Photo by Brick Kyle
Thelma Carol Wine Merchants
The bar at Thelma Carol Wine Merchants
Opening the doors to Thelma Carol Wine Merchants at 600 W. Virginia St. is like the opening scene of a great play. You find yourself in a new world. Nothing looks the way you’re accustomed to. You feel the earth moving beneath you.
The owners of Thelma Carol, Rebecca Sue Button and Jerel W Hall, cultivate a wine shop with “the precision of a well-managed bodega with the welcome comfort of a used bookshop.” No, this isn’t a bottle shop. And it isn’t a bar. Rebecca and Jerel curate an experience “designed to actively change the way people approach and conceptualize the role of beverages in their lives ....”
All you have to do is open the doors of Thelma Carol, and Rebecca and Jerel will show you what they mean.
Interview with Rebecca Sue Button and Jerel W. Hall of Thelma Carol Wine Merchants
Photo by Brick Kyle
Jerel Hall - Thelma Carol Wine Merchants
Jerel Hall pours a drink at Thelma Carol Wine Merchants
Gaetano Marangelli: What inspired you to create a shop which blends “the precision of a well-managed bodega with the welcome comfort of a used bookshop?”
Rebecca Sue Button: We wanted to curate our shop to be a space that offers guests an aesthetically unique and warm environment as the backdrop to shopping and enjoying the best bottles in Milwaukee. Our space was designed to actively change the way people approach and conceptualize the role of beverages in their lives; to enhance the allure of wine and spirits, and to redefine the act of buying such products. The aesthetic and feel of the store reflect who we are as individuals—we have poured a lot of our heart and soul into the design, décor, and energy—and we hope it reflects the kind of comfort and ease we all hope to feel when enjoying a glass.
GM: What led each of you into the world of wine, beer, and spirits?
Jerel W. Hall: For me, it started in retail with beer. I was working in Bloomington, Ind., in a very well-stocked grocery store with an amazing beer selection and was asked to run the beer program at a restaurant that had just opened. I started to study wine after working in another restaurant and eventually passed the certified level with the Court of Master Sommeliers. A brief two years to earn a master of library science [degree] has been the only break in my career in the beverage industry.
RSB: I have been working in hospitality since I was 16 years old, beginning as a hostess in fine dining. Since then, in addition to fine dining, I have worked in breweries, distilleries, small plate concepts, and cocktail lounges. What really brought me to learn, experience, taste, and love wine? Meeting Jerel, in the most organic way: in a restaurant. Meeting the individual who would become my life partner, who already had nine years on me (in life) and in the industry, opened up an entire world for me. The world was wine; and we have been here ever since.
GM: Which three fermented or distilled beverages do each of you wish more people would visit Thelma Carol to drink? And why?
JWH: Armagnac, rum and Riesling. Armagnac is the more potent cousin to cognac and is often a fraction of the cost. Rum is probably the most stylistically varied spirit out there, versatile in a drink and laughably inexpensive. Some of the best versions rival the tip top of other spirits. And similarly, Riesling is one of the most nuanced and delicious options for wine drinkers. From the overtly sweet to the bone-dry versions, Riesling is a highly misunderstood gem that deserves more attention.
RSB: Vermouth, gin, out-of-norm sparkling. Our customers know how much we love vermouth, and it is such a pleasure to introduce this special fortified wine to individuals who have only considered it a cocktail ingredient. Vermouth has so many delicious iterations; it is highly sippable on its own and can open a new world of flavor to every palette. Gin is my favorite spirit and is distilled in so many forms, it is not simply pine and juniper. Location and native botanicals, fruit, vegetation, etc. play a huge role in the profile of a distillery’s gin; from South Africa, to Scotland, to Japan, and beyond—a region’s gin can reflect a deep sense of place and story. I am a huge sparkling wine drinker, and we have a lovely time sourcing bubbles that are different from the daily Prosecco or Cava (we love those too, of course!) English, Argentinian, Portuguese, German, Austrian—these are just a handful of interesting iterations of bubbles that are all unique and delicious.
Six Inspiring Books
Photo by Brick Kyle
Jerel Hall and Rebecca Button - Thelma Carol Wine Merchants
Jerel W. Hall (left) and Rebecca Sue Button (right) at Thelma Carol Wine Merchants
Books and libraries, as well as fermented beverages inspire Button and Hall. I asked them which books they'd like Thelma Carol Wine Merchant’s visitors to read.
Jerel
- Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Creative, innovative, endlessly hilarious.
- Beachbum Berry’s Potions of the Caribbean: Arguably the most delightful and informative history of tiki culture in America.
- Haruki Murakami’s Killing Commendatore: While a bit lengthy, the characters are fascinating, and the story is a total trip.
Rebecca
- Jane Austen’s Persuasion: We all know Pride & Prejudice is the star, but for me Persuasion is her best.
- Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights: Full of rather insane individuals who wreak havoc in the name of love.
- Suze Rotolo’s A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties: Suze Rotolo, an American artist and Bob Dylan’s girlfriend in the early sixties, casts the characters and tells her side of the story with such passion, wit, and forthrightness.
