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December 01/2017  Commentary

“Sausage fest” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary earlier this year. While we are incredibly proud of this prestigious accolade, we take this opportunity to officially invite a few OED editors to join us at next year’s Sausagefest. Our hope is that by attending Sausagefest they will better understand the true meaning of Sausagefest and perhaps update their erroneous definition to include all genders and all lovers of sausage.

Still, it’s a great accomplishment, even though “cat lady,” “craptacular” and “haterade” were also added this year.

My personal favorite is: “In vino veritas: Under the influence of alcohol, a person tells the truth.” Next year they need to add​: “In sausage vino veritas: under the influence of sausage and wine, all bets are off.”

December 01/2017  Commentary

Photo By Victoria Heath on Unsplash

October 23/2017  Commentary

Photo by Viktor Hanacek on picjumbo

First, lets toss out the dubious quote often attributed to Otto Von Bismarck about sausage making and politics. There’s no reliable historical source that documents that “Gesetze sind wie Würste, man sollte besser nicht dabei sein, wenn sie gemacht warden” was ever uttered by Otto.

Now with that moldy old false fact put aside, we can bring to your attention some notable thoughts on sausage and the human condition.

“Lawsuit: a machine, which you go into as a pig and come out as a sausage.”
—Ambrose Bierce

“Many men are like sausages; whatever you stuff them with, that they will bear in them.”
—Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy

“A party is like a sausage machine, it grinds up all sorts of heads together...

October 09/2017  News

Photo By Andris Romanovskis on Unsplash

Kent discusses sausage and Sausagefest in his interview with the Daily Herald. Follow this link to read the article, published in the Daily Herald on November 12, 2012.

I think we could have Sausagefest in everyone’s backyard through all the cities in America and celebrate in backyards at the barbecue.”

October 09/2017  Sausage Trail Reports

Some folks go to Mecca, others visit Rome or Jerusalem, and pagans go to Vegas. If you are even a somewhat serious sausage fan you need to visit this nice town a few miles west of Madison, Wisconsin. Why?

The National Mustard Museum is in downtown Middleton. While not every sausage requires mustard its one of the great natural combos – mustard on brats, mustard on hot dogs, mustard on polish sausage, etc.

The Museum has over 5000 mustards (probably more every day) and enough distractions to keep you entertained for thirty minutes or a couple hours.

The good news about going to Middleton is there a few more reasons to go here besides the museum.

For dinner you want to change paces from the mustard realm...

October 09/2017  Sausage Trail Reports

We taste a lot of sausages. A lot of sausages we taste we don’t talk about. Why bring mediocre experiences to your attention?

You see mediocre too often: republicans, democrats, reality tv, tv religion, interviews with football players, interviews with ceo’s. None of them worth capitalizing. They engineer enough wasted time onto themselves.

Eating great sausage, finding great sausage is not a common thing. Its like cable television: 265 channels and most of it forgettable.

Before common media induces your next coma of mediocrity and you find yourself in downtown Chicago, head over to Bin 36. The tourist guides might identify it as a wine bar. But wine bars aren’t known for their long-lived runs. Bin 36 has been around since before 9/11...

October 09/2017  Sausage Trail Reports

Cabo San Lucas is at the tip of the second longest peninsula in the world, the Baja California peninsula of Mexico. Despite what you may have heard, Sam Hagar didn’t discover Cabo.

Cabo has many magnets. The whale watching is superb. The seafood and dining choices are first rate. The contrast between the blue of the ocean and the desert is stunning. And, the local residents make you feel welcomed.

On this trip our main focus was whale watching and relaxation. But, since Sausagefest never sleeps, we wanted to pass on some new finds while we were in Cabo.

Our home base was the Las Ventanas al Paraiso resort on the Sea of Cortez side of the peninsula...

October 09/2017  Sausage Trail Reports

With Sausagefest.com being a Chicago based organization (I use that term loosely) you might think we get Chicago or Midwest centric.

Unlike ESPN (the Eastcoast Sports Network) we actually cover sausage artists from other parts of the country. Before we get overwhelmed with all the Midwest sausage season, lets start the summer grilling season in our nation’s capital.

DC Sausage Sampling

Our nations capital is always an amazing place. The museums, shrines, and memorials are all worthwhile destinations. If you’re an American citizen it’s difficult to not have a feeling of pride as you walk around The District. Driving the district generally will upset your stomach so we suggest walking and using the Metro...

October 09/2017  Sausage Trail Reports

Bass Lake Taverne – Inn
Chardon, Ohio

Cleveland has the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, the first place Indians, the West Side Market and many good sausage makers. As a prime example, The Sausage Shoppe has gotten years of praise from both Sausagefest and Anthony Bourdain’s review of the Shoppe a few back.

Cleveland has the urban ethnic diversity to make it a very friendly sausage city. You can even see this sausage Mecca’s karma extending beyond the city proper. Thirty miles east of Cleveland in Chardon, Ohio the Bass Lake Taverne Inn is worth visiting.

Even if you’re not on sausage craving mission, BLTI is worth a visit. It’s an old Inn and tavern and can accommodate weddings and major social events...

October 09/2017  Sausage Trail Reports

Dateline Cancun, Mexico – January 2009

Treat yourself to some time in Cancun. The sea has a beautiful turquoise hue and it’s hard to think it’s the same Atlantic Ocean as the water you see in the Carolinas or anywhere northward. The geography mavens will say it’s the Caribbean but its still Atlantic water. With the economy of modern society falling quickly into an unending stream of bankruptcies and company lay-offs it seemed like a good time to cash in the Marriott points and United Points before both companies go the way of the dodo. So the search for sausages went south of the border. Here’s what we found after extensive research, well somewhat extensive.

No Sausage Shops
We couldn’t locate a single freestanding sausage shop in the immediate Cancun ar...