Midwest Brew Tour

Hey All!

So, I'm in the midst of trying to plan a tour of the breweries of the Midwest. I have a group of friends interested in going, and we'll make it a nice road trip. I was hoping to get your input, because, to be frank, I'm not that familiar with the good breweries/brewpubs (thus the reasoning for the trip in the first place!)

Below is my proposed "route". This trip is AT LEAST 6 months out, and I'm more than flexible. If you know of any breweries or brewpubs in the area that you like, I'm open for suggestion. I'd like to try and hit the whole gambit, from tiny little hole-in-the-wall brewpubs to large scale brew and bottling plant tours. I'd also like to try and hit every state at least once.

Your new best friend http://beermapping.com/ ( http://beermapping.com/brewery-maps/us-brewery-map/)

Also might as well go to Boulevard in KC much better than 75th.

75th is good and has good food but not worth driving to KC for IMO.

Also hit Dark Horse, Founders and New Holland in MI.

also Schlafly in StL

The best tour I've been on by far has been at Lakefront Brewery in downtown Milwaukee. You can go on the way to New Glarus. It's considered the "Animal House" of tours, make other tours seem a bit weak.

By the way, I'm very jealous of your trip, have fun.

definitely hit boulevard, if you're in KC you can't miss this one.

and lakefront in WI is possibly the best tour i've ever been on, the tour guides are great.

There are actually 4 breweries in the Quad Cities: In addition to the Front Street Brewery in Davenport one has just recently opened (don't recall its name, haven't been there yet) and across the River in Moline, IL there's the Bent River Brewery and in Rock Island, IL is the Blue Cat Pub & Brewery.

RC0032 said:

Your new best friend http://beermapping.com/ ( http://beermapping.com/brewery-maps/us-brewery-map/)

Also might as well go to Boulevard in KC much better than 75th.

75th is good and has good food but not worth driving to KC for IMO.

Also hit Dark Horse, Founders and New Holland in MI.

also Schlafly in StL

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Wow, that BeerMapping thing WILL be my new best friend. I think I might just go hit up a bar I found on there tonight.

I can't believe I forgot about Founders... I considered New Holland, and it's still on the short list. I'll consider Dark Horse as well.

According to you guys I need to check out Boulevard, so I'll put that on the list.

Sagan said:

The best tour I've been on by far has been at Lakefront Brewery in downtown Milwaukee. You can go on the way to New Glarus. It's considered the "Animal House" of tours, make other tours seem a bit weak.

By the way, I'm very jealous of your trip, have fun.

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Good thinking. Lakefront and New Glarus def need to be on the list. I need to revamp my trip through Wiscansin...

Capital Brewing in Madison is on the way to New Glarus.

The Hideout in Grand Rapids MI has great beer.

Omaha, Nebraska has 3 good brew pubs. Not on the scale of what you are looking for probably, but each brews their own great beers.

- Nebraska Brewing Company just obtained permission from the bureaucrats for the label for their fathead, an oak aged scottish ale. This is a great beer.

- Upstream Brewing Company makes some good beer.

- Lazlos makes some good beer.

- A new brewery, Lucky Bucket is a new brewery in Omaha. Their first pre-prohib lager is average (in my opinion), but the guy who owns it has some great stuff going on and would probably be extremely happy to take you on a tour.

As far as personal experience goes hanging out with the folks at each place, Nebraska Brewing Company's owner and brewer are great guys and will have some drinks with ya, show you their operation, and talk about pretty much whatever you want to talk about.

Upstream and Lazlo's (Empyrean) are great places but I've never chatted with their brewers or the owners.

It's a bit off your route though, looks like by 2 hours to the west (if you are going through Des Moines).


T

1) skip olde main and hit up court ave or raccoon river (both in des moines). no offense to olde main, but their beer isn't good IMHO. diacetyl up the yin yang.

2) summit brewery in st. paul might be a good one check out. very popular in the midwest.

I suggest Great Lakes Brewing Co in Cleveland.

If you want to make a stop in La Crosse, WI, you can tour City Brewery. It's an OK tour, BUT it's the old Heileman brewery. A place of beer history for sure. You'll also see the world's largest six pack there.

Is it just me but that doesn't seem like the Mid West. Too far East for my liking BTW I'm a New Orleans transplant pre Katrina and believe anything North of Baton Rouge are Yankees

Midwest is just a vernacular term.... very subjective.

Two of my favorites will be on your route:

Tyranena in Lake Mills, WI/
and
The Ale Asylum in Madison/

I've been meaning to take a tour like that for a while! The SWMBO and I are going to do a mini-tour of the breweries/brewpubs in Michigan's U.P. sometime this fall or winter.

Crown Brewing in Crown Point Indiana. You can hit this one when you hit Three Floyd's. Also Shoreline Brewery in Michigan City Indiana, Back Roads Brewery in LaPorte Indiana, and Brickworks Brewery in Hobart Indiana.

