MADISON BEER GARDENS
Beer is nice. But beer outside is what it's all about!
A few of the area's best beer gardens, as determined by Isthmus beer guru Robin Shepard. Navigate the above map as you would any Google map.
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1. Capital Brewery
7734 Terrace Ave., Middleton, 836-7100
Capital Brewery features one of the most authentic festival atmospheres in town. Regularly hosts live bands. On those remaining warm Saturdays the brewery's courtyard is more like a community picnic with beer, coolers, families and live music.
2. Tyranena Brewing Company
1025 Owen Street, Lake Mills, (920) 648-8699
This beer garden is about a half-hour from Madison but is well worth the trip! Live music on Friday and Saturday evenings. It's a dog-friendly, Frisbee-throwing, kids-unleashed kind of place. A pint is never any farther than the window that opens to the brewery's bar.
3. Ale Asylum
3698 Kinsman Blvd., 663-3926
A recent expansion in the amount of space dedicated to outside seating, coupled with Brewmaster, Dean Coffey's, beers makes this just a great place to enjoy fine beer in the fresh air amid the vines. Stoughton Road traffic noise might be a little districting, but close proximity to the brew haus and deli sandwiches make for a wonderful weekend afternoon.
4. Cloud 9 Grille
876 Jupiter Dr., 441-3250
A trendy, east-side bar in Grandview Commons with a modest beer list and awesome day/night views overlooking Madison's isthmus. More than 70 outside seats line the sides of this restaurant. But the second floor dining room and lounge offer the best panoramic views of the city. Just across the street, a small park offers a great place to walk off that extra beer. Over the past few weeks, Cloud 9 has been a test market for Leinenkugel's Big Eddy Imperial IPA.
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5. Gray's Tied House
915 Kimball Lane, Verona, 845-2337
Spacious decks on two sides of this 2-story timber-frame brewpub. Lots of outside seating for those wanting to enjoy the fresh air. Views offer mainly nearby apartments and condos, with glimpses of Wisconsin's rolling hillsides. However the best seats look inward - directly through glass windows into the brew haus!
6. Great Dane Pub and Brewing Company
123 East Doty Street, Downtown, 284-0000
This has to be most charming and intimate beer garden in the city. Tucked away in a secluded courtyard among ivy-covered brick buildings behind the Great Dane. A great place for remaining days of summer.
7. Up North, Essen Haus and the Come Back Inn
508-14 East Wilson, 258-8619, 255-4674, 250-1730, (respectively)
These three bars, all connected and all under the ownership of Bob Worm, offer a couple of areas of outside seating. Perhaps the best seating is on the deck associated with the Up North Bar, yes on the north end of the building. When combined, all three of these bars offer more than 100 different beers ranging from local micro to on-tap German lagers.
8. Memorial Union Terrace
800 Langdon Street, 265-3000
What else says Madison better than a beer on the Terrace! The ideal spot to watch the sun go down over the changing leaves of fall. The Union offers 23 taps and a half-dozen more bottled beers making choices tough. This is also a great place to enjoy one those historic Madison brewery brews like Hausmann and Fauerbach. The Union also has its own house brew "Rathskeller Ale" brewed for the Union by Gray's Brewing of Janesville.
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