Western Wisconsin Breweries

The breweries of western Wisconsin seem to get lost in the shuffle at BA because they're far from Wisconsin's population centers, but some of them are doing impressive and interesting work. So this is a thread to discuss those breweries: What you think of them, which are best, new or particularly good beers, brewery news and events, breweries-in-planning (BIPs), etc.

I've compiled a list of the breweries of western Wisconsin (say, west of the Dells area). It may be incomplete, so please add to it if you know of any others (or correct for any closed or not-yet-open breweries I've included):

1. Angry Minnow, Hayward
2. Barley John’s, New Richmond
3. Bloomer, Bloomer
4. Bobtown, Roberts
5. Brewery Creek Inn, Mineral Point
6. Brewster Bros. (Chippewa River Distillery), Chippewa Falls
7. City, La Crosse
8. Dave’s BrewFarm, Wilson
9. Driftless, Soldiers Grove
10. Earth Rider, Superior
11. Ffats, Whitehall
12. Fountain City (The Monarch Public House), Fountain City
13. Hillsboro, Hillsboro
14. Hop & Barrel, Hudson
15. K Point (The Coffee Grounds), Eau Claire
16. Lazy Monk, Eau Claire
17. Leinenkugel, Chippewa Falls
18. Lucette, Menomonie
19. Mel’s Micro, Richland Center
20. Mines Creek (Spring Valley Golf Course), Spring Valley
21. Modicum, Altoona
22. Moonridge, Cornell
23. Northwoods, Osseo
24. Oliphant, Somerset
25. Pearl Street, La Crosse
26. Pitchfork, Hudson
27. Potosi, Potosi
28. Real Deal (Raw Deal restaurant), Menomonie
29. Rush River, River Falls
30. Sand Creek, Black River Falls
31. Sawmill Pizza & Brew Shed, Clear Lake
32. South Shore, Ashland
33. Swinging Bridge, River Falls
34. The Brewing Projekt, Eau Claire
35. Thirsty Pagan, Superior
36. Turtle Stack, La Crosse
37. Two Beagles, Onalaska
38. Valkyrie, Dallas

And this is a list of known BIPs:

1. Aberforth, Hudson
2. Agonic, Rice Lake
3. Amery Ale Works, Amery
4. Common Man, Ellsworth
5. Durand, Durand
6. Trap Rock, St. Croix Falls
7. Zymurgy, Menomonie

 

Some notes:

• Barley John's Brewing Company in New Richmond is affiliated with Barley John's Brew Pub in New Brighton, Minnesota, albeit with technically separate ownership. Any distributed product is produced by the New Richmond, Wisconsin brewery.
• Dave's BrewFarm in Wilson is perpetually for sale. Sam Harriman of the excellent Sisyphus Brewing in Minneapolis nearly bought it a while back, but the deal fell through. It's usually open two weekends per month for several hours in the afternoons of Saturday and Sunday only. It also happens to be, in my opinion, the second best brewery in Wisconsin behind only New Glarus (although I haven't been to any of the many Madison or Milwaukee breweries that opened in the last couple of years).
• Mines Creek in Spring Valley is a tiny operation based out of the Spring Valley Golf Course. The Mines Creek brewer is the son of the owner of the course.
• Real Deal Brewing in Menomonie is the brewery component of the vegan/raw Raw Deal restaurant.
• Common Man Brewing in Ellsworth is open now as a bar and claims to be a BIP, but I'm skeptical that it ever will brew.

 

I agree. The Brewing Projekt been doing strong work for almost three years now (long before it released Dare Mighty Things, its zeitgeist-capturing IPA), but its recently increased distribution network has allowed more people to catch on. Potential visitors to Eau Claire should note that The Brewing Projekt, which specializes in modern, style-busting beers, is just a couple of blocks from Lazy Monk, which tends to focus on more traditional Czech and German styles. K Point and Modicum are within a few miles.

 

Minneapolis' City Pages has an article about the newly opened Hop & Barrel Brewing in Hudson.

 

I think Swinging Bridge in River Falls is above average for a newer brewery (opened in the first half of 2017), with solid efforts in a wide variety of styles. I'd say it got off to a better start than did Hop & Barrel (not that the latter got off to a bad start). It's worth a stop if you're in the vicinity. Note that Rush River and the impressive DeVine Liquors also are in River Falls.