Depends on which niche in the craft scene you enjoy. Madtree is a big, busy place which produces a myriad of styles all above average; there's also an amazing pizza joint inside. Streetside and Brink offer a lot of Nu-skool styles and are trendy places; the latter is racking up awards nation wide. Urban Artifact solely does wild cultured beers (i.e. sours) with their most popular style being the Midwest Fruit Tart, made famous by New Glarus. Listermann is another jack-of-all-trades, but specializes in NEIPAs and BA beers. Braxton, if you go, head to their satellite location, Braxton Labs, which is adjacent to The Party Source, the nation's largest beverage alcohol retailer. Another one I would add is Fifty West, especially if you're looking for a great brewpub.
Urban Artifact and Brink are within 5-10min of eachother. UA makes incredible fruit bomb sours and located in an old church. Brink does some creative stuff on classic styles and really nails just about everything. Never had a bad beer from them. Listermann offers a great mix of NEIPAS, flavored stouts and sours, barrel aged stuff (depending on the current taplist) - they are about 15min from UA and Brink. thats a good mix if time is limited. Streetside and 50west are also great but are a little further out from downtown - may depend on where you are staying to dictate the best options
Was able to roll thru Listermann, Brink and Urban Artifact. Listermann was definitely our favorite, style and quality wise. Picked up some cans of Team Fiona which was the top beer of the day amongst the group. Brink had 3 of the 7 GABF winners on tap when we arrived. Kickin Wing was decent..loved the touch of heat. We hesitated, but ended up pulling the trigger and hitting Urban Artifact on the way back to the city. Bro, that Plum Beethoven?!? Hows that 7.9%? Delicious. Definitely our favorite spot aesthetically. Do people drink in the basement, then pop upstairs for AA meetings? Thanks for the suggestions and aiding in making it a great day around the city, fellas.
