Wisconsin
Gov. Tony Evers signs sweeping overhaul of Wisconsin alcohol industry
MADISON – Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday signed into law a massive overhaul of Wisconsin’s alcohol industry, following years of negotiation and nearly a decade of infighting over what industry professionals said were confusing and unclear state laws governing beer, wine and spirits sales.
The measure passed the Senate in a bipartisan 21-11 vote last month, and the Assembly signed off on the Senate’s vote with a bipartisan 88-10 vote.
“Across the country, Wisconsin is best known not only for our world-champion dairy but also our world-class breweries, wineries and distilleries that employ thousands of workers statewide and play a significant role in our statewide economy,” Evers said in a statement. “Ensuring that our state’s regulations and policies are modernized and updated to meet this ever-evolving industry remains a priority for the safety of consumers, producers and Wisconsin as a whole.”
The law clarifies a host of alcohol regulations in the state, touching everything from who can invest in new alcohol businesses, to winery operations, to when bars close during the Republican National Convention next summer. Alcohol producers will be allowed to sell their products without a tap room or production facility on site, and winemakers can now stay open past 9 p.m. into the early morning hours, similar to most bars.
The measure creates a new division within the state Department of Revenue to oversee the alcohol industry. It also creates a new statewide bartending license, increases the driving while under the influence surcharge and funding for the Safe Ride program, and implements a variety of regulations on electronic vaping devices.
The bill fundamentally alters Wisconsin’s complicated system governing the making, distribution and sales of alcoholic beverages, known as the three-tier system. The system dates back to the 1930s and was intended to prevent monopolies on the sale of beer, wine and spirits by separating businesses involved in alcohol production, wholesale and retail sales.
The three-tier system can both limit the businesses of brewers, distributors and retailers and provide them with lucrative opportunities, so proposed changes to the law have often provoked intense legislative battles. Critics of the system said its rules were outdated and often arcane, hampering new and growing aspects of the state’s alcohol industry.
Supporters have praised the plan as a rare and historic compromise. It has received broad support from Kwik Trip, New Glarus Brewing Co. and other business groups in the alcohol industry, along with organizations representing law enforcement, hotels and restaurants.
But the changes haven’t sat well with owners of barns converted into wedding venues — better known as wedding barns — who have blasted what they fear would be an “extermination bill” for their businesses.
Under the new law, wedding barns and other private event venues planning to serve liquor will be required to get a new type of license to do so. The license, a “no sale event venue permit,” will allow those renting the barn to bring in their own alcohol but will limit wedding venue owners to rent or lease the property on no more than six days per year and one day per month. The requirement will not apply to campgrounds or parking lots where events occur, including tailgates.
Although some wedding barn owners already have a liquor license, others have said the law’s requirement is too expensive for their business model.
Elements of the law are set to take effect on a varied timeline. Some are effective the day after publication, while most others will take effect the first day of the fifth month beginning after the bill’s publication. The wedding barn provisions are set to take effect in two years.
Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.
Laurel Burleson, a Dane County chef, thinks ugly apples make the best dishes.
One of her goals as a chef and restaurant owner is to save usable produce from the waste bin.
“I know how hard (Wisconsin farmers) work every day, making these products that are delicious and nutritious and for anything to get thrown away just because it’s not aesthetically perfect is just outrageous,” said Burleson, owner of Ugly Apple Cafe.
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The latest fruit monitoring report from the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows many parts of the state having great harvests, although northeastern Wisconsin orchards suffered from a cool spring. But most apple orchards are busy with the fall harvest. So what do you do with that abundance of apples?
Burleson shared some recipes and her philosophy on cooking with WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”
This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Rob Ferrett: What do you like to do with apples apart from just eating them?
Laurel Burleson: One that I really like to do is making apple marmalade. That is shredding apples and preserving them in sugar so that they keep their structure. It’s kind of the opposite of making applesauce.
But we also make a lot of apple sauce and apple butter. That’s a good way to use a lot of apples all at once.
