First I'd like to say this crosses into 2 regional areas so I didn't know which thread to put it in but I think it would be nice to get general exposure anyway. I'm planning to do a brewery run and I want to see if anyone has any additional suggestions on good stops. I live right outside Chicago and my 1st target is Toppling Goliath just about straight West and a little north 5.6 hours. Then from there to Surly which is 2.5 hours north. I'd stay the night around there (prop Minneapolis). Next day over to Central waters 3.3 hours East and from there to New Glarus 2.2 hours. Then a rock skip back home 2.4 hours. I think that's a nice little 2 day brewery trip. Any suggestions on stuff in between all that? I know I could add St. Louis first but that will add a whole day. Thanks guys.
sounds like a great 2 day trip maybe stop at Schells after TG on way to Surly? ,if you do stay the night in Minneapolis many local brewpubs worth a visit like Indeed,Dangerous Man,Town Hall,Fulton to name a few
I would double check tg before driving all the way to Decorah, the scuttlebutt here on BA basically has them in a downhill spiral into they go out of business next. JK Depending on the timing of your trip Rochester has several new breweries and a brewpub opening this year. If so that would be an OK lunch so, if not it's a beer wasteland between Decorah and the cities. Schells is nice but not really linear between Decorah and Mpls. I would recommend Dave's brew farm on the way east.
Yup the BrewFarm is just off I-94 at exit 28 and about three miles north - we're open from 3-7, so if your driving window is timed well, stop on by! Cheers, FarmerD
You’ve set the bar really high, since you’re already going to visit what most consider the best brewery in each state, breweries that easily could make a national top ten list… and Central Waters (which also is a good brewery). All are regional powerhouses with multi-state distribution of bottles and/or cans. I’ll give you a bunch of suggestions in the Twin Cities area, but most of them are closer to hidden gems than the scale of breweries you’re going to be visiting. The Twin Cities area breweries that I consider to brew beer of at least roughly comparable quality to Central Waters are Town Hall (my pick for second best brewery in Minnesota behind Surly), Dangerous Man, Sisyphus, Fair State, Indeed, Barley John’s, Steel Toe, and HammerHeart, in roughly that order. In western and southern central Wisconsin, there’s Dave’s BrewFarm (my pick for second best brewery in Wisconsin behind New Glarus), Tyranena, and Karben4. I’d say the best brewery in Minnesota south of the Twin Cities is Olvalde in Rolling Rock, about 1.5 hours due north from Decorah and 2 hours southeast of the Twin Cities. I don’t think it has a formal taproom, but I believe it does tours and gives free samples.
Good BBQ in Rochester if you need a bite to eat on your way to Surly. My other suggestion is to definitely visit Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery. Most around here would either rank it #1 or #2 for Minnesota breweries.
