Milwaukee folks - help me not screw up again!

If you're dedicated, you can drive out of Milwaukee county and buy beer at gas stations until Midnight.

Ugly's Pub on 3rd Street might have Moon Man on tap.
Rumpus Room might have it. That place consistently has a great taplist regardless. Ask for their beer cellar list. They had bottles of Space Ghost the last time I was there.
Bar Louie has a ton of taps and will probably have it.

If you don't mind walking or taking a short bus ride, World of Beer on Brady St always has great taps and I'll guarantee they'll at least have Moon Man in bottles.

 

http://www.beermenus.com/beers/new-glarus-moon-man

 

Metro Market on the Lower East Side for six packs.

Maybe the Milwaukee Public Market too.

EDIT:

Lulz.

 

If you get a chance to make your way around Milwaukee, head a little south to Tornado Brewing in Cudahy. Stopped there today and was blown away. Some of the beers this guy is putting on just blows my mind.

 

Why have I never heard of this place??

 

Wow their beer list sounds pretty damn impressive. I'll have to stop over there sometime soon.

 

Hey man- downtown isn't so bad for beer.

I second the Milwaukee Public Market. Small but impressive bottle selection at the two shops there (Thief Wine and the little bar across the Market. The bar also has 8 or so decent taps w/ growler fills available.

Your other good option for beer on tap is Rumpus Room. Happy hour (4-6) all Wisconsin-brewed beers are BOGO and they have a decent bottle selection. Look for O'so, Black Husky, Dave's Brew Farm alongside Central Waters and New Glarus.

You're a short bus ride from Lakefront (or a 15-20 minute walk) and Stubby's Gastrogrub. As much as I don't like Stubby's for food, their taplist is second to none. Not the greatest for atmosphere, but great for beer.

You could hop the Green Line up to Otto's for bottles, but I'd recommend grabbing a Lyft (pretty prevelant and affordable here) and going down to Bayview. Palomino and Honey Pie have awesome food and beer, Sugar Maple, Palm Tavern and Burnheart's are all really good beer bars. Romans is quite a bit further south, but is a great craft beer experience.

Closer to downtown is Comet Cafe- awesome food, decent but not mind-blowing beer selection.

You'll be able to find Moon Man (and most other NG beers) at a bodega on Wells & Old World 3rd Street. It's not a fancy place and it's not on Google Maps, but it's damn close to you. Otherwise. Milwaukee Public Market is about a 15 minute walk- just cross the river and walk South down Water Street. St. Paul Fish Company has awesome food and you can buy beer at Thief Wine and open it on the second level with your food.

You're also close to Uber Tap & Cheese Shop on Old World 3rd Street, a few blocks North of the bodega I was talking about. With Rumpus Room & Uber Tap, you'll probably find enough to hold you over during your stay.

When buying New Glarus, notice the 4-digit dating # on the neck of every bottle. It's Julian Dating, so every bottle should end with a 4 for 2014. The first three digits should be 200 or higher- anything lower than that is over two months old. Moon Man is really, really good fresh, but holds it own for 2-6 months.

I work downtown so if you have any questions, let me know.

 

District 14 Brewing in Bayview is open now as well.

 

I'd choose Tornado over District 14 every time and I live two blocks from D14. The beers don't even compare. Plus there is only four on tap at D14 compared to 13 plus a white zin and hopped malt liquor on tap.

 

I haven't had a chance to try either yet. Keep in mind, D14 is still learning their kit- it will take 1-2 years to really dial in some recipes. From what I understand, the guy from Tornado has been brewing for some time (up in Woodman) so his recipes are probably a bit more refined.

It's doing to take all of Milwaukee's new breweries a little time to really push out consistently great beer. We say it with 3 Sheeps- they're just now getting to the point where some truly great beer is coming out. There is plenty of room in MKE for many more craft breweries putting out great beer, so I say the more the merrier!

I do have to ask, though- how is a 100 IBU 10% IPA not called an Imperial IPA?

 

I live downtown milwaukee and would second everything @robear said especially about Bayview. Really good beer bars there.

I'd also add that if you're going to milwaukee public market (which does have good beer selection and the bar at Nuerhings (sp?) has some cool taps) the Milwaukee Ale House is only
2 blocks away and Cafe Benelux is across the street, two solid places for food and beer. Benelux has better food IMHO and larger beer selection, skewing Belgian but pretty varied and big selection while the ale house is typical bar/pub food but a local brewpub with some solid beers.

Hey @robear what's the name of this bodega you speak of? Curious if I've been there or if I'm missing a new gem

 

I'm not sure it has a name. It used to be an AVIS car rental. I've never seen anything crazy in there, but they do carry a pretty full lineup of NG and kept Berliner Weiss in their cooler after the re-call.

OP- forgot to mention that Thief Wine at the Public Market is the only walk-able location that carries Black Husky bottles. Don't pass up their Pale Ale. It's one of my favorite Wisconsin beers.

 

For a big selection of singles check out Breeze Through Liquor on 111th and Bluemound, they have a ton! You really need to check bottle dates however.

 

Thief Wine at the Market does have singles in their cooler. Probably not the whole line-up though.

Milwaukee doesn't have a great shop for singles. Downer Wine and Spirits has an ok selection. Whole Foods is probably the best place near downtown, along with Breeze Through. Ray's is a great shop and has singles hidden in the back corner, but Discount hardly has any Craft beer singles (lots of Belgians and bombers, though).

 

Both Ugly's Pub and WI Cheese Mart/Uber Tap Room have this on tap. If you're staying near the WI Center, your closest venue for this would be the Cheese Mart (where you can buy 6ers to go)/Uber Tap Room on Highland & 3rd.

 

Belgian Red is landing this week, and that's DEFINITELY one you want to try. It's only in 750s though unless you can find it on tap.

 

Nice. Rumpus often has it on tap, even when bottles aren't available.