This post was originally published on Dan’s Personal Blog; however, with the creation of Badger Foodie, was moved here. All links have been updated; however, the post date reflects the date the piece was originally published.
Today we made the annual pilgrimage up to Sister Bay, Wisconsin to Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant and Butik. I was excited for this visit because in June they opened up the Stabbur Beer Garden at Al Johnson’s. This is an outdoor beer garden next to Al Johnson’s restaurant. If you’ve ever been to Al Johnson’s you know that there is usually a wait to get your table. In the past we used to walk over to the beach; however, this year we headed over to the Stabbur Beer Garden!
The Stabbur Beer Garden is an entirely outdoor space with plenty of shade. The bar seats approximately 30 people and there were additional tables throughout the space. It was great to see a variety of outdoor games to include: oversized Jenga, goat ring toss, dice, and Ladder Ball.
They had approximately 20 draft beers, a wide variety of regional beers in bottles/cans, a selection of hard ciders, and mixed drinks. You can see a sample menu they posted to Facebook. I’ve heard they will have Scandinavian food; however, I didn’t see the food choices today.
It was interested in learning a little about the Stabbur. “Stabbur” means storehouse and is the name of the building style. It is my understanding this type of building would be found on a Norwegian farm and was used to store a family’s food and protect it from the elements and rodents. This particular Stabbur was brought to the United States in 1974 and was handmade with rosemaling carvings. It used to be a dark brown and located in the back of the property by some of the other out buildings.
Learn more about the Stabbur Beer Garden at Al Johnson’s:
http://www.aljohnsons.com/
https://www.facebook.com/StabburBeerGarden/
