Road trip to Madison

I’ll be heading down to Madison from the Twin Cities this weekend, and I was wondering if there was anything worth checking out either on the way or in Madison or around Madison. Thanks.

Breweries in Madison -Top 5
1) Karben4
2) Ale Asylum
3) Vintage
4) Great Dane Downtown
5) Octopi (Waunakee)

Package Stores in Madison
1) Riley’s Wine of the World
2) Star Liquors
3) Trixies

Breweries in between Twin Cities and Madison
1) Moosejaw Brewpub (Wisconsin Dells)
2) Port Huron (Wisconsin Dells)

Awesome, thanks for including liquor stores too, can’t hurt to bring back some bottles.

Madison bars:

1. Brasserie V. I’m biased because I’m the buyer here, but still. Should have some Almanac stuff on tap.
2. Malt House
3. Lucille, for good beer selection and great pizza.
4. Cask and Ale. Good beer selection, stupid awesome whiskey list.
5. Dexter’s. Walking distance from Malt House to boot.

Vintage is the only brewery that keeps their finger on the cultural beer pulse. For example. they have a New England IPA on.
Next Door Brewing is a worthy stop.
Ale Asylum and Karben4 are each pretty good, but seem pretty distracted by pushing mediocre bottles into the market instead of making World Class beers. If you aren’t familiar with them they are certainly worthy stops.
Capital should be avoided, as should Wisconsin Brewing and Great Dane as they each make really cheap, lackluster, antiquated stuff.
Rockhound is the newest brewery in the city...I have never heard anyone speak well of their beer, but some that I have had have been OK. Central and easy to stop through.
Parched Eagle could be on your way if you make the trek out to Octopi. I have yet to have an impressive brew from Octopi, but the taproom is pleasant enough. Lone Girl is close by in Waukakee. Parched Eagle is a one barrel system, and doesn’t receive much fanfare as they are off the beaten track, but are much more capable than say....
One Barrel makes some amateurish stuff on a one barrel system. ,but will occasionally pull off a gem. Easy to stop through if you are on the East Side.

Bars- Old Fashioned (all WI beer...50 or so taps), Brasserie V (most premium taps and bottle list in the city)

Bars I am not impressed by at all by that make these type of lists - Hopcat, Coopers Tavern,

Woodmans West side is probably the best overall beer store for picking up local stuff. Jenifer Street market, near Next Door and One Barrel is solid too.

Drive a little further down to New Glarus - worth it!

Originally posted by Bacterial
Drive a little further down to New Glarus - worth it!

Wish I could make it to NG, but time probably won’t allow. Hopefully I can snag some good bottles around Madison. Thanks for the b suggestions everyone!