Im gonna be in Milwaukee in March for a Ratdog show. What beer stores should i check out while im there? Mostly looking for New Glarus and Central Waters stuff but open to anything else.
Discount West Allis and Rays in Tosa have the best craft selections IMHO. This is Wisconsin, so every store that has beer will have New Glarus, including most convenience stores, and most liquor stores will have CW. But Discount and Rays have the best of what you mentioned and the best of everything else. Woodmans in Kenosha isn't bad either.
Yeah, Mars is good if everybody else is sold out....overpriced, if you ask me. OP- if you are staying downtown/ eastside, check out Whole Foods on East North Ave or Downer Avenue Wine and Spirits. Both are solid stops only 5 minutes from downtown.
The 2 places I mentioned would probably be the most convenient for you then. There is also Otto's on Oakland and Kensington Liquor about 2-3 miles north of them. 10 minute round trip from Pabst Theater/ Downtown area. Hit up one or all 4 these stores and you will find everything you are looking for, plus more!!!!
Skip the Castle, head east about 10 minutes to Tenutas, get yourself an Italian Sausage and spend the rest of the time looking at the beer selection, especially the Black Husky stuff.
I have yet to have a positive experience at Kensington after roughly half a dozen attempts. The new owner has definitely cleaned up the place and improved the layout from what it was when it was Wick's, but they tend to have old inventory (9 month old Moon Man?), and I find the staff there to be largely unhelpful.
For more "Downtownish" places you can hit up the WholeFoods(they have a parking lot) in the Farwell/North Ave area. Then you could drive about 3 minutes to the Downer Ave Liquor store(no parking lot, only street). The staff is super friendly and have pretty good selection. Then as others said you could go to Otto's on Oakland(small parking lot but can also park in the alley behind it) which is about a 5 minute drive from Downer. Its the loop of stores I hit when I am searching for something. If that doesn't work I usually stop by the Woodman's in Oak Creek on my way home, which is about a 20 minutes drive south from downtown milwaukee. So round trip(not counting shopping time) from where you are staying around the Pabst theatre to the first three stores I mentioned and back will probably be about 35 minutes.
Fair enough. I have never personally visited, but I have a friend that lives on the eastside and he has had good things to say about it.
If I head that far east I may end up at Franks diner. If I end up at Franks, I'll order a full plate with Jalapenos. If I order a full plate with Jalapenos, I'll eat it. If I eat it, my cholesterol will skyrocket and I'll get indigestion. I don't want my cholesterol to skyrocket or get indigestion. I'll hit the castle instead.
