Midwest Brew Tour

[tcklord]

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.

 

[SevenFields]

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.

 

[rjvanden]

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.

 

[LakeErieBrew]

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.

 

[DRoyLenz]

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.

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.

 

[captianoats]

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

 

[Rick500]

I like Rock Bottom's Itasca pale ale.

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

 

[sparkyaber]

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.

 

[cactusgarrett]

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

 

[Pappers_]

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!

 

[Chumley]

I'll give another thumbs up for New Glarus (New Glarus, WI), Ale Asylum Ale Ayslum (Madison), Capital Brewery (Middleton WI), and the Great Dane (Madison). However, I don't believe Lake Louie (Arena, WI) has been mentioned, and they are definitely worth a stop.

 

[Glasfeena]

You should totally hit Milwaukee on your tour and check out (as mentioned many times above) the Lakefront Brewery. You should also hit Sprecher while you're up there. Sprecher has an awesome beer and cheese pairing thing that we did when we were there.

Also, again, Boulevard is a great tour. They finished a new state of the art brewing system a couple of years ago. At the time, it was supposedly the most advanced brewery in the world.

In Chicago, hit up Two Bros. Also, Half Acre is like 4 blocks from my apartment. I haven't been yet, but plan on checking it out in the next couple of weeks. I'll let you know.

 

[KUbrew]

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!

definitely hit up half acre, i live nearby and have already been three times since they opened last week. they give tours on fridays at 5pm, but are supposed to start doing tours on saturdays soon. even if you don't get there on one of those days, you can always stop by and say hi. their storefront is open and you can get free samples of all their beers and sodas and buy 6-packs, bombers and growlers to go. plus, they will let you wonder around the brewery even when there isn't a tour. last time i was there there were a couple of guys working that took the time to stop and chat and tell me everything that was going on with the brewery.

 

[alex_wilkosz]

im goign to reiterate Sprecher just north of downtown Milwaukee...do it!

u got ur itinerary yet?

 

[shortyjacobs]

I agree with others:
Skip Granite City in the Twin Cities:

Go instead to Summit in St. Paul, (good beer, (3x 10 oz samples too!), free tour, and fun medium sized craft brewery).

Most importantly, GO TO SURLY in Minneapolis, (Brooklyn Center to be exact). The owner of the company is your tourguide, and he's full of stories. The beer is to die for. You get 5 tokens at the start of the tour, each good for a 4 ounce pour. I'm pretty sure that's a legal thing, as they don't really care how much beer you drink. They love their beer, and love their brewery, and Omar loves to show you around and talk about his brewery.

Edit, Surly Tours are EXTREMELY tough to get into. They do one tour, every Friday night, (unless they don't feel like it), and reservations open 3-4 weeks before the tour date, (usually 3 weeks, usually on a thursday night). You can reserve as many slots as you want, but the reservations fill up usually within about 3 hours. www.surlybrewing.com . Good luck!

 

[skybrew]

Since it looks like you want to stop at Two Brothers Brewing, be aware that they only do tours on Saturdays at 1 and 230.
Also follow the directions from the website, it is a little hard to find the first time even for those of us who live around here.
Here is their website:
http://www.twobrosbrew.com/

Cheers