One day in Milwaukee

Yeah Kopp's is great too and they have great burgers but for me nothing can beat Leons basic vanilla custard...Kopp's is way better than Culvers custard though and nothing wrong with Culver's either...

 

Culvers is not the best, but it covers it all food wise, but no beer.
Fish fry any day, butter burgers (lite duty), curds and custard. plus there are many locations in WI.
None in Massachusetts that I know of.

 

It's been a while since I lived there but Leon's was the gold standard. I would have put Gilles in the running as well.

 

I've been in the area since 2004 and literally never heard of Gilles. Gonna have to get out there and try it! Other custard places that get no hype-love are Oscar's and Georgie Porgie's to the far south. I think that should about cover the Milwaukee county-wide custard spread for OP. There's no shortage of ways to get really fat really fast around here. Lol

 

https://gillesfrozencustard.com/full-menu
Gilles has fish fry everyday, there in (beer battered too).

 

Former Wisconsinite… Eagle Park is close to some of my fav beer bars on the east side. Not exactly breweries but you can try beers from most of the local breweries. The best beer bar IMO is Burnhearts… dive bar feel with excellent beer and mixed drink options. Other close by craft beer options are Sugar Maple and Romans Pub (all three are beer bars with no food and close together).

The best food option that gets overlooked is Good Kind. I love their food, also a decent beer menu. others include Central Grand Cafe (next to Sugar Maple) and a can’t miss stop is The Vanguard (place that specializes in sausage sandwiches and has taps). If you want to be on the water, my favorite place to take folks is Milwaukee Ale House. It is technically on the canal but the outdoor seating is fantastic and decent beer.

Again, you can find most of the breweries in these bars but some breweries on the east side include Eagle Park and 1840. Eagle Park does all the “popular” styles well (haze, over fruited berliners, pastry stout). 1840 has some good IPAs and some nice kettle sours.

The nice thing about what I outlined above is that it’s generally in the same area. You can do a lot there and sample the best beer and food around.

Other favorite brewery options but not as close: Third Space, Black Husky, Good City and Enlightened, Lakefront. If Central Waters new spot is open, certainly a must especially if you love BA beer. I left MKE a year ago so assuming all these places are still open post COVID. Hope this helps and enjoy MKE… cheese curds are awesome there!

 

If you have a car and don't want to/can't stay downtown, the Brookfield area (west suburb of MKE), has some good options. Plenty of hotels right off the interstate and around 15 min from downtown. Eagle Park Muskego isn't a far drive from there. Raised Grain is an excellent brewery in Waukesha, and they have food. Kopps has a location there if you want some of the best burgers and custard in the area. Champps Americana has the best taplist around. Especially if you want a Toppling Goliath fix and tons of local options.

For bottle shops, in case you want some take-homes, look into Discount Liquor (south MKE or Waukesha) or Rays (Wauwatosa). There are lots of other great smaller stores, but those two will have the best variety.

 

Lots of really nice hotels downtown. I'd definitely stay downtown, which makes it easy to hit most of everyone's suggestions.

Kopp's does have the best custard in the area. Oscar's is also good, as is Leon's.

If it's a nice day out, you might consider hitting a beer garden or two.
Hubbard Park Beer Garden is in such a nice setting, really cool. Decent beer list.
Estabrook Park Beer Garden is probably the closest thing you'll get to a Munich beer garden here in Milwaukee. Also a nice location, with Hofbräu (Munich) beers on tap.
https://hubbardparkbeergarden.com/
http://www.estabrookbeergarden.com/

A good beer garden reference:
https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/milwaukee-beer-gardens

Prost!

 

I would agree with those urging you to stay downtown - in the "before time" many hotels & bars ran shuttles to & from Brewers games. Iron Horse Hotel is a cool hotel but will cost plenty. Walking distance to the Harley Davidson Museum. If you want brewpubs/breweries - out towards the ballpark City Lights and Third Space are both good bets and both have lots of outdoor space. Downtown, there are almost too many to list. If it was me and I had a car, I would go up to the north side to Black Huskey or Hacienda. Hacienda is a full restaurant or you could grab a pizza at either Pizza Man or Zaffiros (like custard shops, pizza people are usually one or the other) and take it to Black Huskey. Still on food, near-ish to the already recommended Goodkind is Honeypie. If you get sick of beer (it could happen) Bryant's Cocktail Lounge is midway between the ballpark and Goodkind - it's pure Wisconsin (brandy old fashioned sweet, please) no menu, just tell the bartender what you like.

After the game, up by Lakefront Brewing, if you stay up late enough go to Wolski's Tavern for a last drink at 2am and you might get an "I Closed Wolski's" bumper sticker. In the "before", you would then stagger over to Ma Fischer's Diner for drunk breakfast, but I don't think they're 24-7 during covid.

 

I also used to live in MKE and was just there a couple weeks ago for 10 days to see BUCKS IN 6!!! Hit a Brewer game in there as well. Anyway my advice would be to stay downtown, especially if you don’t have a car. Cambria was a nice hotel and conveniently located to walk around downtown or as was previously stated electric scooters are everywhere.

