Madison, WI breweries??

Hello all-
I have a fellow homebrewer friend that will be in the Madison area Monday night. Any recommendations on breweries or good beer bars (with local craft beers) to hit?
Thanks in advance!

breweries

1. Capitol Brewery - Middleton on the west side of town

2. Ale Asylum - Brew pub on east side. I really love their stuff

If you are willing to drive

3. New Glarus - well known for their fruit beer and the "spotted cow".

Bars

1. malt house

2. old fashioned - downtown

3. Great Dane

1) New Glarus has a cool new brewery, but it closes at 4pm.
2) Capital - They only do tours on Fridys and Saturdays (I think), but check out the Bier Garten. It's open at 3pm everyday.

3) Great Dane is a good brew pub.
4) Ale Asylum is ok - I'm not personally a huge fan
5) The Grumpy Troll in Mt. Horeb is really good.

If he's staying in Madison, The Great Dane and Capital are the places to go for sure. New Glarus and Mt. Horeb are each about a 30 minute drive in different directions, but worth trip if he has the time.

Yeah, Capitol and Ale Asylum are the big breweries here in town. Capitol is a little larger and makes some tasty standard brews, the amber is their classic and they've got a decent pale ale. Ale Asylum goes for a little more in the way of extremes with a couple of damn good I/IIPAs, a dubbel, a tripel, etc. and I've never had a bad beer from them.
For bars I'd definitely suggest the Malt House, huge selection of beers both bottled and a rotating tap selection. They've got everything from local craft brews to imported Belgians. If he wants to eat as well, the Great Dane is a pretty good brewpub both food and beer-wise, and Brasserie V is a little Belgian place with another huge selection of Belgian beers on tap and in bottles (I think Mondays are $2-off bottle night at Brasserie V and its right next to one of our LHBS's, so its always a good night to stop for me!).

I'd recommend the Essen Haus since it is a blast, but it doesn't serve locals. Think old german beer hall.

There are also the fairly new Sprecher's pub on the west side and the Vintage Brewing Company in the old J.T. Whitney's building.

I drank so much beer the time I was in Madison I didn't bother to get names. But I can say that I ate dinner at The Great Dane a few times and I really enjoyed there beers especially the pepper one. I drank quite a few sampler platters there because I had money to burn. I was on TDY in the Army. Thanks Uncle Sam!

I even went to a bar near the university that featured $1 PBRs and all you can eat free bacon! Then I had a minor heart attack and went back to the good beer.

danweasel said:

I even went to a bar near the university that featured $1 PBRs and all you can eat free bacon! Then I had a minor heart attack and went back to the good beer.

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I'm betting that was State Street Brats. It's a good bar to pass while you're walking to better bars.

If you wanna drink on State St., I'd recommend Nick's Restaurant. Otherwise I'd recommend Mickey's Tavern. Neither are brewpubs, but Mickeys had a decent selection last time I was there.

Most madison area bars carry local labels (capitol, new glarus, sprecher, etc..) I like the atmosphere at Mickeys. I haven't seen another bar like it.

danweasel said:

I even went to a bar near the university that featured $1 PBRs and all you can eat free bacon! Then I had a minor heart attack and went back to the good beer.

Click to expand...

That was definitely Wando's.

Maduro is a cigar bar near Great Dane downtown, but they have delicious beer. When I was there 2 years ago, they had Red Rocket and Samiclaus on tap, among other beers of that caliber. Their website doesn't list beers. Worth a stop if already going to Great Dane.