Wausau, WI

[Much2Brew]

I will be I'm Wausau in a few weeks. Where should I go and what should I look for? I like hoppy beers and stouts but am anxious to try any good local beers. Can I get Surly in this area? Obviously will be looking for anything from New Glarus. Staying close to Great Dane, will give them a try.
Thanks or any help!

 

[webersa4]

Central Waters barrel aged beers are phenomenal! Its only about an hour away from Wausau. New Glarus has Scream IIPA out now and Cran-bic which are both great beers as well.

 

[oneflyinapie]

Red Eye brewpub is pretty solid if you're into good beer and good food. Bull Falls makes great German beer and has a tap room. I prefer both of them over the Great Dane, to be honest.

 

[flars]

Check out Crossroads County Market. Not far from Great Dane. May have a good selection of beers. Just looked at their weekly ad, have Dog Fish Head Pumpkin Ale on sale. If they have that they might have the good stuff too. Their selection may be better than Festival. No Festival in Wausau though.

 

[WI_Wino]

I don't think surly distributes in wi yet. Other wisco beers to look for are ale asylum, lakefront, tyranena, capital, and Lake louie. I haven't had anything from wisconsin brewing company yet but have heard that they are ok.

 

[Much2Brew]

Thanks guys! Gives me some good options, I'm not the one driving so I get to try as much as I want.......

 

[thaworm69]

Central Waters has a bottle release this weekend for Black Gold (500 bottles limit 1) along with 16 and a new BA porter. This will be during the Amherst beer festival. The release starts at 11am in Amherst WI (45 min from wausau). There is Redeye, the Great Dane and if you are looking to purchase some beer try Trigs. They have a nice selection in their cellar 70 section! Have fun!

Edit: Also if for some reason you can make it to the Amherst beer fest, there are a ton of great guest brewery taps that will be flowing. Be sure to try Illumination, its a double IPA from Central Waters, I am unsure when the last batch was bottled, but its great fresh at the brewery!

 

[WI_Wino]

Also I would say avoid anything from Minhas. As much as it pains me to say since they are a local business for me, their beer all has this weird funky taste to it. Same after taste from their cheap lagers to Octoberfest to IIPA. They put out some cheap bombers of "craft" beer under the brand Rhinelander I think. Also Sprecher beer's have been underwhelming lately IMO. Great root beer though.

Point Brewing has a good old fashioned Wisconsin lager IMO. Totally drinkable. I also think their Cascade Pale Ale is decent. They have been coming out with some more craft style beers too under the Whole Hog name. The couple I had were pretty good I think, it's been awhile.

Be sure to report back.

 

[sumbrewindude]

In Addition to the Dane (Madison based, but Wausau present), there's Bull Falls Brewery in Wausau as well as Red Eye Brewery.

Head south to Stevens Point for the Point Brewery (Tour and tasting is always good), then while you're in the area you can head south a little more to Plover and hit up O'So (Brewery/tasting), from there you can swing over the Amherst for Central Waters (Brewery/tasting). If you can find a Festival Foods (grocery store) they've usually got an entire section in the liquor dept for Wisconsin beers, pick a few and enjoy!