Tap Handle #687: Fox River - Electric Streetcar Oatmeal Stout

April 04, 2018

Tap Handle #687: Fox River - Electric Streetcar Oatmeal Stout

Tap size: 12.75"
Rarity: less than 10 seen
Mounting: 3/8" inch ferrule on 5/16" anchor bolt

In the early days of the Museum, this tap was high on my wishlist. I was elated when I got my hands on this one. It features a fox standing on its hind legs in some ice on top of a keg. In one foreleg the fox is holding a beer with the words "Fox River" on it. On the keg is a decal with the brewery's name, as well as the beer name. The tap dates to the late 1990s or early 2000s, and one reason I was excited to grab this particular one is the name of the beer. Electric Streetcar Oatmeal Stout was an early beer that was renamed to Trolleycar Stout. The name pays homage to Appleton, Wisconsin, which was the first community in the nation to utilize electric streetcars in 1886. The tap does not appear on the secondary market very often, and when it does it commands a very steep price.

Click through to read more about Fox River Brewing, their Electric Streetcar Oatmeal Stout, and to see more photos of this majestic tap...

Fox River Brewing Company was founded in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1995 by Jay Supple, Joe Supple, and John Supple. The three brothers were born in Wisconsin and grew up in Oshkosh, and helped their father manage three Shakey's Pizza restaurants. Jay's wife, Heidi, suggested they start a brewpub. In 1995, the Supples struck a deal with Rob LoBreglio, who had launched Great Dane Pub & Brewing Company the year before, to help get the brewing side of their operation in place. LoBreglio designed the Fox River brewhouse and acquired the system that would produce its beer. The restaurant side of the business was named Fratellos Italian Cafe (Fratello means "brother" in Italian). It was located on the former site of the Paine Lumberyard. The upper level of the 8,800 square foot space featured a winding, wooden bar with seven Fox River brews on tap. Below was a spacious dining room with a view of the Fox River. The building was specially designed for the brewpub and the river, with more than 280 pilings going into the building and pier, with space for up to 40 boats. Inside, suspended above from a 26-foot-high ceiling, were a vintage Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a 16-foot racing boat, and a 1965 biplane. LoBreglio brought over Al Bunde, his assistant brewer at Great Dane, to become brewmaster for Fox River.

To the vast majority of beer drinkers in Oshkosh, beer meant one thing: pale, light lager. Winning them over with brews that were darker, heavier, and more flavorful was going to be a challenge. Bunde challenged the local palate with styles that hadn't been brewed commercially before in Oshkosh: dark stouts, strong Scotch ales, and bitter IPAs. His engaging, friendly nature also won over many new fans. Within seven months of opening, Fox River Brewing had become the 14th largest of the 32 breweries in Wisconsin and the second largest brewpub in the state behind Great Dane. The beer was being sold at more than 20 accounts in and around Oshkosh. After 12 months of operation, the brewery had produced over 1,000 barrels of beer.

Less than a year after the Oshkosh brewpub opened, the Supples announced they would open a second Fox River brewpub in Appleton in the Fox River Mall. The new venture had been part of their early plan to build on the brand and move the brewery's beer beyond Oshkosh. In 1997, with construction of the Appleton brewpub underway, the Supples began looking into retail sales. But the brewery lacked the equipment needed to bottle beer on the scale required for distribution. Green Bay Brewing Company, which later became Hinterland Brewery, was a small brewery with a bottling line and excess capacity. The Supples contracted Green Bay Brewing to produce and package Fox River's Golden Ale. To help shoulder the brewing load, a new assistant brewer was hired. Steve Lonsway was a former homebrewer and supply shop owner who had graduated from the Siebel Institute. The plan was to have Lonsway move in as head brewer at Appleton when the brewpub opened while Bunde would continue to run the Oshkosh brewery.