Grimtas said:

Is it just me but that doesn't seem like the Mid West. Too far East for my liking BTW I'm a New Orleans transplant pre Katrina and believe anything North of Baton Rouge are Yankees

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwest
I was a little surprised to find out that North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Missouri were considered part of the Midwest, and I grew up here.

android said:

2) summit brewery in st. paul might be a good one check out. very popular in the midwest.

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Definitely a good idea...

dfohio said:

I suggest Great Lakes Brewing Co in Cleveland.

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I'm considering this. I'm not a HUGE fan of their beer (only ok IMO), but I wouldn't be opposed to this. A lot of my decision will depend on who goes with me and what they want to see and taste.

Skip Minhaus. Look for the threads on Lazy Mutt.

FYI, there's also a Rock Bottom in Milwaukee. In fact, there's a boat tour that takes you from Lakefront Brewery, to Rock Bottom and then to Milwaukee Ale House (all on the river).

The other WI suggestions are great. The only other I would add is Great Dane brew pub. I don't know if they have tours, but if you're staying in Madison after Capital, itd be a great place to eat, drink, and shoot pool.

If you happen to be close to Indianapolis for some reason, just south in Greenwood is The Oaken Barrel brew pub. Always a favorite of mine when I'm in town.

~r~

Lakefront is always a blast - 5.00 tour gets you close to 3 pints of beer! The Milwaukee Ale House is another fine Milwaukee brew pub - Flying Damsel is one of my favorites.

If you are traveling from Milwaukee west to Madison stop off in Lake Mills and visit Tyranena - http://www.tyranena.com - nice tour and a nice tasting room to boot.

Also - Ale Asylum right off the http://www.aleasylum.com the 151 exit in Madison. Good food and good beer.

Later

Well, it's not great beer, but the tour is very impressive...AB in St. Louis! I grew up in St. L and have gone through the tour a few times. If you would rather keep the smaller scale in mind, Schafly's (sp?) has a newer brewery in the 'burbs of St. Louis as well.

Since it's right on your route, I think you'd make a mistake if you didn't include Two Brothers in Warrenville, IL. West of Chicago, a good way to think of it is that Warrenville and Batavia make good bookends for the Fermilab accelerator.....

Also, the same idea would apply to Founders in Grand Rapids. These breweries are every bit as much up to the standard you are setting.

Let me know when you'll be in Rock Island, IL and I'll try to show up.

I'll be retired then and on a fixed income so I'll let you buy...
(that's such a lame joke...everyone's on a fixed income...)

I see you have New Albanian in Indiana on your list. It's kind of my weekend hangout. Excellent choice.

Be sure to visit the Grant Line Road location.

The building is divided into two areas -- to the left is the pizza bar side, and to the right is the pub side. Go to the pub side. (The entire food and beer menu is served on both sides, but the atmosphere is infinitely better in the pub.) When you walk in, immediately to the right is a sort of nondescript room ("Prost")...walk over to your left instead when you first walk in, take a look at the blackboard listing what's on tap, then walk back through the doorway immediately to the left of the blackboard and find a seat at the bar or one of the two comfy old leather couches.

They've been keeping a dozen or so of their own brews on tap lately, as well as a couple dozen more guest taps. Of their brews, I recommend NABC Hoptimus (imperial IPA), NABC Elector ("imperial red"), and NABC Bob's Old 15-B Porter. Or if you're really lucky, NABC Thunderfoot (brewed rarely and gone quickly). There's also an NABC sampler...I don't think it's on the menu but they'll do it.

If you make a 15-20 minute side trip over the river into Louisville, you should also visit Browning's (at Slugger Field), and BBC (a.ka. Bluegrass Brewing Co.)...660 S. 4th St.

There's also Cumberland Brews, 1576 Bardstown Rd. Their nitro porter is excellent...honestly, I don't care for their others that I've tried. The food is really good though.

If you're coming up through Akron into Michigan, allow me to suggest..
The award winning Dragonmead in Warren, the Detroit Beer Co, Atwater Brewing and Motor City Brewing (the last 3 all close to each other in downtown Detroit)...

Let us know when you come out this way, ill meet up and buy you a beer!

I may suggest Sprecher Brewery 5 minutes north of downtown milwaukee, they have some interesting beer. Also yes on Lakefront! make sure you hit it .....Point Brewery in Steven's Point, WI. and if ur doing a brewery tour...hit up the big brewery that helped overcome Prohibition and allow our great microbrews to grow....Miller Brewing Company, downtown Milwaukee, if ur hesitant because their beer is sub par...they do offer Leinenkugel's at the end of the tour....and its all free

Seems that you will be going near a new/small place in SW Wisconsin called Petosi. Didnt love the beer I had, and the service was disappointing, but its a really neat little town and a cool facility in itself.

