Rockhound Brewing

In a relatively new mixed used building cooled named The Dude Abodes... open space, lots of windows, with a bit of a hipster vibe. Large copper-topped U-shaped bar in the center of the room seats about 25 with tables on all sides. A dozen well-assorted beers on tap, I had the Mosquito Bite and enjoyed it very much. Friendly, personable bartender. I did not try the food. Definitely a place you can chill out at.

 

 

 

 

The food is probably the better part rather than the beer. The vibe of the place is fairly standard brew pub; it has less charm than any of the Great Danes in town, though. Slightly upscale decor, but for the most part pretty standard. The quality of the beer seems reasonably clean; I had 3 pours here and they were more than drinkable, and it's a nice place to meet friends for a beer and some food. The service was fairly iffy; one of my friends and I ordered two different beers and the server managed to give us the other's beer. Since we ordered a pale ale and a DIPA, it was fairly easy to tell the difference, but it was still a bit disappointing to have the server not give us the right beers. That being said, the overall selection of beers covers a nice range of styles and there's something for everyone. The burgers are pretty solid here, although in a town like Madison, there are far better burgers to be had. As a whole, it's a decent place to hang out and have a few pints with friends after work, but that's about as far as I'd consider it. It's a step down from Great Dane and Vintage, which have done a masterful job of establishing the brewpub experience. I think it'll be kind of tough for Rockhound to continue to compete with that.

My wife and I went on a Sunday afternoon...we both were impressed with the atmosphere, which what rustic but new. The menu of beer and food were both rather limited--10 of their beers on tap, but many appeared to be new. There were also 3 guest taps. The food menu consisted of about a half dozen different burgers and about a dozen other entrees. My wife had the swiss and mushroom burger and said it was good, not great; I tried the BBQ and it was overdone and dry and lacked BBQ sauce. Both of our fries were overdone and dry. Service was good and I sampled four of the beers, three of which were nice. Perhaps it was a new cook, but there are far better restaurants in the area, so avoid the food if possible.

I dug the vibe in the bar but the adjacent "restaurant" area was a bit sterile. Nice reclaimed wood and more of a neighborhood bar feel in the bar area. 12 of their beers and 4 guest taps with a nice variety. Out of the 6 beers we tried their was one that was merely OK but the rest were good to great. They even managed to produce a tasty dry stout, something that's a staple of new breweries and typically insanely boring and mediocre. Food was good as well with my mac & cheese tasting like something made at home (this is meant both as a compliment and a negative) and my wife's grilled cheese being very good, with her soup also seeming like something made at home. Portions were reasonable (i.e. small by normal restaurant standards). Service was friendly and attentive. Food came out quickly. I didn't have real high expectations for this brewery but was very pleasantly surprised. I'd definitely go back and recommend it to others.