BA forums have always been a place I get great advice on beer, and sometimes other things, when I go to a new place (10/10 Los Angeles, San Francisco, Croatia, Belgium, Slovenia, and the Netherlands). I will be on another trip in August and want to keep this trend going. For this thread, I am talking about South Dakota, specifically a) near Bismarck Lake campground and b) Near or within about 45 minutes from the Black Hills and/or the Bad Lands (as well as the area traveling from one to the other). Here are some general questions, feel free to offer up anything else you might have. Any location that is more than a quick stop must be dog friendly. Noteworthy locations that have at least very good beer. Even better if they have great food and/or a cool vibe. Great food that is unique or at least top-tier for the region and I can likely get in this area. Bonus if you can name specific places. Beers worth trying that are difficult/impossible to find in the New England area. If there are not really many #3, or I simply don't see them where I end up, breweries that are good bets to look for on menus. We don't have many days in this area, but I am also happy to receive any advice on ORV trails, dog parks/bars, and easy/moderate trails for walking with the wife and dog. Bonus question: c) quick stop around lunch along I90 near Chamberlain or say 45 minutes east/west from it (for this one please consider I will be pulling a 20' trailer and. due to a lack of a lot of experience doing it, want to avoid any potentially challenging locations to get to/park at). Bonus Bonus: I don't want it to detract from my vacation, but if you happen to be in these general areas or are willing to travel to them, I am willing to take some beer with me from New England for trades. Tree House and Trillium are easy gets and I will be in VT/NH a few times before this trip (not sure I will get to Hills Farmstead or Alchemist, but maybe).
Lost Cabin in Rapid City, Miner in Hill City, and Spearfish Brewing Co in Spearfish are all nice spots. Hay Camp, and Dakota Point in Rapid City were also fun, but if I had to pick only one in Rapid City it would be Lost Cabin.
Here’s a list of cool shit you might want to consider. Custer State Park is amazing if you want to get up close, and personal with a bunch of bison, and I know that Deadwood (I think), and Spearfish hold street parties nearly every weekend during the summer. Mt Rushmore is easy to get to, and honestly pretty impressive. The Bad Lands are amazing, jaw dropping actually. Of note, the Black Hills are basically mini mountains, so parts feel/look very alpine. Driving in them can be tricky depending on the route.
Appreciate the feedback. The campground we are staying at is in Custer State Park. Planning on seeing both the Black Hills and the Bad Lands. Lost Cabin indicates they are opening a beer garden in Hill City this summer. Between them and Miner, Hill City is a tempting location. Spearfish is intriguing with its aged beers and Dakota Point has Cask beer. Great well-rounded list of options, thanks again.
I would throw in the Crazy Horse Memorial as well. The monument isn't complete, but there is a museum with art and regalia from tribes across the United States. Wind Cave National Park and Jewel Cave National Monument are both about 20 minutes from Custer State Park.
A few follow-up things to expand on from previous answers: - As the lack of responses regarding question c) has already hinted at, once you're west of Mitchell, the dining options become *very* limited all the way to Rapid City. Unless someone happens to come through with food recommendations in/around Chamberlain or you decide to do a deep dive on researching small-town SD restaurants, it's probably going to be easiest to just hit up one of the handful of fast food places in Chamberlain. - For additional stops in/around the Badlands, the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site has a small visitor center/museum just off I-90 and while Wall Drug is a tourist trap, it also has a variety of services and has trailer parking nearby. - Unless your trip is towards the end of August, there will be *lots* of bikers in the region for Sturgis.