I agree that you should go to Two Brothers in Warrenville, IL. They are making much better beer than Goose Island and Rock Bottom. Actually you could hit Two Brothers and one of the suburban Rock Bottoms in the same afternoon, they are a few miles apart.

Walter Paytons Roundhouse is a great destination. The facility includes a small Walter Payton museum and the whole place is just very cool.

rico567 said:

Since it's right on your route, I think you'd make a mistake if you didn't include Two Brothers in Warrenville, IL. West of Chicago, a good way to think of it is that Warrenville and Batavia make good bookends for the Fermilab accelerator.....

Also, the same idea would apply to Founders in Grand Rapids. These breweries are every bit as much up to the standard you are setting.

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I'm a little embarrassed that I forgot to include Two Brothers, I love their beer. I'll definitely have to hit that up, especially considering I frequent Rock Bottom and Goose Island, I can definitely drop one or both of those.

kevin9167 said:

FYI, there's also a Rock Bottom in Milwaukee. In fact, there's a boat tour that takes you from Lakefront Brewery, to Rock Bottom and then to Milwaukee Ale House (all on the river).

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This is a great idea, I think I'll skip the one in Chicago and try and do this one. Good thinking. Especially if Lake front will give me 3 pints on a $5 tour!

mosyslack said:

Well, it's not great beer, but the tour is very impressive...AB in St. Louis! I grew up in St. L and have gone through the tour a few times. If you would rather keep the smaller scale in mind, Schafly's (sp?) has a newer brewery in the 'burbs of St. Louis as well.

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I agree with you. The only reason this ISN'T on my list is because I've already done the tour, and one of the guys coming with me lives in StL and has done the tour many times. I have heard great things about Schafly's (I think, it's at the Landing, right?) and I'll definitely consider that.

homebrewer_99 said:

Let me know when you'll be in Rock Island, IL and I'll try to show up.

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Absolutely! I'll post my finalized itinerary as soon as it's done, and I'll let you all know when I plan to be where. If you want to come out and meet me, my friend, and some other HBTers, just let me know! I'm pumped for this guys, and I might have to move it up from next spring to sometime this winter (except this much driving during the winter is just begging for problems).

Definitely Great Lakes Brewing Co. in Cleveland, Ohio.

If you are lucky, they always have different brewpub specials on tap, that you can only get there. One of the best beers I have had was a rye of the tiger ipa. Also, of you time it right, I think fridays, and saturdays after 5, they will give tours of the brewery.

Definitely second Summit, free tour and a 2 free on the smaller size beers at the end of the tour. If you stop off in Madison hit up Capitol Brewery, and The Great Dane Brewpub has a great stout.

If you go as far north as Greenbay Titletown Brewing Co, basically another brewpub in an old train station is pretty cool to stop at. There is also Leinenkugels in Chippewa Falls, WI.

75th brewery in Kansas City is more of a BrewPub. You would be much better off visiting Boulevard Brewery. They put on a great tour and have free samples at the end.

As someone who has lived in Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago (burbs), and now Cleveland...

Skip Rock Bottom altogether. It's a chain (they even own the Cleveland Chop House, which is really a rock bottom)... and the beer is terrible.

But, Great Lakes is quite good, and they brew alot more beer types than many realize. So I would def. put that on the list. Go for a blackout stout...

Lakefront is great, you've had plenty of people tell you that (though it actually used to be even better). I've not been to New Glarus, Capital, or Goose Island but would be pretty interested in those as well.

This looks like a really fun trip.

Great Lakes in Cleveland is a must. I also recommend Fat Head's in North Olmsted, which is just outside of Cleveland.

LakeErieBrew said:

This looks like a really fun trip.

Great Lakes in Cleveland is a must. I also recommend Fat Head's in North Olmsted, which is just outside of Cleveland.

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Maybe I need to give Great Lakes another chance. It's been awhile since I've had any of their beers, and it seems like you guys are pushing pretty hard for it, I'll put it on the list.

Rock Bottom Brewery in Cincinnati is good, and you can get some good food to boot.

I like Rock Bottom's Itasca pale ale.

Their fish & chips made with salmon is really, really good.

While you are in the Twin Cities I recommend you make your way to Surly. I have not taken the tour, but the beer has sort of a cult following here. Definatly worth picking some up while you are up this way.
One more to look into is the Shells brewery in New Ulm. Lots of history there.
Good luck and have a great time.

As for the two other breweries listed in Minnesota, skip Granite City, nothing special there, but Great Waters is a great little brewery (if you feel brave order the Rasta wings), besides,I have to plug it because one of my best friends Aunt and Uncle own it.

Go up thru Milwaukee and over to Madison. Lakefront (Milw.) and Capital (Mad) are musts. Oh, and definitely skip Minhaus.

Two new breweries that opened in Chicago in the last year - Metropolitan (who specialize in lagers) and Half Acre. I've had beer from both and they are excellent. Metropolitan is a husband/wife operation and Half Acre is run by a bunch of young guys - would be interesting additions to your tour!