Departments

On the Horizon: McFleshman’s Brewing Co.

A new microbrewery, McFleshman’s Brewing Co., is preparing to open this spring on Appleton’s S. State Street. Taproom Manager Layla Cowper says she and husband/wife owners Bobby Fleshman and Allison McCoy Fleshman are all Oklahoma transplants who met through a local home brew club. When Alison got a job teaching chemistry at Lawrence University, the couple decided Appleton was the place to open their own brewery. They recruited Cowper as taproom manager and her husband, Shane Butner, as beer brewer. Updates to the historic building have been underway for the last year. “This building has a lot of history so we are having to do a lot of work to shine it up,” Cowper says. Once complete, the brewery will have an English pub vibe with a traditional English beer garden open during the summers. The beer menu will consist of traditional English and Irish ales and German lagers. The flagship beers on tap will be a traditional English ale, an English IPA, a Munich Helles lager and an Irish dry stout. The brewery does not serve food, but food trucks will be invited to set up in the beer garden and visitors are allowed to bring in their own eats. The ground level taproom will feature a 21-foot-long stained glass antique back bar and two-story mezzanine that will host live music on weekends. Cowper says craft beer nerds will enjoy viewing the brewery’s fermentation tanks through glass windows in the production area. “The upstairs will eventually be a brewer’s school so we can spread the knowledge of beer brewing,” she says. “When school isn’t in session, it will be an indoor event space that anyone can rent out.”

On the Horizon: Nectar of Appleton

Fox Citians may be familiar with Nectar of Green Bay, an organic and non-GMO juice, smoothie and infrared detox sauna bar that opened in 2016. Next year owner Charlee Wilson will be opening a second location in Appleton. The 3,000-square-foot space will be part of RiverHeath’s newest development that is scheduled for completion in early 2019. The menu will center on cold-pressed juices, smoothies, smoothie bowls and elixirs along with with bakery, soups and salads that include vegan and non-vegan options. Wilson, a graduate of Appleton North High School, plans to offer build-your-own smoothie bowls where customers select their own smoothie base and toppings. Nectar of Appleton will feature a “detox den” equipped with infrared saunas, which were well received at the Green Bay location. An aquaponics setup will mimic the ecosystem of the Fox River and a juicing viewing room will offer customers a front row seat to the action. Wilson is committed to supporting local suppliers when possible and always buys organic, fair-trade, ethically sourced produce. “We’re not trying to change your life or make you feel ashamed because you don’t eat kale,” Wilson says. “We just want to bring a little awareness without being snobs.”

Rooftop Buzz 

Nick Morse, executive chef at Rye in downtown Appleton, prizes fresh, locally-sourced ingredients. About a year ago, he devised a plan to begin raising honeybees on the rooftop of the neighboring Copperleaf Hotel – it doesn’t get fresher or more local than that. “Number one, there are issues with the honeybee population decline, so it helps with that and, two, it sets us apart,” Morse says. Morse plans to have two or three hives on the rooftop along with six raised garden beds filled with bee-friendly herbs and produce. While it’s impossible to know how productive his hives will be, Morese says his goal is to use the rooftop bounty on Rye’s menu. “I’d love to produce enough honey and vegetables to offer a summer rooftop salad with our own honeybee vinaigrette,” he says. “It gets people learning about it and makes it interesting.”