The Best Places to Drink Beer in Milwaukee

The Best Place Tavern’s King Gambrinus

There are a lot of great places to drink beer in Milwaukee or learn about its history. I discovered that while on my recent trip with Visit Milwaukee. Out of all of the places I saw, I’ve picked five of the best ones. Got another one to add? Then don’t be shy. Just comment below and, if possible, include a link.

Milwaukee’s historic Sobelman’s Pub and Grill

5. Sobelman’s Pub and Grill

I stopped in for lunch and a cold one at Sobelman’s, one of a great many old-style pubs around town. The history is great, but the food and beers are better. First with the history; these old pubs used to be affiliated with a particular brewer, in this case Schlitz, and would only serve their beer. The selection is now much broader, so I went with a new Wisconsin favorite – a New Glarus Spotted Cow. Sobelman’s claims to have the best burgers around. Who am I to argue? Just a hungry patron who ate it too fast to even take a picture of my tasty lunch.

Outside the Pabst Mansion

4. The Pabst Mansion

What’s the fun in beer if you don’t know a little about its history. All right, don’t answer that. I went to college. I know the fun. Nonetheless, it’s great to learn a bit about who made it and how. I recommend making the old Pabst Mansion one of your first stops in town to do just that. The tours are great, the staff fun and personable, and the mansion is – well, how do I say it? – wow. It’s amazing. The place is fantastic. It’s one of those old turn-of-the-century mansions that make for great visits in any town, most particularly Milwaukee.

The main sitting room in the Pabst Mansion

Milwaukee’s Brewhouse Inn and Suites

3. The Brewhouse Inn and Suites

You’ve had lunch. You’ve toured one of the best (beer) historical sites in town. Now it’s time to make sure you have a place to rest your head at the end of what will be a great night of drinking. Well, where better than staying in an old brewery? The Brewhouse Inn and Suites is one of the newest hotels in Milwaukee, and certainly one of the most unique. After all, how many hotels can say they were once one of the biggest breweries in the world? Um. Yeah. None. The Brewhouse is the place to stay for any beer lover. Heck, it’s a great place to stay even if you don’t like beer. (Liking it doesn’t hurt, though, mind you.)

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

The old Pabst Brewery logo with a B for Best

2. Visit the Best Place Tavern

Down the street a block from the Brewhouse Inn and Suites is the Best Place Tavern. Housed in the old office building for Captain Pabst himself – yep, you get to see his office with many of his personal effects still there – the Best Place is one of the best places in Milwaukee to drink and learn about beer. It’s not a clever name, either; the Best Place is named for the Best family, the owners of the brewery before Captain Pabst came into the picture. The tours are fun, educational, and, yes, don’t worry, full of beer! So be sure to come thirsty, because you’ll only leave happy.

Learning about beer at Milwaukee’s Best Place

Even on the outside Milwaukee’s Lakefront Brewery is fun

1. Lakefront Brewery Tour and Fish Fry

So far our Milwaukee beer experience has been all about the town’s beer history. Now it’s time to look ahead, and make a stop at one of the best brewery experiences in town. Every Friday night Lakefront Brewery offers a fish fry. It’s fantastic. Seriously. And that’s coming from a guy who doesn’t like seafood in the least. Well, except the way my mom used to cook up the lake fish my grandfather caught. That’s how Lakefront does it, and in huge heaping portions. So stop in, take one of their over-the-top beer tours – I say that since my guide was, well, a little wacky – and then be sure to save room for a big feast and some dancing to live music. The fish fry is an upper Midwest tradition not to be missed, and you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not attending the one at Milwaukee’s Lakefront Brewery.

Traditional fish fry at the Lakefront Brewery