Great prewpubs in Wisconsin. In my experience, it is harder to find a bad one than listing all the good ones. They rarely have incredible beer, but it is always good and a fun atmosphere.
Yeah, they're hit and miss. The only one within reasonable driving distance for me is DFH. The food's pretty good and the beer's good, if you like hops.
I love the concept of a BrewPub. As the_bird mentioned it brings the beer closer to the consumers. And many of the Pubs have much better beer than is commonly available in restaurants around here. However it is definitely no guarantee of quality. One of the worst beers I have been served was at the Put-in-Bay Brewery on South Bass Island (Lake Erie). The local RockBottom Brewery has only OK beers and the beer at the local Chophouse is decent. However the Great Lakes Brewery Pub is excellent as is the Willoughby Brewing Company in an east side suburb.