But in 1998 Bunde left to be the brewmaster at the Stout Brothers Public House. The Supples turned to Lonsway to run both brewhouses. He did away with the recipes Bunde had been brewing until only two beers from Fox River's original line-up remained: Caber Tossing Scottish Ale and Winnebago Wheat, and even those two were modified. Lonsway conducted "Beer Schools", inviting people to step into the brewhouse and make beer with him. By the end of 1998, Fox River was selling more beer off-premise than any other brewpub in the state. National recognition was soon to follow. In July 2000, Caber Tossing Scottish Ale won a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. The following year, the North American Brewers Association awarded Lonsway a gold for Fox River’s Abbey Ale and bronze medals for Caber Tossing and Winnebago Wheat. In 2001 Caber Tossing was awarded a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival. Lonsway's primary goal had always been to have his own brewery. In 2002, he left Fox River to acquire Appleton Brewing Company and changed its named to Stone Cellar Brewpub.

The Supples hired Richard Stueven to become the new brewmaster of Fox River Brewing. Like his predecessors, Stueven was a Siebel grad. Prior to coming to Oshkosh, he brewed professionally in Hawaii and at Egan Brewing in De Pere. However, Stueven was let go less than four months after he started. While the brewmaster position was in flux, the Oshkosh brewpub was being expanded. A 4,500 square foot addition named The Lounge was built to create a separate space where live music and pool tables wouldn't conflict with the more subdued atmosphere of the dining room. Over the coming decade the Supple Group would branch out in hotels, initiate development projects in Madison and Oshkosh, and launch a series of new restaurants in a number of Wisconsin cities including Appleton, Green Bay and Milwaukee. Brewery operations became just a part of a much larger business, but they still needed an experienced brewer. Brian Allen had been making beer professionally for seven years when he came to Fox River in 2002. One of Allen's early ideas was a fruit-flavored beer that would become the best-selling beer Fox River Brewing produced. In the mid-2000s, craft beer was no longer the novelty it had once been in Oshkosh...it was on the verge of becoming mainstream, and the audience for the new beer had grown increasingly sophisticated in its tastes, demanding beers that pushed limits.

Despite this new demand, the brewery's line-up remained static through the latter half of the decade. In 2007, the Supple Group re-branded the Appleton brewpub, changing its name from Fox River Brewing Company to Fratellos Restaurant and Brewery. It was part of a larger push to grow the Fratellos brand, at the expense of the brewery’s brand. At the same time, distribution of Fox River beer was being curtailed. Through the 2000s, Fox River remained the second largest brewpub producer in the state, with only the Great Dane brewpubs outpacing them in terms of brewery output. In 2009, Allen left Fox River to help launch Mother's Brewing Company. One of the young men he trained in Oshkosh, Kevin Bowen, had begun working at Fox River Appleton when he was just 16, bussing tables and helping in the kitchen. In 2005, Bowen won a scholarship to attend the Siebel Institute. A year later he became brewmaster at Hereford and Hops brewpub in Wausau. When the Hereford and Hops chain of brewpubs closed in 2008, Bowen returned to Fox River as brewmaster in 2009 and put his own twist on Lonsway's old recipes.

In 2010, he won a bronze medal at the World Beer Cup. Bowen scored again in 2012, winning a World Beer Cup silver for his Brandy Barrel Abbey Normal. The awards ignited interest in the brewery. Bowen had grown especially adept at brewing German styles and in 2012 Fox River was tapped to brew the beer for Appleton's Old Bavarian Brewing. Fox River re-entered the wholesale market in early 2014 with a series of newly branded keg beers named the Bago Brew Collection. Among the mix was Marble Eye, a beer that dated back to the days of Bunde when it was called Caber Tossing Scottish Ale. In March 2015, the bottling line was installed at the Appleton brewery. It has the capacity to package 100 cases of beer in an hour. A month later, six-packs of Fox River beers returned to retail shelves in Oshkosh.

In 2015 the Fox River Brewing Company came full circle. Fratellos Waterfront Restaurant & Brewery in Oshkosh was renamed Fox River Brewing Company & Taproom. The result was dramatic. By October of that year Fox River had already sold more beer than it had in any previous full year. Production exceeded 2,000 barrels with the brewery nearing the limits of its capacity. Currently Fox River has 5 core beers, with several specialties and seasonals, and the brewery canned its beer for the first time in 2018.

Electric Streetcar Oatmeal Stout was renamed Trolleycar Stout many years ago. This beer is brewed with oatmeal and seven types of malted barley to produce strong coffee and chocolate characteristics and residual sweetness. With the plentiful addition of fine American hops, this becomes a full-bodied, flavorful beer.