Beer behind the scenes at Lambeau

Posted by Tim Cigelske on September 10, 2011   Jump To Comments

One side effect of the Packers reign as Super Bowl champions is the whole state of Wisconsin gets put in the national eye.

That spotlight shone again for 27 million people watching the NFL kickoff bonanza, including a segment on “The Today Show” about craft beer of Wisconsin, with Madison-based travel writer Kevin Revolinski.

Kevin is the author of a Wisconsin beer guide and picked some excellent brews for the occasion, including local Green Bay brewers Hinterland and Titletown. “Before we had a kindergarden,” he tells Al Roker, “we had a brewery.”

You should definitely read his account of intense behind-the-scenes production at Lambeau to create a minute and 44 seconds of live television. An excerpt:

But it was quite amusing to listen to the walkie talkie of the guy who drove me around in a golf cart beforehand. “Where’s my beer guy?” “I’ve got the beer guy” “The beer guy is waiting in the tunnel.” “The beer guy will go first. Then cheese. Then the brats.”

Incidentally, I met Kevin a few years ago during a travel writers’ trip to Florida, and we immediately bonded over our shared Wisconsin and Packers experiences.

That happened to be the beginning of the year of the first Favre comeback. It was when Favre was still pulling off heroics for the Jets, while meanwhile the Packers were going through growing pains.

It was a painful time to be a Packers fan and the break-up wounds  were still raw. In trying to explain the feeling to other writers from across the country, we compared the situation to seeing a hot ex-girlfriend doing well.

And the new girlfriend, well, she’s got a great personality. And sews her own clothes. Or so it seemed at the time.

Over the years Kevin has lived around the world but always found a way to follow the Packers, even if it was at 2:30 in the morning local time. He’s watch the Packers in Italy, Turkey, Guatemala, Panama, Thailand, Cozumel and behind enemy territory in Texas and Wrigleyville.

He remembers watching the Packers in the playoffs with a fever, forcing an Italian friend with cable to watch til 2am – only to witness Favre throw an interception in OT to end the game. He walked 45 minutes home in the middle of the night.

Fast forward to February 2011. Green Bay was on top of the world, Brent was watching from home, and Kevin was celebrating as a Packer fan in Bangkok. That’s when I got a tweet from Kevin from across several time zones.

“Looks like the new girlfriend is even better than the old,” it said. “Even if she makes all her own clothes.”

Email tim@brentfavre or tweet him @TeecycleTim