State Street Brats

Great college bar on State Street. I’ve spent plenty of time here while in college. The draft beer selection has improved greatly over the years, as they have added in more taps. There’s always a game on the TVs and something sporty to watch. A great spot for NFL Sunday ticket if you want to watch your favorite NFL team. Also, they always have the Badgers on, which is a great thing!

One of the better college bars on State Street is more notable as a place to watch sporting events or celebrate a Badger victory than to get a selection of craft beers. While State Street does carry some local and regional drafts its main focus is on things like ’flip night’ and other specials to draw in the undergraduate crowd.

If you are doing a crawl in downtown Madison this could be a good place to get some bar food to soak up the bar. I would recommend instead a visit to nearby Brickhouse BBQ followed by stops at Capital Tap Haus, The Old Fashioned, and the Great Dane (among others). In other words there are few reasons to come here unless you want to just hang out with friends.

Great place to watch a sporting event. Obviously, Badger games here are fun, but I was suprised how much fun it was to come here and watch the Blackhawks playoff games. Didn’t expect that.

An icon of Madison. Busy and lively student and weekend-football-tourist crowd. About a dozen taps of mostly common Wisconsin microbrew. Decent food (nothing spectacular like the reputation, just decent... brats on wonder bread buns). Outdoor patio has heaters.

OK - while beer is an integral part of the existence of Brats, it’s not necessarily a craft beer haven. However, it’s a defining place in Madison, the patio in particular. I’ll admit to an uncommon affinity for the place due to the thousands of hours I spent here in college swilling whatever was on special (quarter-tap tuesdays, Rose Bowl thursdays, etc), but the beer selection is good for an otherwise partying-focused place, and it stands up to everything from a nice patio lunch with the family and kids to a raging, stumbling Badger football evening. Do NOT go to Madison without stopping here for at least one.

This is not really a beer destination, but if you are looking for the signature "Madison Bar" - this is it. Always raucous, always a ton of fun. The beers are solid, though not really anything to get a beer geek excited. If its a nice night - this is a great place to sit outside and watch the State Street traffic.

Not sure if I would consider this a beer mecca, but surely a great place to visit if you’re in Madison. They have local selections on tap, including typical New Glarus, Capital and Ale Asylum products. Also, they are one of the first places to get local seasonals on tap. Great food as well. A nice stop.

This place is a blast. Mix collage kids and the local business man and woman you get a allot of fun. Not to mention some of the best Brats around!! If I remember correctly they did tap some fine local beers along with the same old products. But a kind of hole in the wall with great food and fun people.

I wasn’t sure at first if I should add this place, it seemed way more of many of the local college hangouts bars, but they had over 30 tap of local beer, all fairly solid. What attracted me to the place was I was there on Monday night and they had their Beer Stock Exchange, “where your choices influence the price of all tap beers!” I was getting pint of Ale Asylum Hoplicious for 2.20 while PBR was 4.75 and Miller Lite was $6.45. The look on the guys face when the bartended told him it was 6.45 was priceless. It’s a “nice dive bar” one of many in Madison on State Street and worth at least a visit.