Up in Madison, WI recently, I had a late afternoon meeting that ran into the early evening. At the end of the session I told the guys that I was going out to grab a brew or two and something to eat. A couple of the guys had to beg off due to family obligations, but one of the guys said that he'd go out with me. He said that he'd heard about a newish place out in Verona, just west of Madison, called Brews Brothers. One of the other guys said, "Hey, there's one up in Middleton. It's been open for awhile." Since I was staying in Middleton that evening, I said that we could go back there for something to eat and drink.
The reason I have Mr. Brews Taphouse in the parenthesis in the title of this entry is that by the time you read this they may have changed the name of their places in the Madison area. The first Brews Brothers opened near Wausau, WI in March of 2013. Steve Day and Gary Hanson are the partners in the establishments which focuses on burgers, local breweries, and a sports bar theme. The Middleton location opened in December of 2013 and the Verona location opened in the Spring of 2014. I understand a fourth Brews Brothers - most likely a Mr. Brew's Taphouse - will open soon if it hasn't already in Waunakee, just north of Madison with a Madison location on State Street slated to open soon, as well, with even more beer taps than the one in Middleton.
The Middleton Brews Brothers is located in a strip mall along Junction Road just south of Old Sauk Road just west of the Madison beltway. (see map) There's plenty of parking but there's other business there that take up a lot of the parking spots. I was lucky to find a spot with a car leaving as I pulled up near Brews Brothers. My guest that evening, driving his own car, wasn't as lucky. He had to circle the lot a few times before he got a parking spot toward the back of the lot.
Brews Brothers isn't that large, it's a narrow space with entrances on both the west and east side of the building. Lighted beer signs and a number of flat screen televisions helped give a the place a somewhat eerie glow. (Below left - Note the insufferable jackass giving me the finger as I took the picture.)
Brews Brothers has nearly 50 craft beers on tap - many from micro-breweries from Wisconsin and other parts of the Midwest - with a handful of beers available in bottles. Looking through the beer menu, I saw that they had the Kona Big Wave Golden Ale on tap. When our server for the evening, Darby, came over to greet me after I sat down (my guest was still trying to find a parking spot) I immediately ordered a pint of the Big Wave. She came back a couple moments later and said, "I'm sorry, but we're out of the Kona Big Wave. We have another Kona beer on tap." It was the Longboard Lager. I told her that I'd take that instead.
About the same time that my guest finally got into the place, Darby came back to the table to let me know that the keg for the Kona Longboard had just blown. OK - a place with nearly four dozen beers on tap is now two for two on beers it is out of. I ended up getting a Capital Wisconsin Amber that is brewed less than a couple miles away at the Capital Brewery. My guest got a Warped Speed Scotch Ale from the Lake Louie Brewing Co. located in Arena, WI about 30 miles northwest of Madison.
The menu at the Middleton Brews Brothers/Mr. Brew's is definitely slanted toward burgers. They feature a dozen burgers (including a turkey burger) as well as a pulled pork sandwich and a grilled chicken sandwich. For a sports bar they are unusually lacking on appetizers - there are only two on the menu. The burgers are ground 5 ounce patties (pre-cooked) that the restaurant gets from Knoche's, a long time Madison area butcher shop, and then served on a bakery-fresh bun. Pickles, onions (raw or grilled), tomato and lettuce are also available with each burger.
Some of the interesting burgers on the menu include a bacon, mac & cheese burger with a beef patty topped with, well, bacon, mac & cheese and finished off with a sprinkle of cayenne pepper. The Rajun' Cajun features a burger with pepperjack cheese and a housemade Cajun lime sauce. Or for the truly adventurous, you can get the Rajun' Cajun with habanero jack cheese and jalapenos. And the Kentucky Bourbon Classic is topped with cheddar cheese, grilled onions, bacon, French-fried onions and a housemade Kentucky Bourbon sauce.
I ended up getting the mushroom/Swiss cheese burger and asked Darby if I could get bacon with it. (There was an 89 cent upcharge for bacon on the burger - which is cheap compared to other places who will charge $1.50 to $2 bucks.) Interestingly, it said in the menu that the burger was also topped in gravy. Hmmm... OK. Fries came with the burger and I had my choice of seasonings - Cajun', sea salt and cracked black pepper, parmesan cheese with garlic, barbecue sauce, cheddar cheese sauce or ranch dressing. I got them with the sea salt and cracked black pepper.
My guest got the California burger that is topped with a slice of pepperjack cheese, an avacado spread and a roasted red bell pepper sauce. He got the parmesan cheese and garlic seasoning for his fries.
The burgers came out and my burger was loaded with Swiss cheese and fresh sauteed mushrooms with a couple slices of thick cut bacon. But there was no gravy on the burger. It wasn't a deal buster, but I would have liked to have tried the taste of gravy on the burger - especially if they advertise it as having gravy on it. The fries were sort of thin cut and, quite honestly, I didn't see much cracked black pepper on them - if any. But the burger was good and juicy. The bun was fresh and airy. It was a good burger, plain and simple.
My guest's burger had a large dollop of the avocado spread (not guacamole) with a smaller dollop of the roasted red pepper spread on top. He said that the overall taste was very good. It looked like there was a lot of taste sensations going on with his burger.
So, Brews Brothers/Mr. Brews Taphouse is basically all about beers and burgers. I would give them a nod to the number of microbrews they have, but knock a points off for not having two of the first beers that I ordered. And they do have some interesting and eclectic burgers on the menu, but they did forget the gravy like I was supposed to get on my burger. I know they're looking to expand the concept through franchising so there's a chance you'll see a lot more of the Mr. Brews Taphouse locations in the future. (Picture courtesy Host.Madison.com)
Comments