Headed to Madison

Very Likely, but the BBBW may be getting harder to find. PM and BBS are still plentiful.

Nice read: Madison Brewpub Tour

 

I didn't know you were moving. We'll have to get a bottle share/tasting going before that happens!

 

For non-brewery bars,visit Brasserie V (great food and mostly Belgian beers) and the Malt House. The are a ton of other places that are great for visiting such as the Alchemy. For breweries, I think The Vintage is an amazing experience, I enjoyed Karben4 and One Barrel a lot, and Ale Asylum is the biggest of all the local breweries and very good also.

Plan to spend time walking around the city. Check out State Street to experience the food and culture of the city and you can walk all the way up to the Capital. Stopping at Ians pizza is a must and probably tastes the best after a few beers. If you make a stop at Brasserie V, you can spend some time walking up and down Monroe Street (you can walk all the way to Camp Randall where the Badgers play) you would thoroughly enjoy that also. I am not sure if there is a college hockey game that weekend, but those are always a good time.

Lots of CW BA stuff still available, for bottles I absolutely love Jenifer Street Market though it is the most expensive. All of the Steve's locations are great and I have been frequenting Rileys quiet a bit more recently.

If you can get a tour of the Capital I love it. If you have any kids the Childrens Museum is fantastic also. I will be frank, I am not a big museum guy. If you have any other questions or need recs you can always DM me.

 

Stop in the University of Wisconsin Madison Memorial Union and have a beer in the German beerhall-like Rathskeller. Then eat some delicious school made ice cream at the stand outside of the Rathskeller.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you should go to the observation deck of the state capital for a nice view of the city.

 

First of all, WELCOME to Madison! It's quite a bit like Austin (but colder) if you've been there. A question is whether you would be living on the east or west side. I live on the west side and IMO its got more of a suburban, hipster feel (the only Whole Foods in town) whereas the east side seems to be more student-ish, more hippy and more urban. I'm going to bold my favorite places for you in case you're lazy.

Restaurants/pubs to consider:
Old Fashioned, Weary Traveler, Dotty Dumpling's Dowry for excellent burgers. And make sure you get cheese curds.
Brasserie V for a taste of Belgium.. and Belgian beer.
Vintage- both locations are great, plus they are a brewpub and I always enjoy trying a new beer from their selection each time.
Great Dane- same as vintage, the food is very good as is the cheese curds. I frequent the Hilldale one and I like their microbrews also.
La Brioche is a nice (albeit expensive) brunch place to visit as well if you're near the UW Hospital on the west side.
Hubbard Avenue Diner, Bluephies, Monty's Blue Plate are all great food options part of the same restaurant network if you're near one of these- Middleton, Monroe Street and East side, respectively.
Saigon Noodle on the west side for Vietnamese pho if you enjoy it (I certainly do)
Sushi Muramoto or Takara for Japanese food if you enjoy that also.
-I have not found a satisfactory Chinese restaurant with some semblance of authenticity here, however. And there are only two decent Korean restaurants but they are pretty mediocre as well.
Essen Haus if you like drinking your beer from a giant glass boot.
Memorial Union Terrace for beer and Babcock Hall ice cream (SO GOOD!)

Breweries:
One Barrel- you never know what they'll have there, but its excellent
Karben4- haven't been yet, but hear good things about it
Ale Asylum- worth visiting if you visit just one for the beer. Don't forget that their food is kind of iffy.
Capital- if you especially like the German-inspired beers, this is the place for you. Summer is the best time to go since they have an outdoor beer garden.
Great Dane- see above
Vintage- see above
New Glarus- If you have a significant chunk of time in between, you could make the 30 minute drive to New Glarus. They're open between 10am and 4pm. I wouldn't rush it though, you can buy tons of their stuff at any grocery store.

Bottle shops:
Woodman's grocery+liquor stores (East, West and Sun Prarie locations are all great, massive coolers full of great beers and they have the cheapest prices you'll ever find in Madison, a solid $1-$1.50 less per sixer) and you might as well scope out the local grocery options anyway.
Steve's University (the others are nice but University has the better beer selection)
Riley's Wines of the World (they're OK, somewhat bigger selection than Steve's but the prices kind of suck)
Jenifer Street Market (very good selection, not as good as Woodman's and the prices are so-so)

Cheese:
Fromagination on the Capitol square is expensive but AWESOME selection of cheeses
Any grocery store- I like Sentry Metcalfe's on Midvale Rd and University Ave a lot as well as Whole Foods for the cheese.
Brennan's- I've heard good things about it but never been. Might be worth looking up.

Parks:
If it weren't winter and if you're looking to spend a day at a nice park, I'd make the 35 minute drive up to Devil's Lake State Park. Generally its not the time of the year for parks unless you like cross country skiing, in which case Elver Park in Southwest Madison is pretty good for it- they rent crosscountry ski equipment there.

Museums:
I'll have to let other people speak for museums. I think there is a Wisconsin historical museum of some sort on the Capitol square but I've not been. There is a National Mustard Museum or something out in Middleton as well. But generally it's not like Chicago where there are huge, awesome museums like the Field Museum or even Shedd Aquarium.

 

Forgot to answer this- there are still lots of Peruvian Morning here. I could trip in most of the bottle shops here and fall into some Peruvian Morning. There should still be a decent amount of the BB Barleywine though not as much as Peruvian Morning. I can't remember the last time I saw BB Stout on sale though. And there is definitely zero Cherry Stout left.

You should bet on being able to get Peruvian Morning and BB Barleywine if you go to Woodman's.

 

Beer - Vintage Brewing Co, Karben4, Ale Asylum, One Barrel, Great Dane, Capital, House of Brews

Stores - Riley's Wines of the World, Star Liquor, Jennifer St. Market, Steve's, Woodman's

Eat - Nostrano, forequarter, Merchant, Graze, Pig in a Fur Coat, Marigold Kitchen, Sardine, Osteria Papavero

Drink - Dexter's, Alchemy, Malt House, Tipsy Cow, Brickhouse BBQ, Old Fashioned, Coopers Tavern, Free House

 

If you like BBQ with the best homemade sides hit up Brickstone and then go next door to Rileys for some beer purchasing.

Best draft beers in town go to Dexters.

If you want a good selelction of wild ales go to the Malthouse.

Great Dane has amazing food and dont stop there without drinking a pint of Black Earth Porter its the best porter brewed in Wisconsin.

 

I think stevedore pretty much got it all right, except I'd bold the Vintage

And why the hell don't we have any decent Chinese in town? We have 4 Himalayan restaurants and no good Chinese; how is that possible?

 

damn i havent seen BBS in milwaukee for over a month at least maybe longer

 

Woodmans West in Madison still has PM & BBBW as of yesterday.

 

Just as a side note, Jenifer Street still had about 4 cases of hopslam as of 4 days ago.

Karben4 has some pretty tasty stuff with a small but delicious food menu (sponsored by Underground Kitchen). Vintage is also pretty great, but I really only care for the west location--that's where they do all their brewing. I love One Barrel for the atmosphere and #2 Strong.

As for bottle shops, Steve's on University is still the best I've found. You might find some rare stuff if you're there on the right day. If you go to Star Liquors on Willy they have The Bruery bombers for $20 a pop. Jenifer is also pretty awesome depending on their stock.

 

The Place I Put In Red Are Good. I have Family Up there