Just a couple tidbits for you since I just got back last night from helping a buddy move his stuff from Pierre to Madison WI. Unfortunately I didn’t make it further west than the Pierre exit off of I90 so I can’t help you with where to go past there. However I can tell you that there is a TON of construction around Chamberlain right now. I assume you talked about it because you are stopping to see the Dignity statue, which I absolutely recommend. It along with the view overlooking the Missouri is amazing. Just so you are aware the westbound off ramp was closed on Saturday(7/29). Depending on your time constraints you may want to go an exit or two past it and turn around and go back. Or just hit it heading back east, which is what we did. We also had a 20’ trailer and it was no problem, lots of truck parking spots. We really only grabbed fast food stuff besides for dinner at Cattleman’s Club in Pierre. I can tell you though that it gets BLEAK west of Chamberlain for food options. I would recommend Mitchell(we hit Culver’s) or something downtown Chamberlain if you research a place that sounds good to you. As far as beer goes I was mostly only able to grab cans since we were loading the trailer. Sadly Pierre’s selection was severely lacking. I had a couple Lost Cabin’s: SoDank IPA, Bruce Banner APA, and Lord Grizzly scotch ale. They were all fine to good. Also had Remedy IPA which was decent as well. If we weren’t in such a hurry to get out there I would have stopped in Sioux Falls for what I am positive is a better to-go selection. Hopefully that helps you a little bit. Keep your eyes peeled for bison and antelope. If you have binoculars I would also recommend bringing them. We were mad we didn’t. Have fun and travel safe!
You mentioned Sioux Falls, I plan to fly into FSD and drive east into MN for some business. I’ll be in the part of the country for about 48 hours. A quick review of BA shows lots of opportunities in Sioux Falls. If I only have time for one stop where should I go? If I have time for only one beer which brewery should I sample? In advance thanks!
I ended up reversing my trip route after @swid made his hero post on it. Still going through the area, but now in reverse and now a few days after Sturgis has ended. I should be hitting a few of the recommendations in the Black Hills area, including a new beer garden from Lost Cabin that is in Hill City.
With my reversing the route for the trip, I will possibly be near Sioux Falls around lunch. Do you happen to have any recommendations for a good place to grab and go beers and/or beers to target if I do?
The good news is most of our breweries are within easy walking distance of each other, so you shouldn't need to limit yourself to only one. What styles do you prefer? If you are looking for saisons/sours/wild ales I'd recommend Covert Artisan. They have the most unique offerings in town. Right next door is our original craft beer bar called Monk's. They are always worth a visit, and carry a large assortment of local offerings, if you want a chance to try all or most of them. Otherwise for IPA's and stouts I personally prefer Woodgrain and Fernson. Everyone here seems to have different ideas of which is the best brewery in town however. Honorable mentions to Remedy and Severance - both of which I'd put in the good category but neither has anything I'd go out of my way for. Further away from the central beer district, we have Covert, Lupulin's taproom, and Look's (which is part of a very good restaurant). Honestly you aren't going to go wrong with any of them.
JD Beers for lunch is also a solid option. If your in town for breakfast, you cant go wrong with the Philips Diner.
I'm going to be in Sioux Falls and Brookings next week. Anything new I should be on the lookout for (beers, breweries, beer bars, etc.)?
Now that I have finished my trip, I wanted to follow up on each respective thread as it relates to each of the regions I posted about. Each response is unique to that region so this starting text is the only thing I will be duplicating. South Dakota was our last multi-day stop on the trip. Staying in the Black Hills and doing things in that area and over in the Badlands. We hit up Miner Brewing in Hill City and enjoyed some great food from a food truck they had there. Not being used to such a thing, I was confused trying to wrap my head around "your dog can go anyplace you want here, inside/out". Regardless of that fact, definitely one of the best places we brought our dog from a dog owner's perspective. Lots of seating options and a really good beer selection. We liked it so much that we hit it for a second lunch on our last day. The beers they had that stood out the most to me were their Kolsch, Camping Beer, Mango Cream Ale, and Heller Bock. The bock was top on that list; really well done. My wife got a cider they make and it was very good as well. We also had dinner one night at Lost Cabin Beer Co.'s beer garden in Hill City. Very friendly and nice area to just hang out. The food truck was good as well. Their stand outs were Lets Get Ready to Rumball and Lord Grizzly. They had a Kolsch, Pop Kolscher, they collaborated on with Haycamp and it was only available in cans. I grabbed a 4-pack of it to go and despite the gimmick of adding popcorn to the recipe, it was a very good Kolsch. Beyond that, lots of great sites, trails, and offroading again.
Sorry, the pics did not post.....But welcome to Kristi Noem's paradise, just don't tell too many people about how nice we have it! Glad to hear you had a good time!
