Category: Beer
The craft brewing scene has grown tremendously on the peninsula in recent years. Door County breweries have popped up in Egg Harbor, Sturgeon Bay, Baileys Harbor, and Ellison Bay, with two more just across the border in Kewaunee County.
Whether you love IPAs, Belgian saisons, ciders, or lagers, one of these Door County breweries will quench your thirst.
Door County Breweries
Door County Brewing Company
2434 Cty F
Baileys Harbor, WI 54202
(920) 839-1515
www.doorcountybrewingco.com
Founded in 2012, Door County Brewing Company is a family owned craft brewery. Owned and run by the McMahon family, Door County Brewing Company is located in Baileys Harbor and uses as many ingredients for their beer from Door County as possible. Their tap room features Wisconsin cheese boards and curds, live music, and they frequently bring in food trucks.
Island Orchard Cider
12040 Garrett Bay Rd
Ellison Bay, WI 54210
(920) 854-3344
www.islandorchardcider.com
Located on the northern tip of the peninsula, Island Orchard Cider makes its home in Ellison Bay. Island Orchard Cider owns an orchard on Washington Island where they grow the apples for their ciders. Their tasting room and cider pub offer customers an opportunity to see the cider making process.
Shipwrecked Brew Pub
7791 Hwy 42
Egg Harbor, WI 54209
(920) 868-2767
www.shipwreckedmicrobrew.com
Shipwrecked Brew Pub was the first microbrewery in Door County, opened in 1997. Housed in a historic building in the center of Egg Harbor that dates to 1882, the brewery and restaurant is open year ’round. Brewmaster Rich Zielke is in charge of brewing the hand-crafted Door County beers. Shipwrecked offers an extensive menu in their restaurant and also operates an inn.
Shipwrecked burned in a fire in August of 2017. Its owners hope to rebuild in time for the 2018 summer season.
Starboard Brewing Company
151 N. 3rd Ave
Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
(920) 818-1062
www.starboardbrewing.com
Located in downtown Sturgeon Bay, Starboard Brewing Company is Door County’s first nano-brewery. Their tap room offers their in-house brewed craft beers, Wisconsin cheeses, smoked salmon, and more.
Kewaunee County Breweries
Ahnapee Brewery
202 Clark St.
Algoma, WI 54201
(920) 785-0822
www.ahnapeebrewery.com
Ahnapee Brewing stretches back as far as 1868 and is an integral part of beer-making in Wisconsin. This tap room offers flatbread pizza, snacks, small-batch beers and tasting events.
Thumb Knuckle Brewing Company
E0208 Hwy 54
Luxemburg, WI 54217
www.thumbknuckle.beer
Newly opened in 2017, Thumb Knuckle Brewing Company is located in Luxemburg, Wis. The brewery has three beers available with a fourth in the works. The tap room also offers its own soda and growlers.
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Yikes! (That’s not the first word I wrote to start this, but my real response was a less genteel phrase that is generally not used to start a newspaper story.) My tongue and the entire roof of my mouth and my lips are all on fire after taking a sip of Flying Dog’s Carolina Reaper […]
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Unable to decide on what sort of beer I was in the mood for, I found myself wandering around the massive cider aisle, marveling at the assortment of ciders and perries, with a wild assortment of flavors and pairings. Two stood out to me because they were not just dry ciders and both are […]
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Cheers!: A Sourpuss and Coffee Spree
It turned out to be the week of big beers. I stopped at Bier Zot and asked head Bier Zottist Ryan Castelaz to surprise me. He came back with Skully Barrel No. 34 (aka Spiced Pear Sour 2015) from Paradox Beer Co. of Divide Colo. Mission accomplished, Ryan, because this was a surprising beer from […]
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It was impossible to not buy a sixer of Wasatch Brewery’s Black O’Lantern Pumpkin Stout when I saw it staring out at me from among a display of autumnal brews. The leering, glowing black jack o’ lantern on the label is marketing genius. I want a t-shirt! The label calls out to shoppers whose eyes […]
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“Farm to Fork” Dinner Highlights Skaliwags Food and Ahnapee Brewery
Celebrate the ageless tradition of gathering in the fall harvest at an evening of dining delights and seasonal beers during the “Farm to Fork: A Seasonal Heritage Dinner” at Heritage Hill State Historical Park. Special hosts for this evening will be “John and Mary Cotton,” original owners of the Cotton House, who will reveal the […]
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Cheers!: A Beautiful No-Brainer
Standing in front of the wall of beer at my local recently, I didn’t have anything in mind other than the idea of really kicking back and enjoying a beer. So, which exotic brew will it be today? My eyes wander from the Belgians to the Danes to the Dutch to the English to the […]
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I have a great deal of love and admiration for the guys who pioneered the craft beer movement. It was a national movement that progressed regionally. Depending on where you lived in the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, you most likely had to drive to a larger community to find a craft […]
