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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Suds with Sophie: Giving the Gift of Beer
If you’re struggling to find a holiday gift for the craft-beer lover in your life, don’t fret! I have a few ideas that just might work out perfectly. Purchasing beer for a friend can be difficult because of the large number of styles – and interpretations within those styles – that are available. Unless you’re familiar with […]
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Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder is not really how the third-century-B.C. Greek proverb was written, but in the age of craft beer and Instagram, it has become the mantra of brewery owners who are keen on turning beer browsers into beer buyers. By the end of this year, the Brewers Association […]
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Suds with Sophie: Yeast and Beer Pairing
Brewing Ingredients: Yeast, Part 2 With Thanksgiving right around the corner, now is the best time to scour the shelves for the perfect pairing beer. The key to this holiday’s perfect beer pairing? Yeast! Last time, we had a quick introduction to yeast, and this time, we’ll delve a little deeper into the science and […]
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Suds with Sophie: Brewing Ingredients, Part 6
Yeast, Part 1 by Sophie Nelson [email protected] The final ingredient in beer – yeast – was essential but unknown even as recently as the 1500s, although beer had been made since at least 5000 B.C. In 1516, the Reinheitsgebot Beer Purity Law, introduced in Bavaria, limited the ingredients that could be used to make beer to […]
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Beer and Halloween candy pairings – for real! by Sophie Nelson, [email protected] Just because trick-or-treating will be minimal at best this year, that doesn’t mean you should skip the candy purchases. Instead, have a spooky night at home pairing your favorite candies with some delicious beers! Pairing beer and food is almost never a one-perfect-pair […]
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Peninsula Brewery Battle Results
The battle among five Door County breweries – Starboard, Ahnapee, Bridge Up, Door County Brewing and One Barrel – played out Sept. 26 at Sonny’s Pizzeria in Sturgeon Bay in the categories of stout/porter, pale ale/IPA and brewer’s choice. Participants blind-taste-tested three beer flights and voted for their favorite in each round. The brewery with […]
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Suds with Sophie: Brewing Ingredients, Part Five
Hops, Part Two by Sophie Nelson, [email protected] The last time we chatted about beer ingredients, I gave a little history and country-specific information about hops. The use of hops in beer, however, is much more complicated than simply throwing the little, green flower into some liquid. There’s a whole lot of chemistry behind the process, […]
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Menus are changing along with the weather, so now is the time to revisit local establishments to see what’s new for fall – in a safe and socially distanced way, of course. Spicy, warm, rich and hearty come to mind when thinking about autumn dining and drinking, and there’s plenty to discover across the county. Here’s […]
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Suds with Sophie: Celebrate Oktoberfest at Home
by Sophie Nelson, [email protected] Even though Oktoberfest events – from local shindigs to the weeklong event in Germany – are canceled this year, that doesn’t mean you can’t still celebrate at home! Many breweries nationwide are brewing up their version of an “Oktoberfest” beer, and some German imports are on the shelves as well. Let’s […]
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For the first time, five Door County breweries – Starboard, Ahnapee, Bridge Up, Door County Brewing and One Barrel – will face off with blind taste tests to let members of the public vote for their favorite beers during the Peninsula Brewery Battle. A similar event has taken place the past two years, but on […]
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Brewing Ingredients, Part Four: Hops
by Sophie Nelson [email protected] Thanks to the IPA craze a few years ago, every beer drinker – and many who swear they will never be beer drinkers – are familiar with hops: the third ingredient in brewing. Hops contribute important characteristics to beer through balance, aroma and flavor. Although hops are one of the four […]
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German Comfort Food a Highlight at The Mill Supper Club
When Cory Lehman took ownership of The Mill Supper Club at the junction of Highways 42 and 57 on the north end of Sturgeon Bay, he took over a well-established restaurant: The previous owners had been at the helm for 55 years. Having worked there as a teenager, he knew there were aspects of the […]
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Suds with Sophie: Grilling with Beer
by Sophie Nelson, [email protected] Now that it’s August, I hope you’ve had plenty of chances to get some grilling practice because now we’re going to talk about creating the perfect beer-and-grilling combinations. Beer Can Chicken This is a fun, tasty and very easy recipe that involves shoving an open beer can in a chicken and […]
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Brewing Ingredients, Part 3: Barley Revisited
by Sophie Nelson, [email protected] The last time I discussed barley, I talked about the specific characteristics that make it perfect for brewing, and the geographic areas in which barley can grow – which included the origin of the idea that wine is somehow fancier than beer. This time I’ll talk about what must be done […]
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Hacienda Beer Co. Continues Ever-Moving Planet Series
Hacienda Beer Co., the sister brewery to Door County Brewing Co., has released the second beer in its ongoing series called Ever-Moving Planet. The series features IPAs, and each new release highlights a different grain. “Our first iteration of Ever-Moving Planet was released back in March and featured spelt – a grain very similar to […]
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Suds with Sophie: Sour Smoothie Beers
by Sophie Nelson, [email protected] The other week I was chatting with a friend about a beer release at a brewery he follows. This, of course, is not a novel conversation. The beer style, however, is what caught my attention: a line of smoothie sour beers. Yes, you read that right. I admit I’m not the […]
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Hügel Haus Switches from Sunday Dinner to Brunch
The German restaurant and “Door County’s wurst bar” in Ellison Bay has changed its Sunday routine from serving dinner to serving brunch. Every Sunday for the foreseeable future, you’ll be able to indulge in a delicious brunch, 9 am – 2 pm. The menu features a variety of classic breakfast and lunch options, plus some […]
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Suds with Sophie: Barley, The Perfect Brewing Grain
by Sophie Nelson, [email protected] This is part two of a series on beer ingredients. Find part one here. Beer has been an important part of cultures that has been brewed in a – sometimes speculated – culturally vital way for millennia. This is especially interesting considering the lack of scientific understanding of the brewing process until […]
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Door County Brewery Hosts Thursday Farmers’ Market
The Door County Brewery is in its third season of hosting a pop-up farmers’ market each Thursday, 11 am – 1 pm, through September. Vendors who sell produce, honey products, eggs, berries, juice, fruit and more include Cold Climate Farms, Robertson Orchard, Big Dog Family Farm, Sap Happy Maple Products, Periwinkle Moon Farm and Donna […]
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Spritz: a New Pop-Up Concept at Goose & Twigs
Goose & Twigs Lodging in Sister Bay has debuted a new food-and-drink concept called Spritz to attract guests coming and going on Friday and Saturday evenings. The idea is modeled after the Italian aperitivo: a few hours between the end of the workday and before dinner that are filled with nibbling on snacks and sipping […]