OK, Brew City. Let’s crown our champion.
In the first Milwaukee Magazine Beer Bracket, we’re asking you to winnow 16 of greater Milwaukee’s greatest beers down to one deserving, undisputable monarch of malt, honcho of hops, sultan of suds.
The madness begins next Monday (March 6) with the first round of voting; you’ll cut the field by half each week until we announce a winner on April 3.
VOTE FOR MILWAUKEE’S BEST BEER!
What’s Brew City’s best? We’ve picked 16 of our favorite Milwaukee craft beers for a March Madness-style tournament, but it’s up to you to pick the winner! Will it be bright and hoppy? Dark and malty? A zippy lager? Every one is worthy of the title; who will claim the sudsy crown?
Choosing the field… boy, it was hard. Imagine all the great beer made in and around Milwaukee and having to pick only 16 – and just one from each brewery! We decided to focus on craft beers (High Life already has enough hardware), and gave an extra emphasis to breweries with a bit wider distribution – ones you’ll see at just about any liquor or even grocery store. Apologies to our smaller breweries, we love you, too! These are mostly year-round offerings, too, so you can do some, ahem, comparison research if some of the matchups are too tough to call at first glance.
And we’re thrilled that the Beer Bracket’s sponsor, Roth Cheese, offered up unique pairings for each and every beer in our field of 16. I’ve got my eye on the Sprecher’s smooth but roasty Black Bavarian with Roth’s creamy, piquant Buttermilk Blue.
- Third Space Brewing, Happy Place pale ale with Grand Cru
- Company Brewing, Poor Farm Pils with Tomato Basil Havarti
- Black Husky Brewing, Sproose double IPA with Smoked Gouda
- MobCraft Beer, Batshit Crazy brown ale with Aged Gouda
- Eagle Park Brewing, Set List IPA with Grand Cru Reserve
- Broken Bat Brewing, Corre Corre Mexican lager with Jalapeño Havarti
- Gathering Place Brewing, Treffpunkt Kölsch with French Onion Havarti
- Raised Grain Brewing, Paradocs Red double IPA with Dill Havarti
- Sprecher Brewing, Black Bavarian schwarzbier with Buttermilk Blue
- Enlightened Brewing, Cream City Brix cream ale with Butterkäse
- Milwaukee Brewing, Louie’s Demise amber ale with Garlic & Herb Chèvre
- Good City Brewing, Home American lager with Creamy Havarti
- Lakefront Brewery, Riverwest Stein amber lager with Original Gouda
- 1840 Brewing, Plumpy fruited sour with Chèvre
- The Fermentorium, Juice Packets IPA with Hot Honey Gouda
- City Lights Brewing, Hazy IPA with Canela
