or so ago. And it's another one of those bars
that is out in the middle of absolutely nowhere, but
people know where it is. It is a staple, it
has been for a long time. They have great food
and it's a unique look. Almost looks like a church,
but it actually was an elementary school way back in

(55:38):
the day.

Speaker 4 (55:39):
Yeah, it's on County t it's kind of between Highways
eighty five and thirty seven, but several miles from either
of them. In I don't know if that's a Claire
County or if that's Pepin County because it's kind of
on the border right there, but it's basically between Durand
and Euclaire, just not on the beaten path. But that's
where some of the best ones are.

Speaker 6 (55:58):
Yeah, and of course, of course my my go to
Dive Bar the Spillway in Spring Valley, Tony and Angie
that own it. Actually they just put it up for
sale not too long ago, and it sounds like they
have buyers. And of course, as soon as they posted
on Facebook that they were putting it up for sale
court and guess who everybody thought should buy it?

Speaker 4 (56:18):
Yeah, I know you like seeing and experiencing these places.
I'm not sure if you really want to buy one
and run it, but.

Speaker 6 (56:24):
Yeah, it's it's that's been a that's been a staple
of Spring Valley. It was Bill's bar for years and
years and years and and Tony n Angie I believe,
bought it probably seven years ago, I think, and kind
of brightened up a bit, but it's still still the
same bar top still you know, just a pizza oven
and you know, just to get your pizzas or your
pizza fries. Hm, and uh, you know cheap beers buck

(56:46):
fifty beers at happy hour during packer games or wow.
I think all of I speak for all of us
locals that go down there, like we're happy for Tony
and Angie. We know they have other stuff going on.
And Angie I think really wants grand bay time and
she's got another grand baby do I think New Year's Eve?
So I think she just wants to be She wants

(57:07):
more time to be grandma. And we don't blame her
for that at all, but we can finally get them
they do get on the fun side of the bar sometimes,
but they can be on the fun side of the
bar more often now on once that sale goes through.
But you know, at the same time, you know, we're
always you know, the locals are like, well, new owners like,
we've got to train them in. That's what all the
locals have said. You know, we've got it. We don't

(57:28):
adapt to the new owners. The new owners adapt to us.
That's the dive bar mindset.

Speaker 4 (57:33):
Well, the customer is always right, right, so and yeah,
maybe maybe it's going to be better times moving ahead
to have a dive bar as opposed to a fancy
restaurant or something like that. And yeah, certainly friendly client
tele and in your mission to hit all of those
again very early on in it. But you have seven
hundred plus and it's a great guide for people to

(57:53):
check out really all over the state. And we covered
that you've hit every corner. There's some other areas you
want to fill in. And by the way, if you're
especially in southeastern Wisconsin, you need a little help with
research or anything like that, feel free to let me know.
I'm more than happy to h to assist you in
filling in that part of the map I do.

Speaker 6 (58:11):
I do rely on my followers a lot to you know,
they suggest these places and I I literally will write
them down. I have a notebook that that I write
them down. And it's super nice too. When people will
shoot me a message on Facebook and say, you know,
come to such and such bar, you know, say like Stoddard,
Well then I can just go into my keyword search
and type in Stoddard and then if there's a bar

(58:31):
and stuff like, oh, yeah, that's the you know, the
dirty you know, the what is it? Is it the
dirty turtle in Stoddard.

Speaker 4 (58:38):
H that makes sense that that is a dive bar
name if there ever was one.

Speaker 6 (58:43):
Yeah. So yeah, just you know, just as an example.
I don't know why Stoddard pops into my head, but
but yeah, so that makes it super easy for me too.
And you know, like I said, it's all of them
are way easier to find than others. But but man,
I just I love every single every single stop that
I make. It's it's been nothing but nothing but positive

(59:03):
and and and with my reviews being one hundred percent positive,
to that positive vibe just follows me around and I
I actually did for the first time ever though I
did give a negative review, but it was I had
to do it a little bit different because I know,
you know this place, Pete's Garage, bar Inkosh and and

(59:27):
they're they're filled with sarcasm there, and they're snarky. And
I wasn't prepared when I was there, I wasn't. I
knew about it, but I wasn't prepared on how snarky
the bartenders were and how they you know, how they
go about their thing, and it was it was glorious,
like it was absolutely glorious. And and I hung out

(59:47):
there for a couple of hours and the bartender came
up to you. I ended up getting a burger, which
the burger was delicious, and in the one female bartender
came up to me and and she'd like, oh, I
was a burger, and I'll change the verbiage a little bit.
But I said, as soon as she asked that, I said,
it tastes like crap. And she looked at me and

(01:00:08):
smiled and said, gave me the okay sign, like perfect,
just the way we like it. So it's so when
I did my review, I thought, I've got to I've
got to play their game on them, and uh, you know,
so I was, you know, I kind of mentioned how
the bar does things, and then I kind of ripped
on them a little bit and then I said, you know, absolutely,
you know, honestly, this is an absolutely amazing place, you

(01:00:31):
know for the people that don't know. And then you know,
then at the end, then I dug back into him
and gave him a one bush light out of ten
just because I left there without food poisoning. That's why
they got a one. So so you did go back
to that place.

