Lakefront Brewery Tour – A Quintessential Wisconsin Experience

There are a lot of stereotypes about Wisconsin. We all own cows, for example. We all eat cheese, go to fish fries on Friday nights, drink a lot of beer, and love the Green Bay Packers. Well, I’m just here to say it’s not true. About the cows. Some stereotypes come pretty close to the reality of it all. With 70+ breweries and counting, Wisconsin is definitely a beer friendly environment. (If you question that, check out Wisconsin’s Best Beer Guide, the road-trip manual to visiting the breweries!)

So if you choose just one tour — and I’m not sure why you’d limit yourself like that — you must pay a visit to Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee. Brothers Russ and Jim Klisch founded this brewery in 1987 in an old power plant once used to provide the electricity for the Brew City’s first light rail system. Now the power’s left in the 13,000+ barrels of beer they produce each year under the brewing guidance of Marc “Luther” Paul. That’s a lot of first names.

Lakefront has over 20 beers to their name, and each year they produce about 14-16 of them. They even have an organic brew, the first to be brewed under a brewery’s own label in the US. Coffee-flavored stout, with locally brewed coffee. Riverwest Stein is their most popular while the IPA is one of the in-house favorites.

The tour is just plain fun and funny. Tour guides have been well trained, and even Russ and Jim give them. It is educational, of course, but the drinking… um, sampling begins before the group even heads down the steps into the inner workings of the brewhouse. And then there is a halftime stop for a refill. And then the after-tour refreshments. In all, four 6 0z. beers plus a souvenir pint glass for your tour price. You will be singing the theme song to LaVerne and Shirley somewhere along the tour. (Don’t worry, they have cheat notes for you.)

But to really make this a Wisconsin experience, come on a Friday night when the Palm Garden (their banquet hall-cum-hospitality room) sets up for a fish fry. Not Wisconsin enough? Then add a live polka band and a little room to roll out your barrel with your dance partner. Good times, good laughs, good beer.

You should get your ticket online in advance during the busy times — think weekends, summertime, around the holidays — but otherwise you can just show up — first come, first served. At $7 per person this is a steal of a deal.

Lakefront Brewery, Inc.
1872 N. Commerce St.
Milwaukee, WI 53212
Tel: 414-372-8800

Outdoor seating available in the summer and a local boat tour even stops here as part of a 3 brewery booze cruise!

About Kevin Revolinski

Kevin Revolinski is a beer-friendly travel writer and author of a number of travel books including a couple of brewery road-trip guidebooks. While traveling the world, he makes a point to seek out the local brewers and best beer bars. He has had a beer in at least 60 different countries. His home website is TheMadTravelerOnline.com. Google Plus