A tale of 3 bars

It started with a text I received on Friday night from a friend. He stated that he was in town and that the wife and kids were going to be gone. Was I interested in tipping beers until we passed out. Hmm... Saturday with not much to do. Me, interested in imbibing a bit? Sure why not!

Knowing he wouldn't be driving, I decided to hit some bars in the neighborhood that I had heard about recently. Seems like a number of places have jumped hard on the craft brew theme. They are not offering a couple beers but along the lines of 30-50. That is something I can enjoy.

We had a couple beers at his place before moving to the quaint neighborhood that is Bay View. I wanted to check out a little corner bar I had heard about the night before. Burnhearts. After seeing the beer menu I knew it was a place to stop for a couple. The bar itself is situated in the middle of neighborhood. Just a typical corner bar that can be found in this part of town. The bar didn't seem to be that big either. Maybe 20 seats at the bar with some seating in the back. There was a couch back there along with some tables. I didn't come to sit on a couch and drink so I was at the bar. I started with the Rogue Dead Guy Ale, one of my favorites. I noticed my buddy ordered the same, something that would become a theme for the night. After the Dead Guy was bumped off I stayed on the Rogue with their Juniper Ale, a nice pale. It had a hint of fruitiness to go with the hoppiness. Not too shabby.

After that it was time to check out another place. The Sugar Maple has been open for a long time yet I had never been in the place. I see I wasn't really missing much. It felt like a library instead of a bar. More couches with tables. A long winding bar made its way along side the wall. They also served soup. Did I mistakenly come into a coffee shop? The only thing that made it look like a bar is the slew of taps on the back wall. The bartender gave us a beer menu and I took a look. The Tyranena Dirty Old Man Over a Barrel jumped out. A nice Imperial Rye Porter that was great. Still my favorite Wisconsin brewery. After we finished that I had to go with the Hairy Eye Ball, a winter brew from Lagunitas. Another great bar. The bar- which had no TV and thus no sports on- did nothing for me but the beer selection was pretty good.

My friend got a call from his buddy and wanted to go meet him at Puddlers Hall. A quick stop at home to take care of dinner and a stop at Burts Liquor to get the New Glarus Honey Bock temporarily interrupted our beer drinking. Soon we were at PH drinking Sprecher's Winter Brew. We stayed long enough to finish a good buzz and get home for some MMA fights.

Not a bad Saturday. Thankfully my friend passed out on the couch and I didn't have to explain why I wasn't driving him home. I wasn't in any condition to drive and damn happy to be at home. I now wonder what other bars in my neighborhood I might be missing out on.