3rd and Vine in Eau Claire, Lift Bridge Mocktails and More

The Tulip and Schooner for June 6, 2025

The Tulip and Schooner is edited and primarily written by Louis Livingston-Garcia.

“Costco Is Coming for Craft Beer” reads the Punch article headline about Costco, Aldi, and Trader Joe’s taking over craft beer. 

When I first saw it, I thought, “Wow, that’s been a ‘maybe’ thing for a long time. These stores have always had these brands – who cares?” 

The numbers, however, are staggering. The article states sales of grocery stores’ beers – beers produced just for them, like Waunakee’s Octopi does for Aldi – grew 122 percent from 2023 to 2024. And the writer said there are reports of Walmart getting into the game soon. 

There’s a lot to think about here:

• It makes sense. A cheaper beer made by a reputable brand like Octopi or Costco’s beers produced by Deschutes. I like Deschutes. 

• Shoppers who just want to save a buck in a worsening economy. 

• People who just aren’t craft beer nerds and just want a beer.

Now, some antagonistic thoughts: 

• My mom isn’t the most savvy person when it comes to craft beer, but she knows enough. Even she wouldn’t pick up something she hasn’t heard of, reverting to a New Glarus beer over anything before a Kirkland Signature Helles-Style. 

• This isn’t surprising. Toppling Goliath didn’t build its $5-million-plus destination brewery (some close to the brewery have told me it was probably more) on hoppy beers. Instead, sources have told me it's the “generic” Dorothy’s New World Lager locals slam. Big breweries are often built on simple beers like Two Hearted or Dorothy’s, not triple hazy IPAs or pastry stouts. Unless you’re Treehouse and Trillium.  

• I don’t care for any grocery store beers. Even when Toppling Goliath made some beer for Safeway, it just wasn’t any good. I have zero faith in it. 

Having said that, and I’m glossing over a lot in this article and don’t want to get too granular, there is a larger number of people just buying beer than there are zoned in on the things the beer nerds drink. For a lot of people, a Schlitz is just fine.

That’s nothing new. The growth in sales isn’t surprising.  

As well as some of these breweries are at making beer for Costco and the like, I’m not going to begin buying $10 bottles of barrel-aged Deschutes stout at Costco to replace a $55 bottle of Forager barrel-aged beer. Or the much cheaper, but tastier $20-something offerings you can still find here and there in an ever increasing pricing landscape. The $10 bottle they had released previously didn’t punch up in the least and was… just about what you’d expect from a cheap bottle. 

If I’m going to consider buying Aldi’s beer to save money, I’ll just pass and drink tap water at home. 

Still, an interesting article worth a read. I just don’t see grocery stores all of a sudden devouring breweries anytime soon, as the people buying BlackStack aren’t always the ones buying a run-of-the-mill Locken’s Ruby Grapefruit Kolsch (what is even up with that name?). 

PERFECT PAIRING
3rd and Vine unites two old friends: beer and cheese 
By Stacy Brooks

Stacy Brooks / Heavy Table

It’s a cliche, but it’s also true: Wisconsin is a top-notch destination for beer and cheese. Eau Claire’s 3rd & Vine highlights them both with pairing flights that show how craft beer and artisan cheese can join forces to delight and surprise the taste buds.

Co-owners and spouses Jared Bilhorn and Meg Knoll opened 3rd & Vine in November 2021, a homecoming of sorts — the couple had met in Eau Claire over a decade prior.

“I’ve been basically in food service my whole life — I started out in fast food as a teenager,” says Bilhorn. After leaving Eau Claire, the couple eventually settled in Portland, Oregon, where Bilhorn worked as the director of culinary operations for Pok Pok, the acclaimed Thai restaurant group which shuttered during the COVID pandemic.

“We didn't really know what we were going to do in Portland. I suffered an injury during that time and broke my wrist really badly, so I was spending a year learning to use my hand again… With all that uncertainty, we moved back to Eau Claire where a few of our best friends were still living. Life is a lot cheaper here!” Bilhorn says with a chuckle. 

However, there was an aspect of Portland the couple wanted to recreate in Eau Claire: a bottle shop, or hybrid retail space and bar specializing in craft beer. “By working with a bunch of small independent breweries that aren't available through big distribution channels, you can offer a very regional product — something that people aren't going to encounter everywhere,” Bilhorn explains. Another inspiration for 3rd & Vine was the now-closed Cheese Bar, a combination cheese shop and beer and wine bar operated by renowned Portland cheesemonger Steve Jones.  

“Obviously Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest in general have phenomenal beer and cheese, so why not both of those things?” says Bilhorn. “We have tremendous, world-class beer and cheese within a couple hundred miles of us in every direction — we focus heavily on Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa for our products. We do a little importing from further out when it's something really special, but our main focus is nearby, because there's a lot of incredible stuff here.”

AN ARTFUL ARRANGEMENT

Located in Eau Claire’s Near West Side neighborhood, across the river from downtown, 3rd & Vine has the vibe of a welcoming, low-key corner bar. The eight taps rotate frequently, as do the wheels of cheese in the countertop case. The cooler is filled with cans and bottles of over 150 additional beers, and a small shelving unit is stocked with crackers, preserves, and other cheese accompaniments.  

Stacy Brooks / Heavy Table

3rd & Vine’s food menu includes artfully arranged cheese boards, rotating sandwich and salad specials, and snacks like warm olives, seasonal pickles, deviled eggs, and roasted peanuts. The most unique offering is the beer and cheese pairing flight, with four 5-ounce pours accompanied by four bites of complementary cheeses.