I would argue if you only have one afternoonish you have 2 choices.. either down second st or up Water St by Eagle Park/Lakefront.. if you choose the first option there are a ton of breweries including Indeeds taproom(which has decent beers but the actual bar is very cool), Milwaukee Ale House, Broken Bat and Mobcraft. The highlight in my opinion in that area is Camino. Small beer bar with GREAT FOOD. Get the burger and cheese curds with Russian dressing….. or you know.. whatever you think sounds good.

if you choose the second option Eagle Park is good.. LakeFront is definitely close enough to walk. Up Down is right there if you are a stand up vintage arcade fan….. Haha.. Also Stubbys is only a couple blocks north and has around 50 taps.. For food I would highly recommend hitting the sandwich counter at Gloriosos Italian Market.. lots of great sandwich options and pasta salads, if you don’t want to eat at the breweries.

Truthfully the best “area” is Kinnickinnic(Bayview) with aforementioned Burnhearts, Romans, and Sugar Maple. Along with great food spots HoneyPie, Odd Duck, and Cafe Corazon to literally only name a few. The reason I didn’t suggest it is many of them don’t open til 4 or 5. If you are looking for adventure after the game this is definitely the area to hit. Unfortunately there aren’t any hotels close enough to walk to.

Whatever you decide have fun! It’s a great city, especially for beer! GO Brewers!

 

I'm coming to Milwaukee for a funeral next week and I checked out a lot of the suggestions here and tried to find either a good brewery or beer bar walking distance to a hotel but have not had any luck.

I am going to hit Eagle Park for sure anyhow and grab some off-sale but it doesn't look good for hotels near there or Bayview area that was highly suggested as well.

The funeral is in South Milwaukee but I can stay anywhere in the Milwaukee area. Any suggestions for a hotel where I could either walk to a good place or a hotel with a good beer selection at their hotel bar?

Thanks for any help you can lend. Might try Georgie Porgie's custard the day of the funeral as it looks somewhat close and I'd never heard of it. Always been a Leon's guy.

 

Central Waters just opened a taproom there too

 

ZAP, how far are you comfortable walking?

Hyatt Place Milwaukee Downtown is is a block and a half from Milwaukee Brewing Company, with the new Central Waters brewery and taproom an additional 2 blocks. And Good City Brewing (Downtown) is a few blocks to the east of the hotel.

Or perhaps the Kimpton Journeyman Hotel in the Third Ward just south of downtown would be an option. You could easily walk to Indeed Brewing (out of Minnesota, of course) and Explorium Brewpub Third Ward. But I can't in good conscience recommend the closer Wizard Works Brewing or Broken Bat Brewing.

Cafe Benelux in the Third Ward would be a good option if you are looking for some Belgian beers.

But yeah, you might have to grab a rideshare to hit some other places/areas.

If you are going to Eagle Park, Lakefront brewery is a short walk over the river via a suspended pedestrian bridge.

 

Thanks for the ideas! I don't mind walking up to a mile if it is a safe area. I grew up in rough and tumble South Milwaukee the land of the Crusher so I know not all areas are good for walking around and I'm of a slight stature of about 6'3" 275 so I need to be careful.

 

I think Hyatt looks like a good option. Milwaukee Brewing Co and Good City are solid places? I like their tap lists. All I've had from those two are their basic offerings which were fine but the tap lists look much more interesting. Although looking at their hours on Mondays...Milwaukee Brewing is closed and Central Waters is closed at 5...I'll barely be getting into town by then....

 

I live in South Milwaukee and am willing to sign on as endorsing Geogie Porgie's custard in a pinch. However I am a Kopp's guy so choose wisely whether my opinion carries any weight. Their burgers are also legit. If you do head over that way Erv's Mug is across the street from Georgies and they often have a pretty legit taplist.

Off topic but if you drive down 5th Ave to get to Georgie Porgie's you'll get to see the patch of forest they're leveling to build a planned community on one of the former industrial waste superfund sites in Carrolville. That is a sentence that shouldn't exist.

 

Wow...thanks for the thoughts....so maybe georgie Porgie might not be a good move afterall? I'm going to look into erv's mug...thanks..

 

Got a place at Courtyard Milwaukee Airport...

Plan is to arrive 4-5 pm and go straight to Eagle Park...sample some beers..load up on take home beers...then check in at hotel....then maybe uber or taxi to Bayview area for a few and some food..then back to hotel to watch MNF and drink Eagle Park beers..

Tuesday hit a Custard spot before and/or after the funeral and head back...

Thanks for the help everyone...

 

Landmark 1850 Inn is near that hotel, some say it's still haunted by Crusher's ghost.

 

Eagle Park is super over-rated man. Go easy on the over buying for take home. I’ve over bought from them twice now and drain poured most of my IIPA cans. I grew up in Milwaukee and it’s Kopp’s all the way.