For most of my life, thanks in part to my mom, I have preferred to eat healthy. I tend towards lean proteins, fresh fruits and vegetables and clean ingredients. However, I do like a bit of naughty now and then. We have pizza on Friday nights, hubby will sneak in doughnuts every now and then, and sometimes we throw in a dessert. I even nerd out on altering what are often naughty dishes to make them healthier by adding yogurt instead of mayonnaise or cutting flour with almond flour etc. One of my weaknesses is the glorious corndog, especially a hand dipped corndog which is not something that is common anymore.
Thats why I was extremely excited to find Wildman Brewing Company in Olympia. Everytime we visit, we enjoy the brewing side of the house (beer for me, mead for hubby), but then my eyes always go to the hand dipped corndog. Now, I caveat this commentary on the glorious corndog with the knowledge that not all hand dipped corndogs are amazing. At Christmas, we went to a local farm to cut down our tree and there near the exit was a food truck serving what was labeled a hand dipped corndog. It was a greasy soggy mess with a sad little dog in the middle...not worth the extra calories.
Why do I keep repeating "hand dipped corndog"? Because it matters. Corndogs, in and of themselves, are generally delicious (if naughty), but taking the time to make your own batter, select the right dog, and fry them to a golden delicious finish....that's an art.
Enter Wildman Brewing Company's hand dipped corndog. The batter is laden with corn meal and deliciousness....the dog is a thick, beef hot dog that gets juicy yet crispy under that homemade batter. The combination is pure magic. It's so delicious that just talking about it this week while recommending it to a coworker, made me crave it so much we had to drive down to get one today. And as usual, I was not disappointed.
Of course you can't eat the corndog, in my opinion, without dipping it into both ketchup and mustard. Sure, you could do one or the other and be happy, but the tangy sweetness of the ketchup with the spicy edge of the mustard compliment the crispy cornmeal covered dog like nothing else. If I were more inclined to be naughty, I would add their crunchy and delicious tater tots to really pile on the fat content, but in order to lighten it up and feel a tiny bit less guilty, I usually order a salad with balsamic dressing.
Sadly, they were out of my usual favorite beer, ChewBOCKa the Cookiee, which is a dark and delicious Doppelbock beer. At 8.4% ABV, this beer will have you feeling fine after a couple of pints. The rich and toasty deep flavor of this dark beer is the perfect compliment to my yummy corndog. Since they were out, I went with my second option, the Deschutes Rugby Team Collaboration Crow Beer. Another dark beer but this one is a Schwarzbier at 5% ABV, its a lighter toasty dark beer similar to a Hefedunkel. Definitely also a good compliment to the corndog, but not quite as good. Oh the sacrifices we make.
Hubby had his favorite Cranberry Mead. He's had pretty much every mead they serve, but keeps coming back to the cranberry. Of course, he couldn't say no to a corndog and salad either.
As an added bonus to this naughty good time, we ended up at the brewery at the same time as the aforementioned coworker and his family. He is now as obsessed with Wildmans amazing corndog as I am. Score one for me!
If you are a fan of the glorious corndog and want the best possible version, definitely visit Wildman Brewing Company. You wont be disappointed with the food, the beer or the local pub atmosphere.
I don't need to keep searching necessarily, but that doesn't mean I intend to quit.
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