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Door County Brewing Co. Jumps Through Final Governmental Hoop for New Taproom
At its Sept. 15 meeting, the Door County Resource Planning Committee gave its approval for a conditional use permit to Door County Brewing Co., allowing the brewery to move from its current location at the corner of Park Road and County F in Baileys Harbor to the center of the town’s commercial district on Hwy. […]
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Narrated Bus Tour of Door County’s Historical Taverns is Sept. 24
Back by popular demand, the Door County Historical Society invites people to “There’s a Tavern in the Town,” a narrated bus tour of Door County’s Historical Taverns on Sept. 24. Each rural crossroads had three things in common: a church, a school and a tavern. Within a stone’s throw, you could get education, salvation and…damnation! […]
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Door County Brewing Co. Expands Distribution to Illinois
Door County Brewing Co. expanded distribution to Illinois on Sept. 1, after signing distribution agreements with Kloss Distributing of Gurnee, Ill. and Town & Country Distributors of Itasca, Ill. Door County Brewing Co. began its distribution in Wisconsin in 2013, expanding in 2015 to Minnesota and now to Illinois. “We appreciate Door County Brewing Co.’s […]
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Cheers!: A Wheat, A Pilsner and an IPA
Needing a refreshing beverage, I reached into the magic fridge and pulled out an Oarsman Ale from Bell’s Brewery. Oh, yeah, what a nice, refreshing wheat ale. Just what I was looking for. This is a really light wheat with a lovely puckering tartness. Not much more to say about that. It’s a very good […]
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More Than 120 Craft Beers at Egg Harbor AleFest
Fall is prime beer festival season and Egg Harbor AleFest is celebrating its fifth year on Sept. 17. The first festival was held in 2012 when a group of beer lovers and Egg Harbor Business Association members tapped into the growing craft beer scene. The festival was an immediate success and has grown every year […]
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Door County Welcomes The Cajun Strangers Sept. 17
On the list of genres that make up a typical Door County summer soundtrack, the energetic, folksy Cajun is unnoticeably missing. And understandably so. While New Orleans jazz has continued its northward reach into the Midwest, that can’t be said of Louisiana’s other musical child, Cajun. Most easily recognized by its three elements – button […]
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2nd Hey Hey 5k in Baileys Harbor Sept. 24
There’s still time to sign up for the second annual Hey Hey 5k run in Baileys Harbor Sept. 24 at 8 am! The run, presented by Door County Brewing Co., is a fun way to kick off Autumnfest Saturday in Baileys Harbor. Runners get an awesome race shirt, free Hey Hey 5k pint glass and […]
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Mandolin Orange, Harvest and Ale Fests, & More Weekend Plans
Cooler weather and shorter days have done little to slow the onslaught of entertaining events on the Door Peninsula! Take in a variety of thought-provoking and downright fun music, get crafty with Mother Nature’s bountiful mushrooms, or hop on your bike for a scenic ride through the county. Friday, September 16 Chasing Ice Join Crossroads […]
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In the dog days of summer, I pine for autumn. It was one of those icky, sticky humid days in August when John McMahon stopped by the office with a sixer of Door County Brewing’s autumnal seasonal L’automne. Suddenly, things weren’t so sweaty. Even though fall was still a month away, the thought of […]
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Cheers!: Do Brewers Dream of Hopped-Up Sheep?
I think of Ridley Scott every time I have a 3 Sheeps beer. Why? Because 3 Sheeps somehow reminds me of Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which is the basis for Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner, which made me a Ridley Scott fan. The Duellists set the tone, […]
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Cheers!: What’s Wrong With Flying Monkies?
I reached into the magic fridge recently and pulled out a can of beer that felt like something else in the fridge had dripped on it, which is entirely possible due to the preponderance of beer. Other things have to be jammed in, and sometimes they leak because of the awkward angle that makes them […]
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Cheers!: Welcome to the Soft Parade
Who wouldn’t want to try a beer called Soft Parade, which, according to the label, is a “high gravity ale fermented with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.” I know not everyone likes fruit beers. I love ‘em – if they are good fruit beers. When I homebrewed, fruits were part of my palette, just another […]
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I ran into Tim Graul recently. Tim has a St. Louis connection, home of the Schlafly Brewing Co. Regular readers might recall a few months back when Tim delivered a delicious Schlafly stout. This time he had a Schlafly Helles-style Summer Lager for me. I poured it into a deep, narrow lager glass and marveled […]