Three Floyds, Bells, Founders, and Lagunitas are nice. Pipeworks is great but local to Chicago. The only brewery I avoid so far is Three Stars, so I’m a bit surprised to see it mentioned as a favorite multiple times here.
I am a fan of Saint Arnold’s, their Fancy Lawnmower kolsch is a great summer beer , and the Art Car IPA is a worthy American IPA
Hair of the Dog
Give me a bottle of Fred and we’ll be friends for life.
Give me a bottle of Bourbon Fred From The Wood Barley Wine and I will hide bodies for you.
Heh, I was hanging out with my son and his buddy (8 year olds). They were throwing frisbee, I was drinking beers. I called Lagunitas 1-800 line just to tell them how much I was enjoying their bomber bottles. Entire conversation consisting of one of us talking while the other laughed convulsively. Back and forth. I opened another.
Called my son’s buddies parents, who ok’d a sleepover.
I’ve heard Treehouse is awesome beer. Maybe available only at the brewery? Anyone ever been there or had their brews?
Aside: this isn’t North American, so it’s tangential to this discussion; and it isn’t a brewery, either. But Hell, this is impressive in a rather disturbing way.
Your new go-to resource for British and Irish brewery information. Should you need it.
j
Spotted Cow was one of the first not-hoppy craft beers I tried. It’s a “Slightly Cloudy Farmhouse Ale”, and really unlike anything else I’ve tried.
Oh, according to this, it’s the most popular beer in Wisconsin. (I doubt that, we have plenty of yahoos who’d say “Gimme a Bud Light, it’s cheaper. A Cow has too much taste.”)
But I’d agree with that ‘History Of’ article when it says: “Spotted Cow is ubiquitous in Wisconsin and the stuff of legend for beer fans who live out of state.”
Anyhow, on the strength of liking one beer, I’ve tried almost everything else they’ve come up with. Most with more hops than a Cow… Moon Man is amazing (hoppy yet malty), as is Two Women (hoppy yet hoppy), Fat Squirrel (nutty yet squirrelly), and Cabin Fever (they do a number of Bocks… this is the coziest).
And we made a pilgrimage to the brewery (great tour, and it’s in the cutest little Swiss village).
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ps, if the Packers get a touchdown, it’s because I’m sipping a Spotted Cow at my local tavern. Last night we watched at a friend’s house, and we had a Sampler Case of six different New Glaruses… no wonder the Pack didn’t suck (like last week).
Indeed. Their tour in Milwaukee is one of my favorites. Minhas Brewery in Monroe will also get you sloshed on the tour but the tour isn’t as interesting (though after you’ve seen a couple smaller breweries, you’ve seen them all) and their beer isn’t nearly as good (they basically contract brew a lot of store labels – pretty sure they do or at least did some of Trader Joe’s and Costco’s [Kirkland] beers.) I don’t remember any of the beers I had at least when I last went on their tour about ten years ago as being particuarly good examples of the style. But they have some alcohol bombs that will get you blitzed right quick.
Yeah, all the New Glarus beers are solid. I think Spotted Cow is a wee bit over-hyped, but it’s a solid beer for both macro and craft drinkers. Doesn’t have any overpowering flavors to scare away the BudMillCoors folks and has enough character and drinkability for the craft beer guys who want to give their taste buds a rest. I remember when they still had the small brewery before moving to their beer-wonderland-on-a-hill.
What really impressed me about New Glarus is their fruit beers. I’m not a sweet beer drinking kind of guy, but their Belgian red made with Door County cherries is just amazing, with a powerful scent and flavor of fresh sour cherries. The taste of fresh fruit in that is just incredible. One of the best fruit beers, if not best, I’ve ever had. Their raspberry one is similarly exceptional, and I also like their Serendipity, brewed with apples, cranberries, and cherries. All phenomenal stuff, but a little goes a long way – it’s something I would recommend drinking in 6 or 8 oz portions tops before moving on to something light and palate cleansing. The sweet-and-sour flavors are well balanced, but the sweetness is evident when you smack your lips.
Maine Beer Company is amazing; it had been fun to see how much they had grown with each trip up there. Plus, they have an awesome selection for a small brewery. I’m having to follow them remotely now, since I’ve missed several trips due to COVID. 
A few of their beers were briefly available on tap at a bar in Cary, NC, but that place is exclusively wine now, so I’m without my beer.
Allagash Brewing has yet to disappoint me, but given that I can buy their beer at the local grocery stores I’m guessing that they aren’t so small anymore.
I will be trawling through this list for beers to try. Thanks to the OP for starting the thread!
My current favorites:
Capital Brewery (Madison, WI)
Titletown Brewing (Green Bay, WI)
New Glarus Brewing (New Glarus, WI)
For the first two, I’m particularly a fan of their red/amber beers (Wisconsin Amber and Johnny Blood Red, respectively).
For the latter, I don’t actually like their variety that people here in Chicago go mad for – Spotted Cow – but my wife’s cousin gave me a twelve-pack of their Oktoberfest beer a couple of weeks ago, and it’s very good.
Taste is subjective. But I say Minhas beer is awful. I liked the tour because of all the vintage beer labels I got to see. But all their brew is lousy.
And it was lousy before Minhas took over. It was Huber Brewing and their beer wasn’t very good either.
I’m the diplomatic sort … 
But you said what I would have said if I were being candid. They did give you plenty of beer, though. We got well buzzed there the couple times we visited. And when I went, I think we even got a six pack mix-and-match to go with the price of the tour.
Oh, and with Huber, I seem to recall finding Huber Bock down here in the Chicago area back around 1995, when I was in college. For the price, I found it a surprisingly good beer. And “by the price” I mean shockingly cheap, like macrobrew prices or perhaps even slightly cheaper. This was kind of at the first national wave of craft brews (or what I remember as the first wave), so there wasn’t a hell of a whole lot of good beer to choose from. It sure as hell beat out the usual college swill at the time. But that’s all I remember of Huber. I suspect I’d find it insipid now, but at the time it was interesting having beer with at least some flavor to it.
They still make it, along with the Huber lager. I don’t care for either. Huber/Minhas beer has a funny taste, either from the barley they use or the yeast strain.
Back in the 70’s and 80’s Huber made Braumeister beer, not to be confused with Meister Brau.
It was swill but it was $1.88 for a case of 24 twelve ounce glass bottles.
It’s being made again, in cans. by Minhas. it’s not the same as it was but it still sucks. $8.99 for a 30 pack back in 2017.