Road trip - good breweries?

[Staylow]

So I'm taking a road trip in a couple weeks through Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Chicago area. As of now, I have plans to stop at both New Glarus and 3 Floyds. This is actually taking place during two separate trips a week apart.

Outside of those two, I'm not sure what to look for in those areas. I'll be looking for a good bottle shop in Des Moines, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee and Chicago. What are some good breweries/individual beers that distribute to these areas that I wouldn't have access to in Missouri?

 

[TheMerkle]

I believe Toppling Goliath is up that way.

 

[Yooper]

In the Minneapolis/St Paul area, I'd stop in at Surly. That's one of my favorites, particularly the IPA called "Furious".

Wisconsin is a pretty big state- where are your travels taking you?

 

[JonM]

For Milwaukee, hit Discount Liquor on Oklahoma Ave. and if you have time, take a tour of the Lakefront Brewery (unfortunately, those two places are on the opposite sides of town, but worth the trip.)

There's another great bottle shop on Hwy. 100 called the Malt Shoppe and it's about 1.5 miles from Northern Brewer's retail store. Both are right off the highway.

 

[bcbeatty]

Chicago: Lagunitas, Daisy Cutter, Revolution, Haymarket
Chicago Burbs
Urban Legend(Westmont),
Two Brothers(Aurora)
Solemn Oath (Naperville),
Pollyanna, Noon Whistle(Lombard)
Werk Force/Chicago Breworks (Plainfield)
Tailwinds Distillery (Plainfield, next to Werk Force)


http://www.timeout.com/chicago/bars/tours-of-chicago-breweries

 

[Staylow]

In the Minneapolis/St Paul area, I'd stop in at Surly. That's one of my favorites, particularly the IPA called "Furious".

Wisconsin is a pretty big state- where are your travels taking you?

I'll be coming into the state the first time from Minneapolis. I have a stop to make in Durand (near Eau Claire), then I'll be heading to Green Bay and then on to Milwaukee and Chicago.

The second time, I'm heading straight to Durand from the southwestern edge of the state via Minnestoa for a couple days, then south to New Glarus from there.

I suppose what I'm mostly fishing for here are good beers/breweries available in these states that I can't get in Missouri. Stuff with a small(er) distribution range, such as New Glarus or Toppling Goliath.

If I can find good bottleshops, I should be able to find most suggestions.

 

[Yooper]

The best bottle shop in Green Bay is Ridgeview: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/15609/ but Woodman's is the cheapest and has a good selection of Wisconsin beers. (Woodman's is a grocery store, right off of 29/41/43).

For a stop for a sandwich and beer, I like Titletown a lot. There are some nice bars downtown, but nothing really special that I can think of right now. A reuben and a beer at Titletown is not inconvenient on the way to Milwaukee from Green Bay, and it's a cool place.

Milwaukee has been mentioned already (I love Lakefront and the Discount Liquor on Oklahoma), but north of Milwaukee right on 43 is Sprecher. It's worth a stop if you have time.

 

[Staylow]

Thanks, I'll look into it. This trip is pretty wide open, so I should be able to check out virtually everything that has been mentioned.

One more question. Is Toppling Goliath available in bottles in Wisconsin? As it is now, the brewery is a bit out of the way, but I can make it work if I have to.

 

[JonM]

Yes, it is.

 

[aryoung1980]

NE Minneaoplis: Dangerous Man

Milwaukee: Discount Liquor, Malt Shoppe, and Ray's Growler Gallery for bottles.

Lakefront, MKE, Brenner, and Sprecher for breweries.

Madison, WI: Ale Asylum, Great Dane, Tyreanna , Karben4, and Wisconsin Brewing

O'So and Central Waters are two other breweries in Wisconsin that make great beer. One of them is in Plover, just don't remember which.

 

[Yooper]

NE Minneaoplis: Dangerous Man

Milwaukee: Discount Liquor, Malt Shoppe, and Ray's Growler Gallery for bottles.

Lakefront, MKE, Brenner, and Sprecher for breweries.

Madison, WI: Ale Asylum, Great Dane, Tyreanna , Karben4, and Wisconsin Brewing

O'So and Central Waters are two other breweries in Wisconsin that make great beer. One of them is in Plover, just don't remember which.

O'So is in Plover. Central Waters is in Amherst.

 

[JonM]

O'so's Lupulin Maximus sometimes has a whole hop cone in it.

 

[ricshayne]

Chicago: Half Acre, Revolution, Goose Island CLYBORN brewpub (not Wrigleyville) to be honest Lagunitas is here but they don't really have any new beers at the brewery.

Best bottle shop in the city is a half mile from Half Acre,
West Lakeview Liquors
2156 W Addison

Beer Temple is pretty damn good too!

While your here you have to pick up some Off Color, they are one of the best Breweries in Chicago but don't have a taproom yet. Apex Predator, Eille, Troublesome and Fierce are all great beers by them.
Also Pipeworks Brewing is another powerhouse without a taproom, Ninja vs Unicorn just was released in cans and it's awesome!

 

[Clonefan94]

Just hit Revolution and Lagunitas here in Chicago this past Saturday. I haven't visited a lot of craft breweries, but the ones I have visited have all pretty much been the same thing. Some a little bigger, some a little smaller, some with nicer taprooms, etc. I knew Lagunitas was bigger than most, but was really blown away with the size of that place.

The beer was good at Lagunitas as well, but as someone else said above, right now they don't have a whole lot of stuff you can't get other places. Revolution had a better selection of stuff on tap and being that it's more of a local brewery, if I was choosing between the two, i'd go to Revolution first, but Lagunitas is quite the site to see.

