No Matter Where You Live in Wisconsin, These 9 Breweries Will Keep You Cool This Summer

From classics like Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy to newcomers like 608 Brewing Co.’s Mexican Chocolate Cake stout, there’s no shortage of brews to beat the summer heat.

As temperatures and vaccination rates rise, Wisconsinites are making their way back to local breweries this summer to enjoy a beer or two. Many breweries in Wisconsin are offering seasonal brews for their customers to try, along with some summer promotions and events to attract Wisconsinites from across the state. 

New Glarus Brewing Co., New Glarus

New Glarus Brewing Co. still has most of their public areas closed due to COVID-19, but the brewery is offering a summer beer in their “Thumbprint Series” for this year.

Lots o’ Peach 21 is available in stores around the state. The brewery says the beer has “sour brown ale juiciness balanced by just the right amount of funky stone fruit pit center.”

New Glarus’ annual beer vote opens on July 1. 

Hinterland Brewery, Ashwaubenon

Hinterland Brewery, located across the street from Lambeau Field, has a Door County Cherry Wheat beer on tap for the summer with a “crisp, clean mouthfeel.” This summertime brew has notes of Montmorency cherry. 

Although brewery tours are still closed, customers are encouraged to enjoy a meal in the Beer Hall or High Gravity Test Kitchen. 

Ale Asylum, Madison

Hopalicious American Pale Ale and Unshadowed Hefeweizen are just two of the popular beers at Ale Asylum in Madison during the summer months. 

The pale ale has eleven additions of Cascade Hops to give the beer “bold hop flavor and lush citrus aroma without crazy bitterness.” 

The classic German Hefeweizen is “vibrant as a summer sun and über refreshing.” 

Like at Hinterland, brewery tours are still closed, but the kitchen at Ale Asylum is open Wednesday through Saturday, and the indoor and outdoor patio are open Wednesday through Sunday. 

Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee

Milwaukee’s Lakefront Brewery has a light-bodied ale for customers to savor in the warm summer months. Raspberry Nimbus gets its fruity notes from an infusion of raspberries and lime. Throughout the summer, the brewery is holding a number of events such as beer flow yoga, drag queen bingo, trivia nights, and more. 

3 Sheeps Brewery, Sheboygan

3 Sheeps Brewery in Sheboygan has three different summer ales. The brewery is also selling a summer Explorer pack with four different beers included. 

3 Sheeps’ spring/summer seasonal beer is Tiki Time, a passionfruit golden ale. 

Fresh Coast Juicy Pale and Ale and Chaos Pattern Hazy IPA are year-round beers, but these two are also featured in the summer Explorer pack. Fresh Coast has notes of passionfruit, papaya, mango and citrus fruits with a low bitterness. 

Chaos Pattern has tropical fruit and citrus flavors and a “soft luxurious mouthfeel” to make it refreshing in the warm weather. 

In addition to Fresh Coast and Chaos Pattern, the Explorer Pack features a summer exclusive called Full Spectrum, which is a blackberry lemongrass fruited sour ale, and Rebel Kent, an amber ale with Belgian yeast and rye-malt spice. 

608 Brewing Co., La Crosse

On July 1, 608 Brewing Co. in La Crosse released five new brews for people to enjoy around Independence Day: 

Mexican Chocolate Cake is a barrel-aged imperial stout with notes of cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon, and ancho chile. 

Single Barrel 10, an imperial stout that spent 14 months developing flavor notes of caramel, fudge, vanilla wafers, and bittersweet chocolate in Willet Rye barrels. 

The two stouts will likely be released in limited quantities. 

Hype Machine: People’s Choice is a smoothie sour with strawberry, pineapple, and mango; Patriot Missile is a high-gravity malt liquor; and Static Spark is a Gose ale with notes of strawberry, basil, and salt. 

In June, the brewery also offered 608 Premium Helles lager and Citranado, a house hazy IPA with Citra hops and notes of orange, pear, and pineapple. 

Badger State Brewing, Green Bay

Wisconsinites in the Green Bay area can enjoy live music, hard seltzers, beer cones, beertails, and local summer brews at Badger State Brewing. Every Friday night in its beer garden, Badger State hosts a rotation of live music and local food trucks, along with summer drinks, as part of its Block Party Summer Concert Series. 

Among the beverages customers can enjoy, Badger State branched into the realm of hard seltzer with three different flavors on tap: grapefruit guava, strawberry lemonade, and coconut pineapple. All of them are made with real fruit and are gluten-free. 

Customers looking to try a frozen treat can order a beer cone: Bartenders take a beer from the bar, add a puree of fresh fruit and freeze it to enjoy in an ice cream cone. New flavors are available each week. 

For a “refreshingly fruity” beverage, customers can enjoy any of Badger State’s five beertails, a mix of in-house beer and Q Soda in flavors like grapefruit, lemonade, cola, and ginger ale. 

For the old-school beer drinkers, Caddyshack is Badger State’s summer batch of brew. The Hazy IPA is “smooth, tropical, and hop-forward” with notes of pineapple, tangerine, stone fruit, and mango. 

Central Waters Brewing Co., Amherst

In Amherst, and soon, Milwaukee, Central Waters Brewing Co. is offering a wide array of seasonal beers with fan favorites like Crew Drive Pilsner, the “juice-packed” Tropical Face Punch IPA, Salty Dog Gose ale with real grapefruit and sea salt, and more. 

Central Waters resumed brewery tours led by retired UW-Stevens Point Professor Dr. Scott Frazier on June 5, and the company is also preparing to open a second brewery and taproom in Milwaukee’s former Captain Pabst Pilot House. The timeline for the opening is late summer or early fall of this year. 

Leinenkugel’s, Chippewa Falls and Milwaukee

Last but certainly not least, Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy, a mix of their traditional weiss beer with refreshing lemonade flavor, is on tap until August. 

The Chippewa Falls-based brewery also has a Grapefruit Shandy, which is exclusively sold in the Brewology Pack along with the classic Summer Shandy, Berry Weiss, and Canoe Paddle Kölsch. This summer 12-pack is available through August. 

Leinenkugel’s Session Helles beer is brewed with Tradition hops and select Munich malt. It is a “bright, light-bodied beer with just the right amount of bitterness for the style and a crisp finish.” This brew is available all the way into September. 

The Leinie Lodge in Chippewa Falls hosted its Summer Kickoff on June 19 with live music, food trucks, and a bags tournament. The lodge is hosting different food trucks on most Fridays and Saturdays through September. Dick Leinenkugel also hosts a scenic bike ride through Chippewa Falls on most Tuesdays, starting and ending at the Leinie Lodge.