Madison’s craft beer scene can be done as a weekend trip. Not a marathon — a focused itinerary built around production breweries that are actually pouring right now, plus a Cicerone-led tasting bar to pull them all together.
This is the trail, written from the bar that pours most of these breweries on rotation. Five Madison-area breweries, one around-Madison day-trip stop, plus us — the tasting bar to end your days at.
Quick Answer: The Trail
- Garth’s Brew Bar — 1726 Monroe St, Madison (the tasting bar that pours the rest)
- Working Draft Beer Company — 1129 E Wilson St, Madison (Capitol East)
- Giant Jones Brewing — 931 E Main St #9, Madison (Williamson neighborhood)
- ALT Brew — Madison (gluten-free craft, in our cooler year-round)
- Vintage Brewing Company — 674 S Whitney Way, Madison (west side)
- Wisconsin Brewing Company — Verona (about 15 minutes south of Madison, outdoor Bier Garten focus)
How to Plan a Two-Day Madison Craft Beer Weekend
Don’t try to do all six in a day. Two production breweries plus a tasting-bar stop is the realistic ceiling per day — more than that and you stop actually tasting the beer.
Day 1 (Saturday)
Morning to early afternoon: Arrive in Madison, check in. Pick two production breweries from different parts of town. Working Draft + Giant Jones is a strong starter combination — different neighborhoods, different styles, manageable rideshare hops.
Late afternoon / dinner: Head to Monroe Street. Pizza Brutta (1805 Monroe St) for a wood-fired Neapolitan. Eat there or grab it to-go.
Evening: Garth’s Brew Bar (1726 Monroe St). Sixteen rotating American craft taps, ninety-five-plus cans and bottles in the cooler. Tell the beertender where you went earlier — they’ll point you at something from a different Madison or Wisconsin brewery you wouldn’t have found on your own. The cooler is where the trip-defining beers live.
Day 2 (Sunday)
Day 2 splits between one more Madison brewery and one around-Madison stop.
Morning: Real Madison breakfast (Marigold Kitchen or your hotel’s brunch spot).
Late morning / lunch — one more Madison stop: Pick whichever Madison brewery you didn’t hit on Saturday. Vintage Brewing Company for a brewery + restaurant combo on the west side. ALT Brew if you want to taste what serious gluten-free craft looks like. Either works for lunch.
Afternoon — around-Madison stop: Drive to Wisconsin Brewing Company in Verona, about 15 minutes south. The outdoor Bier Garten is the destination here — picnic-table seating, an open patio, and one of the more underrated taproom experiences in the area for warm-weather afternoons.
Departure: Last pour at Garth’s if Sunday hours work (open noon–7pm). Or hit a bottle shop for take-home cans — Steve’s Wine + Beer + Spirits.
The Stops, In More Detail
1. Garth’s Brew Bar — 1726 Monroe St (the tasting bar)
Cicerone-led. Sixteen rotating American craft taps, two nitro draft taps for house cold brew coffee and tea, ninety-five-plus craft cans and bottles in the cooler. Madison breweries first, Wisconsin breweries next, independent American craft third. Beertenders study for or hold the Cicerone Beer Server certification. Bring your own food.
Three months after opening in December 2019, CraftBeer.com named Garth’s the Best Craft Beer Bar in Wisconsin. This is the bar to end a brewery day at — the comparison context across breweries is the value.
Hours: Tue–Thu 5pm–9pm, Fri 4pm–10pm, Sat 12pm–10pm, Sun 12pm–7pm. Closed Monday.
2. Working Draft Beer Company — 1129 E Wilson St (Capitol East)
Modern American craft program. Hop-forward IPAs, serious lagers, mixed-fermentation projects when the season suits. Walkable from a Capitol Square hotel. Their mixed-fermentation small-batch releases are among the most interesting beers leaving Madison right now.
Hours: Mon–Thu 3–10pm, Fri–Sat 12–11pm, Sun 12–9pm.
3. Giant Jones Brewing — 931 E Main St, Suite 9 (Williamson neighborhood)
Independent, woman-owned, certified organic. Their thing is big beers — 7% ABV and up. If you want one half-pour of something memorable instead of three pints of similar things, this is your stop. The Belgian and barrel-aged releases get serious.
