I'll be spending less than 24 hours in Madison in a couple weeks, so I have 2 questions: 1) best bottle shop for building a couple mix-a-six packs 2) Best brewery to hit **I've been to Madison a couple times. Have been to Great Dane, Vintage, Karben4 and Ale Asylum.
Not sure about bottle shops, but I’d say funk factory would be a must stop if you’ve only got 24 hours
For mix a six pack, I love going to Steve's on McKee or Junction. The price is marked up but if you fill up a six pack, it's 10% off. I second visiting Funk Factory as others have stated.
I've been to a Steve's before on previous visits. I've also hit up a Woodman's on the southwest side of town before. Thanks for the advice!
Thanks for all the advice. I just hope 2 weeks from now we don't get another major storm like this weekend in Missouri.
Working Draft, One Barrel and Next Door brewing are all within a 1/2 mile of each other, if it is a nice day it is an easy walk. Barley pop is a really nice tasting room and they have off sale as well, you can build 6 packs there too. All on the near east side.
Steve's does a solid job at posting their new stuff over on facebook if you want to check a day or two before getting in town. There's also a 3rd Steve's over on University. Mix a 6 might be the smallest of the 3 locations if I'm recalling correctly. Junction https://www.facebook.com/StevesJunction/ University https://www.facebook.com/stevesknows/ McKee https://www.facebook.com/StevesMcKeeRd/
Funk Factory is really the only must-hit (and it is a must-hit). Everything else is gravy. I always enjoyed Riley's Wines of the World for mix-a-six, but Steve's is good, too. Woodmans is average on mix-a-six but excellent otherwise.
A bit off-topic, but if you are a wine person, Riley’s has some potentially overlooked gems. Last time I was in town, I stopped there looking for some beers, and ended up getting a case of wine of something that was an instant sell-out here. I don’t think there’s as high of a demand for critical darling wines in Madison as there is in Chicago. [shrug]
Same with Whisk(e)y, and that goes for basically anywhere in Wisconsin that isn't Milwaukee. There are a lot of decent to good liquor stores that aren't in areas with a large population that cares, so good stuff sticks around.
Update: I was able to hit Steve's on McKee Rd, Funk Factory and Working Draft. All were good stops. Thanks for the advice! Cheers!
