A Night at Milwaukee’s Brewhouse Inn & Suites

Milwaukee’s Brewhouse Inn & Suites at night

There are a lot of hotels in Milwaukee, but the newest one is the Brewhouse Inn and Suites. It’s barely a month old, yet already making a splash – in a giant copper brew kettle, of course – as one of the most interesting places to stay in Milwaukee. After all, how many other hotels can say they were once one of the world’s largest breweries?

A comfortable area in the lobby

The Hotel

The Brewhouse Inn and Suites, which is located just outside downtown Milwaukee, remembers its fantastic past through preservation. The sitting area in the lobby gives a subtle hint of this with its domed ceiling, but visitors need to go up another level to get the full effect. There you’ll find the old copper kettles from the brewery days. Preserved just as they were, the old Pabst kettles are the centerpiece of the hotel and can be seen from all of the floors.

The old Pabst Brewery copper kettles

As I came and went during my Visit Milwaukee stay, I loved being able to look down on the giant reminders of the hotel’s brewery days. It doesn’t stop there, though. The historical markers are everywhere, even right in…

The Room

As the name suggests, the Brewhouse is an inn and suites-style hotel. Think of it as a bigger and better boutique hotel. This means the rooms are incredibly spacious, and equipped with kitchenettes. Some even have extra rooms, and other amenities. Mine was one large room on the sixth floor of the hotel, and was complete with a small bar area to sit and eat or, as I did, set up your computer to get some work done while sipping on a beer. Pabst, of course.

My room in the Brewhouse Inn & Suites, complete with a beer ice bucket

The high ceilings of the old brewery floors remain in the rooms. But the brewery references don’t stop there. Ice bucket? Think beer bucket. Yep. Get your ice in a Pabst beer bucket. The toilet paper holders? Old piping. And the view? A panorama of the old Pabst brewery complex. Heck, even the complimentary breakfast is served with a  reminder of the old days.

Smelling the lovely flowers at breakfast

The Food

The complimentary continental breakfast was better than I had expected. I assumed, as I’ve experienced at other hotels recently, it would be a simple bar with juice and toast. But there were a lot of good choices, which ranged from cinnamon rolls to fresh fruit and juices to toast and coffee.

Dinner at Jackson’s Blue Ribbon Pub

Jackson’s Blue Ribbon Pub, which shares the building with the Brewhouse Inn and Suites, is also recently opened. And it’s a hot spot, as a result of being a new spot. I stopped in for an early dinner mid-week, and the restaurant and bar were already busy. It’s obvious as to why, too, considering the food – which is standard bar fare consistent with the upper Midwest – is quite tasty.

Learning about beer at Milwaukee’s Best Place

The fun doesn’t stop there, though. Several of the other old Pabst buildings surround the hotel, which preserves the great history of the area and atmosphere of the neighborhood. Some are offices, others are now residences, but one is the Best Place in Milwaukee. Seriously. It really is the Best Place in Milwaukee.

In the courtyard at the Best Place

Milwaukee’s Best Place is named for the original owners of the brewery – the Best family. Captain Frederick Pabst bought it from his father-in-law, and, during the course of his ownership, changed the named to Pabst. Now his old office building is home to Milwaukee beer history tours and a full bar. But why, when in Milwaukee, would you get anything other than beer? And why, when you’re at the old Pabst Brewery, would you get anything than some cheap suds? Yep. The beer here is more than affordable – it’s a steal – so drink up. And when you’re done, walk back over to one of the most interesting hotels I’ve ever stayed in – The Brewhouse Inn and Suites.