Hours: Wed 4–8pm, Thu 3–8pm, Fri 4–9pm, Sat 2–9pm, Sun 1–5pm. (Closed Mon & Tue.)
4. ALT Brew — Madison
Madison’s only fully gluten-free brewery. The hard seltzers and ciders are deceptively well-built; the beer side of the program covers IPAs, ambers, and stouts that drink like the real thing because they are the real thing — just brewed without barley or wheat. In our cooler year-round.
5. Vintage Brewing Company — 674 S Whitney Way (west Madison)
Brewery + restaurant on the west side. Full menu, brunch, regular happy hour. Good for groups that want a sit-down meal with the beer. The lager program is the depth here.
Hours: Mon–Fri 11am–12am, Sat–Sun 10am–12am.
6. Wisconsin Brewing Company — Verona (around-Madison day-trip)
About 15 minutes south of Madison. Wisconsin Brewing’s facility has a sizeable outdoor Bier Garten that’s the destination on warm-weather afternoons — German-style lagers anchor the program, the patio is generous, and the drive from downtown Madison is short enough that this works as a half-day side trip rather than an all-day commitment.
What to Drink That You Won’t Find Back Home
Wisconsin-only or hyper-local pulls worth chasing:
- Working Draft mixed-fermentation beers. Small-batch, taproom-or-cooler only most of the time.
- Giant Jones organic releases. Limited distribution, particularly the Belgian and barrel-aged ranges.
- ALT Brew limited releases. Gluten-free craft beer at this level isn’t done by many breweries anywhere; their small-batch releases are worth grabbing.
- Anything from Garth’s cooler. Tell a beertender what state you came from. They’ll tell you what’s in the cooler that you genuinely can’t find back home.
Logistics for the Weekend
- Where to stay: Downtown / Capitol Square hotels give you walking access to Working Draft, plus an easy Monroe Street rideshare for Garth’s. Madison Edgewater or the Concourse work well.
- Getting around: Rideshare. Most stops are 10–20 minutes apart by car; nothing is fully walkable end-to-end. Wisconsin Brewing Company in Verona is the only stop that needs a planned drive (~15 min each way).
- Take-home beer: Cooler in the car if you came by car. Garth’s cooler is the consolidated take-home haul — Wisconsin-only and Madison-only beers in one stop.
- When to go: Wed–Sun is best — Giant Jones is closed Mon–Tue, Garth’s is closed Mondays. Saturday and Sunday give you the most-open windows across all the stops.
Keep reading: If you want the broader picture — what’s in the cooler at Garth’s, how locals actually drink, the events worth planning around — the Madison Craft Beer Guide is the hub. For the why-behind-the-scene (how Wisconsin went from 10 craft breweries in 1988 to 262 today), see The Wisconsin Craft Beer Boom.
FAQ
How many days do I need for the Madison craft beer trail?
Two days minimum to do it well. One day is enough for two production breweries plus an evening at Garth’s, but you skip the around-Madison stop and most of the cooler exploration.
Is Madison walkable for beer?
Partially. The downtown Capitol Square and Monroe Street corridors are walkable internally. Production breweries are spread across the metro and require rideshare or a designated driver.
What is the “can-only-get-here” Madison beer?
The small-batch releases from Working Draft, Giant Jones, and ALT Brew that don’t leave the city — those are the trip-defining beers. Ask at Garth’s; the beertenders track what’s rare on rotation.
Are Madison breweries kid-friendly?
Vintage Brewing and Wisconsin Brewing both run full restaurant programs and have space for kids during the day. Evening hours skew adult across the board. Garth’s is kid-friendly until 8pm.
What about Ale Asylum?
Closed in 2022. The brewery operated for sixteen years before closing. Any beer guide that still lists Ale Asylum is out of date.
What about Brasserie V?
Also closed. The owners shut the Monroe Street restaurant down to focus on Longtable Café in their Middleton location. A new American bistro is opening in the 1923 Monroe St space.
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