Craft Beer Bars in Greater Madison (Milwaukee, Fitchburg: apartment, new home, school)

[oregonhawk]

I'm trying to compile a list of the "subjective" Top 10 craft beer joints in & around greater Madison. Would love to hear your list. Could be brewpub, tavern, restaurant, or hole in wall... cheers

[Drover]

I have found that Madison doesn't really have any real solid beer bars that carries a huge selection of microbrews. OK, technically this isn't true. Old Chicago has a very broad tap selection -- about 100 or so taps -- and by any objective measure it should be on this list. But I just cannot stand Old Chicago so I can't bring myself to include it on my list. Plus, a lot of that tap selection is dedicated to predictable, boring beers. "Wow, Warsteiner on tap -- never seen that before! "

There are, however, a good number of bars that carry a small but good quality tap selection. That isn't all bad though, and this encourages an outing to become a pubcrawl instead of just staying holed up in the same place all night. Anyway, here's my list:

#1 by far is the downtown iteration of The Great Dane brewpub. Really solid beers, consistently has the biggest variety of house beers tapped at any given time (as many as 17 by my count) than any other brewpub I've been to. And it has far and away the best biergarten in all the Midwest; if there's a better one I haven't found it yet. The Fitchburg and Hilldale locations look pretty decent in the pictures but I can't imagine they have quite the same "historic" vibe as the downtown location, which is reputed to be one of the oldest buildings in the city.

#2: The Malt House. Only 20 or so taps, but a solid 100 bottles. And not a single tap is wasted on dross. The closest Madison comes to having a first-class beer bar, and doesn't really have that far to go to get there. The tap selection leans toward Belgians, with the American selections heavily concentrated on Wisconsin-brewed beers.

#3:Brasserie V. Comes pretty close to having Malt House's quality and selection, but is as much a restaurant as a beer bar. For a more beer-centric experience Malt House is still the one to go to. However, Brasserie V is a lot closer to the city center/campus area, whereas Malt House is pretty far out on the east end.

#4: Maduro. In all honesty, this could have been a serious contender for the best beer bar, or for that matter, best all-around "up-market" bar in Madison. However, one of its major attractions is also its downfall: they have exploited a loophole that allows cigar and pipe smoking. If I were to go there just for cocktails, the smoking policy wouldn't bother me nearly as much, but it's a dealbreaker when I'm trying to sort through subtle layers of complexity when smelling and tasting high-quality craft beers. You still can't smoke cigarettes there though -- go figure.

#5: Dotty Dumpling's Dowry. Mostly a restaurant but one that carries a solid selection of Wisconsin and other regional microbrews.

#6: The Grumpy Troll in Mount Horeb. The beer runs from good to really good to a couple that are great. So the beer may not be a life-altering experience but it's a cool little place in a cool little town.

#7: Mickey's Tavern. Old-school joint whose best offering used to be Berghoff (regular or dark - yay for variety!). Most of the space served as the previous owner's apartment. When he died about 10 years ago at the tender age of 96 (and he watched over his bar right up until he died), his apartment space was opened up to create a lot of side rooms you can lounge around in. Other changes included expanding the tap and bottle selection. This brought in a new, hipsterish clientele, but they rub elbows with old-timers left over from the Berghoff days who never stopped going.

#8: Capital Brewery. Not much more than a tasting room in late fall/winter/early spring, but when the weather gets nice they open up their German-style outdoor biergarten. On weekend evenings they have oompa bands.

Honorable Mention: Ale Asylum. They make some really solid beers there but I'm not sure where to rank it because I haven't been to their beer house yet. I would also like to check out the Gray's Tied House in Verona.

[oregonhawk]

Well done drover. From past posts, it seems that you are a definitive source on beer culture.

The list is well thought out.

We are midwesterners transplanted in Oregon and enjoy all things beer here.
A move may be in the making within a year so I enjoy researching different lifestyle features of potential "new homes".

Madison certainly does seem to be a craft beer hub for the Upper Midwest.

Thanks again ----- anyone else have "hot spots"?

[Drover]

Oh crap, I can't believe I didn't mention a trip to the New Glarus brewery, seeing how it's one of the most renowned breweries in the Midwest, and would certainly compete with the likes of Dogfish Head/Three Floyds/Stone/etc. on the national stage if they distributed outside of Wisconsin. Even though their lineup is widely available in Madison, a pilgrimage to the brewery is in order. It's a very nice facility. The town of New Glarus itself is a nice place to spend an afternoon.

Anyway, one thing you'll probably notice if you move back here is that the Midwest brewing scene is not quite as bold/extroverted/experimental as you find out in the PNW. There are some notable exceptions (Three Floyds, New Glarus, Founders, New Holland), but even many of the big experimental beers from those breweries are more rooted in traditional styles and flavor profiles. Long-standing German brewing traditions are particularly pervasive in the Wisconsin brewing scene for obvious reasons. Personally I find it a refreshing change from the "let's make everything taste twice as intense" brewing style that seems to have taken hold in the PNW and influenced breweries across the country. Many upper Midwest breweries recognize there is still artistry in producing a competent, straight-forward example of a particular beer style. Even the regional breweries known for risk-taking still tend to stick to traditional interpretations for their bread-and-butter lineup.

[Drover]

Oh yeah, also forgot Sprecher now has a tied house out in Middleton. Looks kinda cool and it's getting good reviews, but I kinda put it out of my mind since I regard Sprecher beers to be about average.

[Megan1967]

Sprecher makes good root beer, though.

[Ragnar]

Great posts, Drover. You gave me ideas about several places to check out that I have not yet been to. Cheers!

[Drover]

Every once in a while I'm good for somethin'.

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by Megan1967

Sprecher makes good root beer, though.

Yes, and when I lived there, I had quite a bit of it, either in Madison or Milwaukee.

I'm supposed to make a return visit to Madison in November; I'll be sure to imbibe then, too....

And Dotty Dumplings Dowry---I'm still trying to clean up after eating that delicious mess..

[oregonhawk]

Good Stuff everyone! Anyword if there are prospects for new breweries in Madison? The rise of the nano brewery is here. I heard Brickhouse BBQ is a quality place for taps also.