The Perfect Wisconsin Beer Road Trip

It is absolutely no secret that people from Wisconsin love to drink. It's one of the few things I actually like about Wisconsin. They KNOW how to have a good time. One of my favorite "maps" is the one that shows how many bars per person each state has.

thrillist.com

Wisconsin more than doubling Illinois is very funny. Sure, Montana and North Dakota check in with higher numbers but that's because there's like 7 people living there. 2 or 3 extra bars will throw things out of wack. I've never been to either of those states but from what I've heard, the drinking there is more functional because there is literally nothing else to do, and not many people to not do things with. I still firmly believe that there is no good reason for us to have 2 Dakotas. I'm big Team Megakota.

But Wisconsin is mostly fun drinking. It can certainly be overdone, but I've never had a bad time going out in Wisconsin.

How'd they get so good at drinking? Their state was literally founded on it. Wisconsin has 5 of the 10 oldest breweries in the country. You can get to all of them from Rockford in a day. Let's take a virtual tour from youngest (154 years old) to the oldest (187 years old.)

5. Leinenkugel Brewing Company - Chippewa Falls, WI - 3HR 49MIN (253mi) Drive

Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co.

Affectionately known as "Leiney's" at your favorite bar. Leinenkugel's was founded in 1867. They were bought by Miller in 1988, but still brew all their beer, even their very popular Summer Shandy, right in Chippewa Falls.

4. Stevens Point Brewery - Stevens Point, WI - 2HR 42MIN (175mi) Drive

Point Brewery

Stevens Point wasn't available outside of Wisconsin until 1990, 133 years after they opened their doors in 1857. Their biggest seller is the Point Special Lager. I know about Stevens Point but I don't think I've actually had any of their beer.

3. Miller Brewing Company - Milwaukee, WI - 1HR 37MIN (94mi) Drive

MillerCoors

One of the big boys. It's a race between them and my college favorite Keystone Light as to which one I've had more of. It's probably still Key Light but I might have one more the rest of my life. I'll probably have at least 1000 more Great Tasting Less Fillings before I die. Founded in 1855, it took them 120 years to figure out Miller Lite before it was released in '75.

4. Minhas Craft Brewery - Monroe, WI - 58MIN (44mi) Drive

This is the only brewery on this list that I've never heard of. Founded in 1845, Minhas spans 3 city blocks and is known for their Thunderbolt malt liquor. Sounds disgusting. I'll have to try it.

5. Pabst Brewing Company - Milwaukee, WI - 1HR 37MIN (94mi) Drive

Wikipedia

The third oldest brewery in the country and oldest in Milwaukee, Pabst was founded in 1844. It spent most of its life being a discount beer for people that liked to buy 30-packs before the hipster trend made it a must for every bar in a major city. It also has the best slogan of any brewery on here. PBR me ASAP.

They also made this commercial, which is objectively awesome.

You can do all these in one long day. Just make sure you have a designated driver, because that will be a long one.

LOOK: Best Beers From Every State

To find the best beer in each state and Washington D.C., Stacker analyzed January 2020 data from BeerAdvocate, a website that gathers user scores for beer in real-time. BeerAdvocate makes its determinations by compiling consumer ratings for all 50 states and Washington D.C. and applying a weighted rank to each. The weighted rank pulls the beer toward the list's average based on the number of ratings it has and aims to allow lesser-known beers to increase in rank. Only beers with at least 10 rankings to be considered; we took it a step further to only include beers with at least 100 user rankings in our gallery. Keep reading to find out what the best beer is in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C.