Hooligan's

April 29, 2008
Hooligan’s was the place to start your night out back in the mid 80’s when I was doing the punk bar thing. And now some 20 years latter it still is a pretty happening place. A real East Side institution. I have never had less than a great time here.

January 6, 2008
If you have non-beer-nerd friends that you’re going out with, Hooligan’s would be a good place to suggest because it has something to please both parties. It’s located near a bunch of other popular bars, gets a pretty normal crowd, and has a macro-bar feel to it. But, it also has a fairly decent selection of specialty beers (highlights include Three Floyds, Bells, and Lakefront, plus a few interesting imports like Hoegaarden). The food is pretty decent bar food and the Happy Hour specials are a great deal ($2 appetizers, etc.). So, overall it’s not bad, but it’s far from the best beer bar in Milwaukee, and with Comet Cafe a few blocks away, if you’re going out with beer-nerd friends, pass this one over.

December 18, 2005
Nice place, like to play trivia here. Occaisional Lakefront one-offs. I’d scan the tap selection often if I lived in the neighborhood. Good appetizers.

August 23, 2005
Good tap selection, good food, friendly service. I didn’t have high hopes for this place but it turned out OK. I had some sort of odd sandwich and it was very good. Don’t expect to be blown away by the beer selection, but do expect to be able to pick from a good variety of styles. That’s more than you can usually say for a bar.

June 9, 2005 [ Updated July 8, 2005 ]
Much better atmosphere than I expected. Plenty of room to sit down and a decent tap selection. Ordered a weird burger for lunch and it was good. The best taps I’ve seen on the East Side thus far.

April 23, 2005
Cool little bar. It has the neighborhood bar feel to it. Nice tap selection including quite a few Lakefront and a mix of other Wisconsin beers. At the time of this rating, they were one of the few with Lakefront Bourbon Bock. You could probably skip it on a tour of Milwaukee, but if you haven’t had much from Wisconsin’s microbreweries, this would be a great place to stop.

June 5, 2004
A great East Side establishment. Excellent Pub Food, Great Beer Selection.

March 14, 2004
An interesting little bar, with a nice feel for beer lovers, as the walls are covered with tap handles. Looked like they had about 20 taps. They had a least one tap from each of the major Wisconsin microbreweries (New Glarus, Capital, Lakefront, Sprecher) as well as others. I noticed taps for Bells and Three Floyds as well. Fun little place.