RF: What goes into making apple butter?
LB: Very basically you make applesauce, so just cook down your apples and blend them up. Then you take that applesauce and cook it extremely slowly, either in a slow cooker or in the oven. Cook it down until it’s dark and rich and more closely resembling a peanut butter than applesauce.
From there, you can put in whatever spices you want: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, bay leaf. You just have to be careful because whatever you start with in the big batch will get super concentrated and reduced in your end product.
RF: With applesauce or apple butter, do we have to be fussy about the type of apples? Or can we mix and match?
LB: I like to mix and match, especially because the apple season starts really early. Some years you can get the first season apples in July.
They don’t hold very long and they’re very juicy, so they break down really easily, but they are very tart. I like to get some of those early season apples and make them into applesauce and freeze them and then when I have other sweeter varieties later I mix them and then reduce that all down into butter.
RF: You shared a savory recipe with us for pork chops with apple bacon cabbage. Tell us a little bit about this recipe.
LB: It’s really fun for the fall and even into the winter. You can kind of use any kind of variety of apple that’s a little bit tart and it’s OK if it breaks down and blends in because the cabbage is going to maintain its structure.
If the onions and apples melt away into a delicious sauce it’s just fine. But also, if you end up with some apple pieces, then it’s a nice little surprise like a little sweetness.
The Ugly Apple Cafe operates cafes inside the Dane County Courthouse and the City County Building in Madison and sells its products at the Monona Farmers Market.
While the Wisconsin Badgers struggle on the football field, sitting at a disappointing 2-2 through four weeks, some of the program’s former transfers continue to find success.
One of those players is tight end Riley Nowakowski, who transferred to Indiana this offseason after five years with the Badgers. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, native originally walked on to the program as an unranked outside linebacker. After playing sparingly during his first few seasons with the Badgers, he flipped over to fullback in 2022, then out to tight end after Phil Longo arrived in 2023. Nowakowski totaled 18 receptions for 131 yards and a touchdown from 2023-24; his two years as a primary offensive contributor.
The former Badger is already making significant progress toward those totals, now just four games into his Indiana career. He has four catches for 72 yards and a touchdown, plus one carry for a one-yard score. The versatile fullback/tight end delivered the highlight play of his career during Indiana’s blowout win over Illinois on Saturday, taking a 1st-down screen pass 43 yards to the house.
Wisconsin, meanwhile, has received solid contributions from Montana State transfer tight end Lance Mason. The veteran has 14 catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns to date, leading the team in each of those respective categories.
While Mason has been one of the Badgers’ few bright spots through four weeks, it’s hard to ignore Nowakowski’s emergence as one of Indiana’s dependable offensive playmakers.
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Get ready for an overall warmer stretch of weather as we head into this upcoming workweek. After some fog lifts this morning, we’ll have plenty of sunshine today with highs in the mid to upper 70s along the lake and low 80s inland.
Tonight will be dry with lows in the low 60s lakeside and upper 50s inland.
Monday through Wednesday should be very similar, with upper 70s to near 80 near the lake and low to mid 80s inland with plenty of sun.
We’ll start to bring in chances of showers or a T’storm starting Thursday right on into the weekend.
WATCH: Southeast Wisconsin weather: Dry Today, Warm Workweek Ahead
Southeast Wisconsin weather: Dry Today, Warm Workweek Ahead
TODAY: Any fog lifting through the morning, then becoming mostly sunny.
High: 77 lakefront… 83 inland.
Wind: E 5-10 MPH.
TONIGHT: Mostly clear.
Low: 62.
Wind: ESE 3-8 MPH.
MONDAY: Mostly sunny.
Highs: 78 lakefront… 83 inland.
Wind: ESE 5-10 MPH.
TUES: Mostly sunny and warm.
High: 80 lakefront… 84 inland.
WEDS: Mostly sunny and warm.
High: 81 lakefront… 85 inland.
THUR: Partly cloudy with a chance of a shower
or T’storm.
High: 80.
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