Craft Breweries Find Success in the Madison, WI, Region

Jeff Adkins

More than 200 craft breweries are enjoying success these days in Wisconsin, according to TravelWisconsin.com. While many breweries operate in larger cities like Madison, several others are flourishing in the Madison, WI, Region’s smaller communities. 

New Glarus Brewing Co. in New Glarus and Vintage Brewing Co. in Sauk City are perfect examples. The two Madison, WI, Region breweries have garnered a number of accolades in recent years, including in 2023 when they both won gold medals at the 27th annual World Beer Cup that took place in Nashville, Tennessee. 

New Glarus Brewing was launched in 1993 by husband-wife team Dan and Deb Carey, and the brewery now produces about 240,000 barrels a year. That makes New Glarus the 12th-largest craft brewer in the U.S. 

“We sell our beers only in Wisconsin because we want all our products to be delivered as fresh as possible to wholesalers and retailers,” Deb Carey says. “We have a 98% placement rate, which means that 98% of places that sell alcohol in Wisconsin are carrying New Glarus brand beers.” 

Expansion in the Works

Deb Carey points out that their brewery is not a pub – it only produces beer. But New Glarus also has a tasting room and a gift shop and provides guided tours. 

“We love the New Glarus community because it’s a good location for shipping and is an attractive Swiss town with sausage makers, a bakery, boutiques, a nursery, many restaurants, beautiful hotels and walkability,” she says. “We are planning an expansion to add more equipment and a bigger parking area to our business.” 

The Madison, WI, Region brewery produces best-sellers such as Spotted Cow Farmhouse Ale, Moon Man Pale Ale and Two Women Lager, and fruit ales named Belgian Red and Raspberry Tart. Their concoction called Vintage 2022 won the World Beer Cup award in the Belgian-Style Sour Ale category. 

“Dan is a diploma-master brewer, and we are passionate about shrinking our environmental footprint by capturing our carbon dioxide, utilizing solar panels, condensing steam back to liquid, chemical reuse, water treatment and more,” Deb says. “Dan is also involved in hops and barley research to keep our specialty beers 100% natural and world class.” 

Destination Breweries

The family-owned Vintage Brewing in Sauk City traces its roots to 2002 when the Kraemer family opened their Vintage Spirits & Grill campus-area tavern on University Avenue in Madison, where it still operates today. 

“When the craft brewing industry started to pop in Madison around 2008 or so, Vintage decided to expand and begin our own brewing experience, so we added a craft brewery and pub establishment on South Whitney Way in Madison,” says Scott Manning, brewmaster and partner with Vintage Brewing. “That brewery also has an event space to hold weddings and celebrations for about 80 people.” 

Manning says the company eventually wanted to grow even more, and those dreams came to fruition with a beer-garden-style event space that can accommodate about 250 people. Overlooking the Wisconsin River from the beer garden, visitors may enjoy an ambiance of craft beverages, live music, and a menu of snack foods, sandwiches and salads. 

“We found a good piece of land in Sauk City in 2017 and opened a Vintage Brewing Co. location there in 2018,” Manning says. “The village leaders of Sauk City were great to work with and very interested in having a craft brewery and entertainment attraction such as ours.” 

Today, Vintage Brewing has a deal with Wisconsin Distributors to have Vintage-branded products sold at warehouses and retailers throughout about 50% of the state. 

“As for the 2023 World Beer Cup award, I received a gold medal for my Pumpernickel Porter that won in the Herb and Spice category,” Manning says. “The Pumpernickel Porter has kind of a sourdough twang, but it is not too sour, and it also has a real richness and body from the malt. It’s an unusual and very tasty craft beer.”