Dexter’s Pub

Stopped in for a pre-GTMW event that was unfortunately cancelled. A bit of a dive bar feel to the place but had nice character. Service was good despite a large crowd. A nice tap list with a good mix of locals and national taps. Small pours available. Bartender knew the beer. Did not try the food on my visit. Prices were nice and low. Worth a stop.

Nice neighborhood bar in Madison. Great selection and excellent service. Great tap list. Food looked great, but did not partake. Wish this place was in my neighborhood.

Smallish place that looks like a restaurant up front, medium sized bar in the back. Nice patio includes a sand volleyball court. Several taps set up outside for a pre-GTMW Toppling Goliath event. The event proceeded a bit slowly, but was fun enough, with some very tasty beers. Friendly servers, but they could have been better allocated. Worthwhile stop for sure.

Looks like a dive sports bar...but the craft beer selection is awesome. They have some really rare stuff here, and some highly rated stuff. Local brews well represented too. Good bar food. Nice service. Good prices.

Stopped in for GI Migration. Fairly small joint in a residential neighborhood. Clearly the migration influenced the selection for my visit, but it sounds like this is one of the best craft beer spots in Madison. Plenty of BCS options on tap, including Proprietors, and the prices were a dollar an ounce (5 and 10 ounce pours), but they included them in happy hour pricing so during that time it was well under a dollar an ounce, unbelievable bargain. Of course had to rock the BCS burger and it was delicious. Just a fantastic visit and I would stop by again when in the area.

Visited here the eve of GTMW in 2014. Arrived at 11:30 to a mostly empty restaurant / bar with the Toppling Goliath guys helping get their taps up and running. Found a nice spot in the corner of the bar area. Got served right away. Pulled pork was nice. By 12:30 the place was really packed, but the waitress still managed to find me just in time as I needed new beer! They had 8 TG brews on (plus a firkin), not sure if they have more tap lines than this or not. Would certainly go back. Food was above average and the prices for beer and food was reasonable.

Visited August 9, 2013.

I was bummed last year when we didn’t make it this far since I had heard good things about Toppling Goliath so this year I was determined. We cabbed it out here from the hotel and ordered pretty much every Toppling Goliath offered. Rumor was that later in the evening they were tapping one of the special barrel aged beers so naturally the place was packed. Aside from that this place seemed really strange to be a popular beer spot. It felt a lot like a truck stop diner to me. Both the servers and the furniture as well as the slot machine in the corner gave me that impression. The service was alright, the food was just decent enough not to be sent back, and the prices were a little high. If not for the Toppling Goliath lineup I would scroll past this place.

GTMW13 pre party. Would like to come back when not so crowded. Seemed like a decent sized sportsbar that also happened to have a really nice beer selection. Worth checking out.

Maybe it was busy but I would have preferred to visit the Malt House instead. This is tucked away in a residential area with a very small parking lot. Service once inside was acceptable but leaving food for ten minutes to get cold is not. Being there for a Toppling Goliath tap takeover I was impressed by the other options which including Vintage beers not available at the brewpub. With the Malt House right around the corner I would probably come here once again when it is not busy just to see what its normal atmosphere is like.