Speaker 4 (01:00:44):
So you did do one review that was like less
than five or six bush lights out of ten, very nice?

Speaker 6 (01:00:49):
Yeah, you know, so yeah, so that's uh, yeah, I
figured I figured they had that coming, like that's just
and I know the owner messaged me and he he
absolutely loved it. Unfortunately I didn't meet him, but I
will definitely stop back in every time I'm in that
Oshkosh area because that's one of my favorite dive bars
that I've ever been at.

Speaker 4 (01:01:07):
Yeah, it's wedge between Highway forty four and US forty five,
south side of Oshkosh, not far from fifth Ward Brewing
Company and a little bit north of Sturgeon Spirits Craft Distillery,
which I just visited not too long ago, and Aready
and Ed's drive in on forty five, which is a
great place. It's kind of in the midst of all
of that, basically on the corner of Fifteenth Avenue down
on what's considered the old one seventy five according to

(01:01:31):
Google Maps, they say, I have forty one alt now,
but it's a it's a major Earth South thoroughfare not
far from the airport. So I'm assuming during EAA a
lot of people get some shocking surprises there.

Speaker 6 (01:01:43):
Yeah. Yeah, Actually they told me that the amazing comedian,
probably one of the more famous comedians going right now,
Bert Kreischer, stopped in there. Really he was. He had
a stand up show in Oshkosh and I guess he
he showed up there and next thing you know, he
was bartending. He was behind the bar with hen't Bert

(01:02:04):
fashion God. So yeah, I'm sure there's probably you know,
and I can't believe I haven't looked this up, but
there probably is some videos on YouTube of Bert Kreischer
at at Pete's garage bar. But I can I can
only imagine the shenanigans that went on with with that
guy there.

Speaker 4 (01:02:21):
Yeah, we'll have to do a little research on that.
He probably told his Russian story, right.

Speaker 6 (01:02:26):
Yeah, yeah, the machine.

Speaker 4 (01:02:27):
Yeah, oh boy, Well you're like a machine when it
comes to exploring all these dive bars, and Jared, I'm
looking forward to, Well, let's have another conversation where we
talk about some more in different parts of the state,
and that way people are going to particular parts of
the state can own in on some of those What
do you say.

Speaker 6 (01:02:45):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Like I said, I'm all over the place.
I've say, you've got ten counties left to hit. So
I mean, I'm pretty familiar with the entire layout of Wisconsin,
and I remember every single bar that I've been to.
I wonder what number I'm going to get to when
things start to overlap a little bit and I start
to forget things.

Speaker 4 (01:03:04):
If memory serves it's probably a thousand. Yeah, very nice.

Speaker 6 (01:03:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:03:09):
Again, Sometimes these are in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes
they're smack dab in the middle of some of Wisconsin City,
so you never know what you'll find. Go to Wisco, Underscore, Dive,
Underscore Bars, Underscore on Instagram, check out whiskodive bars dot com,
and of course, from any of those things, you can
connect to the TikTok, the Facebook, and you also have
what Twitter, slash x right, and so you're base, You're

(01:03:32):
basically on all of them. So yeah, Whisko Dive Bars
definitely the place to check out for dive bar instruction
and guidance. We'll help with your road trips on State
Trump tour, and of course check out the Whisco dive Bar.
Vodka available at some of those dive bars, perhaps an
off premise place near you. Are there any places where
you know people can buy it, like at the store.

Speaker 6 (01:03:54):
Man, I know, uh, I know, Woodman's and Auclaire is
one of the is one of the big areas, and
I'm gonna I'm gonna have go through a list and
find out. I know it's distributed through bills distributing out
of monominy They are my exclusive distributor. So if you're
a if you have a liquor store or a gas
station that has liquor, or a bar owner, if you
want my vodka, get ahold of bills distributing out of

(01:04:14):
Monominee and they will get it for you because they
are my exclusive distributor.

Speaker 4 (01:04:19):
Very cool, all right, Well, we'll do our research on that.
We'll talk more about that next time you and I
get a chance to sit down and chat. But Jared,
thanks a lot for taking the time today. And you know,
I know I'm cutting into your dive bar research time,
so I'm glad we were able to sit down and
have this talk. Now.

Speaker 6 (01:04:35):
Yeah, it was great. I appreciate you reaching out to me,
and I look forward to the next time. It's always
it's always fun talking to you with a guy that
has as much passion about Wisconsin as I do. So
I appreciate everything you've done for Wisconsin in your years
and all your travels as well.

Speaker 4 (01:04:50):
All Right, well, thank you, Jared, and yeah, looking forward
to when we can talk again. All right, all right,
sounds great and thanks again to Jared. We'll look forward
to talking with him again in another episode. We'll get
to different parts of this and as he noted, he's
got more, especially in the drift lists in northeast Wisconsin,
and we're happy to not only a system in his
quest but then talk about it on here. I'm Eric Paulson.
Thanks again for listening. We'll look forward to talking with

(01:05:12):
you in the next episode of the State Trunk Tour podcast.

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