Madison/Milwaukee recommendations

Erv's mug always has good food and a good selection of craft beer. Tornado brewing is a place I've been wanting to check out. They're both on the far southeast side of Milwaukee, just south of the airport.

 

Madison- http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/search/30871208/?q=madison&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=9

Milwaukee- http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/search/30871211/?q=milwaukee&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=9

 

As said by atone315 but I'll put my personal vote for Lakefront Brewery.

 

If I could only recommend one area in Milwaukee, it would be Bayview. Hit Burnheart's, Sugar Maple, The Palm, HoneyPie for dinner, then a night cap or 4 at Roman's.

 

And Madison I would do Dexter's, Malt House, One Barrel Brewing, Next Door Brewing, and Alchemy for dinner.

 

While in Madison you should hit Brasserie V for lunch. Nothing beats a nice smoked salmon BLT and a couple great beers! Pretty heavily focused on cool import stuff, especially Belgians.

Karben4 also has a nice taproom in the old Ale Asylum facility. Pretty close to the airport.

 

If you plan on hitting up burnhearts in milwaukee, which you should, there's a place called Vanguard a couple blocks away that has some pretty great food. They pretty much only do sausage. They don't have a huge number of taps, but they're quality. First time I walked in they happened to have zombie dust on tap. They also do a bourbon of the day with special pricing on shot/pours/drinks. Kind of a cool place that I recently found out about and want to spread the word about 'em. Great spot for lunch.

 

I'll second this recommendation. Very impressed with the place. Not quite Hot Doug's good, but a very nice addition to MKE. Plus the beer and bourbon! A perfect combo. Oh, and they have fantastic appetizers too

 

loaded Baked Potato balls ftw!

 

I'm driving with some friends from the Twin Cities to Milwaukee for a Saturday-Monday weekend next month, so I'll piggyback on this thread. We'll be staying near the airport. The only givens on the agenda are the Brewers day game on a Sunday (because, as Twins fans, we can't get enough bad baseball) and a return trip to the world-class cocktail bar Bryant's on Saturday or Sunday night. I've read through a bunch of other "where to go in Milwaukee" threads already, so I know the common recommendations, but I still have a few questions:

1. We're looking to stop at a brewery on the way down before we get to Milwaukee. We'll probably be passing through the Dells around 11 a.m. and Madison around noon on a Saturday. The contenders I've found are Moosejaw Pizza / Wisconsin Dells Brewing, Next Door, One Barrel, Ale Asylum, Tyranena, Sweet Mullets, Delafield Brewhaus, and Biloba. Any favorites among those? Any others we should be considering? I would prefer to skip Ale Asylum and Tyranena simply because I've tried many of their beers but haven't tried any beers from the others I mentioned. Also, we've all been to Karben4 and are looking to keep things close to I-94 on the east side of Madison if we stop in Madison.
2. Among the more obscure Milwaukee-area breweries, which is the best (considering both beer and atmosphere)? We probably will go to only one. The contenders I've found are St. Francis, District 14, Brenner, Stonefly, and Tornado, with Tornado seeming to have the best buzz here on BA. Any others?
3. Do any beer-oriented bars in the Milwaukee area do flights?
4. Among the beer-oriented bars, which are the best for food and atmosphere (not necessarily beer selection)?
5. Do you have any other restaurant or bar recommendations not related to beer?

 

I'll chime in on the Madison & Dell's part:

Moosejaw, Sweet Mullets, and Delafield Brewhaus aren't worth a stop in my opinion. One Barrel usually has a couple interesting things available. I haven't been to Next Door but haven't thought much of the beers I've tried. Never heard of Biloba. Ale Asylum and Tyranena both tend to have some things on tap that they don't bottle so that might be worth checking into closer to your trip.

The Dell's also has Showboat Saloon. It's not a brewery but has good, cheap food and usually a great tap list; it's a nice pit stop.

 

1. For breweries, I'd skip the Dells ones. One Barrel has had some decent things beers. I've liked what I've had from them, plus that area is really cool. Delafield brewhaus is standard, nothing too crazy/impressive. I've gone more for food than the beer. Ale Asylum and Tyranena as mentioned above, are solid and have some limited/non-release beers on tap that are good (hearing impressive things about the Tyranena/Lakefront collab Grapefruit TIPA). People say good things about Biloba but I haven't been myself.
Personally, I'd probably hit One Barrel or Tyranena
2. For the obscure ones, I'll admit I haven't been to most of them, but based on the beer I've had, I would recommend Brenner or Tornado. Brenner beers are around town at restaurants so they're out there and his bacon bomb is solid. Tornado is more or less a one-man operation and is located in what looks like an old house converted into a bar. The beers are... unique. We had a tiger shrimp saison (tasted briny and salty but was much better than I expected), a eggnog or white russian stout (can't remember it was around x-mas) and a new zealand hopped pale ale which were all very good. My friends have gone back another time and really enjoyed it again. The names of his beers are definitely what they taste like. Definitely the most unique and different brewery out there in my opinion. My friends went to District 14 and were impressed with the building, much less with the beer.
3. I haven't run into it but doesn't mean they don't do them. I typically just order a single beer so really haven't been on the lookout for them. Sorry can't give better info here.
4. Beer oriented bars for food, I'd say Stubby's or Champps will be the best for food and wide selection of craft beers. The Lowlands group (Cafe Hollander, Centraal, Benelux, Bavaria) all have really good food but their beers tend to be more Belgian (or German for Bavaria) but do have huge variety of bottles and a solid selection of other local/craft beers.
5. There's a ton of really good restaurants in MKE. Depends on what you're looking for and how much you want to spend, but I'll try to list a few options

Restaurants
Pizzeria Piccoloa
Transfer Pizza
Story Hill BKC (upscale american/shared plates)
Maxies (southern)
Vanguard (sausages)
Honey Pie Cafe (american)
Cafe Lulu (good sandwiches)
Bel Air (tacos)
Rumpus Room

Bars
Safe House (super unique spy themed)
Bryant's
Rumpus Room
most bars I go to are beer bars, so don't know the others as well.

Hopefully that gives a little more insight and some options for you. Enjoy the trip!

 

To this note: Goodkind is a great restaurant owned by the same people that run Burnhearts. Food is fantastic and in the same vicinity. Beer is great for a restaurant.
Bayview is the place to be for beer, for sure.

 

Agreed. The Vanguard could be added as a potential food spot also....great food, great beer.

 

The Vintage on the West Side has unique bar food and some great beers they brew. This may sound blasphemous but its my favorite brewery from Madison (not counting NG).

 

Regarding Biloba Brewing in Brookfield, I was impressed with their beer when I stopped in recently. They do flights and had around 12 beers on tap. The taproom is small but a cool atmosphere. The Saison On Oak was fantastic, it's a saison aged for one year in wine barrels.

I'll play the devil's advocate when it comes to Tornado Brewing, I tried a few of their beers and really didn't care for any of them. YMMV.

 

Stonefly in Milwaukee is closed, but will open eventually as Company Brewing.

I like the Milwaukee Brewing Company (MKE) tours. Pretty fun and pretty much beer.