I will be in Milwaukee tomorrow and would like to hit a few solid stores and bars. Any advice? I will be staying close to the airport.
Discount Liquor, absolutely. As for bars: Palm Tavern, Burnhearts, and Sugar Maple are on the south side. Landmark 1850 Inn has good pizza and a wide selection of midwestern beers very close to the airport. Check beermenus.com.
This is a quick, pack light flight... will only be in town for 24 hours. I may pack up a box and send it home dependent on what I find.
You'll have the best selection at Discount. If rare beers are your thing, Coffee Abraxas @ Sugar Maple might be worth getting to. Otherwise, Romans' is closer to the airport. Just don't ask for a Spotted Cow.
Or, if you're like me, you could purposely ask for one just to spite the cranky a-hole. Either way, you are better off here than Sugar Maple.
after meeting the owner of Romans I can pretty much guarantee I'll go there anytime I hit up Milwaukee bars.
Has anyone been to The Malt Shop, it's just north of 94 on hwy 100. I plan on checking it out this weekend for the first time. Its a beer only store and they claim to have (or had) everything that's available in Wisconsin. Something like 900-1000 different beers on the shelves at all times, growler fills and I believe you can even have a pint while shopping.
I have not been there. A fellow I know on another forum replied to my inquiry about it after I saw an article on it in Sundays Journal Sentinel. He said that it was more expensive than the other places in the area. It might be worth a visit though. I would welcome another opinion.
I don't think you can drink in there...maybe that has changed since they opened when I asked. I wasn't impressed with the store, but don't let me ruin it for you. I just think with it being that close to Ray's, there isn't much to get people to go there unless there is a certain beer to get a growler of. Beers are organized by style and location which is odd to me. You can buy a single of everything, but it's a bit out of the way for me to drive to
Taken from their website, just so no one thinks I'm full of it... "We are southeastern Wisconsin’s premier destination for craft beer lovers. We aren’t a bar, although you may enjoy a glass of beer while you peruse the aisles. What we are is a beer store, kind of like a liquor store that sells nothing but beer. And because beer is all we do, our turn-over is high and our inventory is fresh."
It worries me when a place has 30 taps and almost 1,000 different bottles and talks about keeping inventory fresh.
I understand the concern about fresh inventory, but I do think it is cool to be able to buy singles of everything they have, and also the fact that they keep all of their hoppy beers in the cooler.
Just an FYI- http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/the-malt-shoppe-wauwatosa.218425/ I went on Saturday, the first weekend they opened. I wasn't extremely impressed by their selection, Ray's/Discount/Woodman's definitely had them beat there. Picking from over 30 taps for growler fills is kind of cool, but everything they have on tap I can get in bottle and generally cheaper $/oz. Judging on their location, they will probably do good business but I doubt I will visit very often. And yes, when they first opened you could not drink (other than small free samples) in the store but that has since changed.
Yeah, I will always be loyal to Rays but it seems like a cool idea and maybe a cool place to show new craft drinkers or out of towners. I've got a haul coming from Minnesota around christmas so I will be going mostly to check the place out, not planning on any major purchases.
Three Cellars if you're looking for a large selection of singles to build-your-own. They have a bar, as well. Romans and Landmark are definitely closest to the airport. Sugar Maple if you want to drink Coffee Abraxas and be ass to ankles with the lot of us beer geeks. Cheers!