 

[JonM]

If you're a coffee guy and you decide to visit the Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, it's a short drive to Colectivo Coffee's combination cafe/roasting facility on Humboldt Ave. just south of Center St. It's pretty darn cool, and you can grab a couple pounds of great coffee.

 

[TwistedHops]

NE Minneaoplis: Dangerous Man

Milwaukee: Discount Liquor, Malt Shoppe, and Ray's Growler Gallery for bottles.

Lakefront, MKE, Brenner, and Sprecher for breweries.

Madison, WI: Ale Asylum, Great Dane, Tyreanna , Karben4, and Wisconsin Brewing

O'So and Central Waters are two other breweries in Wisconsin that make great beer. One of them is in Plover, just don't remember which.

If you like hop loaded beers, Make sure to visit ale asylum in Madison, I recently moved and damn do I miss those beers. Also, Karben4 is top notch and just started bottling, not sure how wide distribution is yet.

Mob craft is also from Madison and I think they distribute. I've only had a couple beers from them but I was very impressed.

Also, vintage brewery is awesome as well!

I miss Wisconsin. ...

 

[TwistedHops]

Also, right when you leave MN and enter WI on I94, there's an exceptional little brew pub in Hudson called pitchfork. Right next door is an Irish restaurant which is also quite good!

 

[Yooper]

Also, right when you leave MN and enter WI on I94, there's an exceptional little brew pub in Hudson called pitchfork. Right next door is an Irish restaurant which is also quite good!

Oh, I almost forgot! There is a good bottle shop in Hudson also. But I cannot remember the name- can someone come up with that name?

 

[aryoung1980]

If you're a coffee guy and you decide to visit the Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, it's a short drive to Colectivo Coffee's combination cafe/roasting facility on Humboldt Ave. just south of Center St. It's pretty darn cool, and you can grab a couple pounds of great coffee.

It's on Humboldt & Chambers north of Center St. (Between Locust and Burleigh).

The coffee is great.

 

[Munster51]

Gary, Indiana: 18th Street
Griffith, Indiana: New Oberpfalz

 

[TwistedHops]

Oh, I almost forgot! There is a good bottle shop in Hudson also. But I cannot remember the name- can someone come up with that name?

Casa Nova

 

[JonM]

So, I'm aware of all the jokes about Wisconsin and cheese, but seriously ...

When you go to New Glarus, you will be 20 minutes from Monroe, which is home to some of the finest cheesemakers in the world. One of the Monroe cheesemakers' Swiss cheese beat the best Swiss cheese makers in Switzerland to be named the best Swiss in the world. It's called Edelweiss Creamery. Also home to the U.S.'s only genuine Limburger maker. (But don't let that discourage you; there's about 15 more Certified Master Cheesemakers there too.) Probably worth a side trip.

 

[WI_Wino]

Edelweiss Creamery just opened a store on the main drag in New Glarus. We have stopped in once so far, good selection of cheese but seems a little pricey (I know, we are spoiled with the crazy good cheese around here). If you are staying in town for lunch or dinner, I recommend Glarner Stube. That's our favorite restaurant in town. The New Glarus Hotel will most likely have oompa bands Friday/Saturday night and the food is pretty good. Puempels is a cool old bar but does have not a huge beer selection. Sugar River Pizzeria has the best beer selection in town (80+ bottles) and good pizza.

Cheapest place to buy beer is at Sportsman's Bar (cheaper than Woodmans as well). Sometimes they have older thumbprint releases in the cooler that aren't in stores anymore. Decent bar food, totally a townie bar though. I spent a LOT of time on those bar stools before kids.

If you do venture to Monroe, you need to check out Baumgartner's Cheese Store and Tavern. Very cool atmosphere, be sure to look carefully at the giant wine glasses vs beer stein mural they have over the bar. Also they have a smoking deal on 4 year old aged cheddar that is awesome (comes from Hook's in Mineral Point). $8 a pound I think.

A new tap room that I have heard good things about but haven't been to yet is The Hop Garden in Paoli (you'll probably drive right through it to NG).

Lastly if you are looking for fine dining, then head down a couple miles to Monticello to The Dining Room. Excellent, excellent food.

PS - if you enjoy small stream trout fishing, the NG area and to the west/northwest is heaven. I can hook you up with some spots to check out.

 

[Staylow]

Thanks for all the tips guys and gals, I appreciate it! I'll check out what I can and hopefully remember to report back!

PS - if you enjoy small stream trout fishing, the NG area and to the west/northwest is heaven. I can hook you up with some spots to check out.

I haven't been fishing since I was a kid, and definitely never trout fishing. We always fished for crappie and catfish, being MO boys. I would definitely like to do it one day.

 

[TwistedHops]

Make sure to take plenty of pictures lol

 

[joe_four_strings]

http://www.brewerymap.com/

 

[JonM]

I got some Toppling Goliath at Discount yesterday (Golden Nugget. Sooooooo good!) they had a full supply of Pseudo Sue, too.

 

[Firewalker11]

I'll be coming into the state the first time from Minneapolis. I have a stop to make in Durand (near Eau Claire), then I'll be heading to Green Bay and then on to Milwaukee and Chicago.

The second time, I'm heading straight to Durand from the southwestern edge of the state via Minnestoa for a couple days, then south to New Glarus from there.

I suppose what I'm mostly fishing for here are good beers/breweries available in these states that I can't get in Missouri. Stuff with a small(er) distribution range, such as New Glarus or Toppling Goliath.

If I can find good bottleshops, I should be able to find most suggestions.

If you are flying in (I didn't look) you can take the train downtown and hit several local breweries, Surly is one of them.

 

[Staylow]

Anyone know of a decent bottle shop between Joliet and Three Floyds? Anything within a half hour drive.

 

[Munster51]

There is a chain store called Binny's Beverage Depot. Best selection in the Chicagoland area.