Wednesday 9th of April 2014 04:17:47 PM

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Excellent tap selection (60), possibly Milwaukee's largest. I'm an IPA guy and they had Aleworks, Green Flash, and several Dogfish Head. Great Imperial Stout from Bell's in Michigan. Featured many Mid-West brews and Wisconsin, of course. Not a sports place / bar as there are no TV's, but live music acts in the back room. Lots of art on the walls and a large space. Mixed crowd leaning towards younger. A great place to sit, sip & contemplate...

Sunday 20th of July 2008 02:08:58 PM

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I enjoyed a pint at Sugar Maple after a recent visit to a Brewers game. I had only skimmed these other two reviews and I really hadn't researched the place so my expectations weren't high.

I was pretty surprised by what I found though. There are roughly 60 taps and a decent sized cooler of bottled beers. Most of the tap selection is regional craft beer. Much of it would be very interesting to a traveler. A local or someone who spends a lot of time in Milwaukee might not see too much that they couldn't get elsewhere, but these are gathered all in one spot.

Many of the breweries offerings are their standard fare or their more popular beers. It will be nice to visit Sugar Maple during the winter to see if they end up replacing these standard beers with higher gravity beers.

I enjoyed my visit and found two or three beers that I definitely would have been happy to drink. There is no food presently and they are completing an outdoor seating area.

Sunday 6th of July 2008 10:51:17 AM

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spartan, the sugar maple is very spartan... It has some interesting art on the walls and a wide open feel to it.

beer selection was very midwest. lots on tap... stone was new, ruination and hopslam and alpha king on tap. I had a bridgeburner from lakefront, which was awesome, and tastes of about 4 other beers... the beer selection here is solid, not as interesting as I hoped, but it's kinda eclectic, reminds me of old fashioned with a wider brush stroke. good bottle list too...

as I said, spartan. Blue and yellow walls, and not the armada of beer tins. The bar itself is a very impressive 60ish stools and is wavy... taking in the wooden strips that are under the bars laquered covering, it's pretty cool. They have a nice beer fridge and the place is great over all.. It's a place for relaxed conversation.

service were the two ladies behind the bar, shift change got us good service, and it being early on a saturday, gave us an empty bar... I asked about the bar and the bartender went into the story of it's construction, asked about the back room and was told it was considered for private events and the like... asked about food... owners don't want food, but the bartenders had their own ideas... owners come from chicago, one was a previous bartender at hopleaf for 10 years, left as hopleaf introduced food, also has fingers in the palm tavern down the street. Another bartender, who had been in a local rib contest that day, we were told, apparently had did a stint at the maproom... so this place has chicago influence and that, imo makes it more solid... I asked about the hood, and we got, "up and coming" which was pretty much my guess anyway, the neighborhood and kinnickkinnick in general is pretty eclectic... you need to roll down that way reguardless, it's worth exploring, and there's good beer nestled in there

outdoor seating was in the works, so while not now, will be in hopefully sooner than later.

all in all a pretty solid bar.

Monday 19th of May 2008 11:30:20 AM

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Sixty taps, no crap! Strong focus on regional craft beer, impressive list of taps, organized by brewery on the tap list. Central Waters, South Shore, Furthermore, New Glarus, Tyranena, Sprecher (Bourbon Scotch Ale), Bells, New Holland, Founders, etc. There were 2 handpumps, with the on-deck firkins listed on the taplist also. In many cases there was a minimum of 3 beers from one brewery. Bottle list was US craft focused too, a few gems such as GI Bourbon County, and 3 from Jolly Pumpkin (scarce around town).

Interior was spacious, with cool and minimal decor. The s-curved bar on the left side had a smooth finish to it, with iridescent birchwood catching the light from the front windows. Tables and a bar rail with seating were opposite of the main bar side. Framed show posters lined this side of the wall. Music was relaxed, mostly soul and jazz.

Service was great, we were offered several tastes of things, and served quickly. The afternoon crowd was sparse, but we heard it fills up on weekend nights. Look for the big "whirly-gig" maple seeds on the sign.