Ale Asylum

 

 

 

Ale Asylum's taproom is in their large production brewery building and it is a very big taproom. It's the usual industrial look with high ceilings and exposed pipes but it's surprisingly warm and inviting thanks to the paint scheme, floor tile and use of wood.
Quality is excellent. I did not notice any flaws in the beers I sampled and they ranged from good to outstanding. The standout was a barrel aged Barleywine.
Service was quite good, friendly and helpful.
Plenty to choose from with 15 of their beers on tap. Also love that they have half pours available.
Food was the usual pub fare although well done.
Worth the visit.

 

 

Nice large building with a sweet, roasty, cereal aroma enticing you, beckoning you, to enter.

Seating area surrounds the central bar/kitchen, with the only view of the kitchen being the pass line. Bar seats 20 and high tops on the left for about 60. The other side of the kitchen looks more restaurant like, if only because you can't see the bar, has a bench/ booth at the kitchen wall for 20 or so and several 4tops and booths for another 40.

Music playing, several TV's for Packers and Badgers.

12 beers on tap are solid. 4 IPA options, a hoppy amber, the dunkel was gorgeous, a pilsner, lager from an experimental committee, and a wee heavy.

Food is great. The turkey on sourdough with a spicy/smokey (not hot) Chipotle mayo was perfect with the beers.

Service is more than adequate, experienced and friendly. The staff was sharing batches of fries experimenting with dry rubs, fun and delicious.

Overall, I like this place and will be back.

Cool place, very modern kinda crappy location though. By the airport. Usually hopping for lunches and dinners but I like that it is kid friendly. I'm a big fan of a couple of their beers (Bedlam!) They do a pretty solid job overall and I like the food too. Probably the coolest brewery in Madtown proper.

 

 

 

 

 

My wife & I stopped by for dinner and beers during a recent foray into Madison.

This is a pretty impressive spot. They did a nice job fitting an inviting bar into the production brewery.

The bar/restaurant space is large. As you enter you will see the long bar straight ahead. The barroom has lots of tables including some ones for large groups. There is also another room that was hosting a large group while we were there. The rooms are airy with some neat use of pallets for decoration. It had a nice conversational buzz during happy hour.

The service was decent and friendly. We sat at the bar and had two different tenders that kept up with beer and food orders.

They had about 20 house beers on tap including regulars, and specials. Specials that I recall included a session APA, two barrel aged stouts (Russian and Belgian styles), double IPAs, etc. We liked everything that we had.

The food was decent with the highlight being a really good beer cheese sausage soup.

I will be making a return visit as it is an easy stop on our way out of town.

 

Ale Asylum is quickly and easily accessible from I-90/94. The atmosphere is warm, and pleasing. There are a lot of windows letting in light that balances out the more darkly colored interior. I saw no televisions in the bar area which is also nice. All put together Ale Asylum is the kind of place where you end up talking beer with the people next to you.

The beer on my trip were both nice. The hefe was well enough made with enough banana and clove to satisfy my tastes. The Baltic Porter collaboration beer they made with the Wisconsin Brewers Guild was absolutely amazing. It was one of the best I've tasted. I only had time for two beers, but could happily have spent the rest of the day getting to know the other twenty or so of their beers they had on tap.

The food was good. The burger I ordered was cooked properly, and the toppings were well chosen. I would eat there again.

Overall, Ale Asylum is a place I will visit again in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Large modern kinda place, tasty food options....multiple tap for all your beer need, some comfortable large/communal tables as well as pleasant out door seating available...good place to go with a group....friendly and professional service, got our group drinks and fed in a very enjoyable manner...well worth a visit if you are in the Madison area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Struck me as Surly light. A nice big facility but it there's no real sense of character. They have quite a few beers on tap but they become a bit samey. Few stand out as superlative. Definitely a solid place to visit if in Madison but not a destination.