New Glarus Brewing Company Review

Public place with no access to any rest rooms! That is if you're a truck driver.
This place is racist against truck drivers.

Great place with amazing beer. One of the best scenic motorcycle rides so we take it often. We generally ride back with some brews in the tour pack. A bottle cap came off on the ride home one time, so we reached out and they shipped us a bottle of their seasonal selection for free. I thought that was extremely nice of them to do that. Im a firm believer in taking care of your customers, and they seem to do that well so we keep coming back!

I haven't been to an R&D release before, and I didn't know what to expect. We resigned ourselves to a plan sure to disappoint: we aimed to arrive at 9am, wait in whatever mess of a queue we were presented with, and leave with enough information to have a better time the next trip.

Except that every snag we could think of was already addressed. Employees were heads-up and spotted our various confusions and directed us well. The space available swallowed up the not insignificant crowd there for the release, and we were done with the whole pickup in minutes.

So we celebrated with Serendipity in the beer garden. We've been to the original brewery, and the hilltop brewery when it was new, but we've been absent for the last few years. I don't expect we'll make that mistake again. This was not the New Glarus I fondly remembered, this is an excellent maturation of the operations and grounds and it demands further visits.

Worth the trip Thanks to all who were working g today...

Love the beer, moon man is one of my favorites. However the tasting room was kind of a joke. Only 5 beers on tap and $8 for a pint and a glass. That's ridiculous, and the glass isn't even a full pint. Usually when you go to a tasting room at a brewery you are welcomed with super reasonable prices and a wide selection of beers you don't see everywhere. Not at new glarus. Also, the staff was pretty cold. We were two of no more than 10 people there. Get a six pack of your favorite and drink in the comfort of your home.

If you are looking for a brewery in Wisconsin, look no further! This place is amazing. The brewery is immaculate and fully exposed for your viewing pleasure. Great beer garden to hang out plus you can drink all around the premises. Lastly, you can buy all of their beer, especially research and development varieties, in bulk! In additional, the town of New Glarus just north is very cool.

What a wonderful place. I enjoyed the self guided brewery tours and the tasting room offered great inexpensive beer, even got to keep the glass. We camped across the street at the State park and walked over, no need for a DD!

Visited the New Glarus Brewing Company as I am new to Wisconsin and their Spotted Cow beer is a must have when residing in or visiting the area. The Tap room location was a little hard to find due to when you look up the brewery in google maps it directs you to a different location, but that isn't really a problem as they are expecting this and have a box with maps leading you a little down the road to the actual location. There are a couple parking lots once you get there, one right as you pull in and one farther up the hill. The first parking lot is near a trail which you will use to hike up to the patio area and tasting room. The hike is nice but uphill most the way, and I highly recommend it, but if you are with relatives that have trouble walking or you yourself do I would just park at the second parking lot up the hill. The Tap room is great with a nice selection of beer, after a purchase they give you a token you can use at bars in the town of New Glarus, and their beer depot which has bottles and 6 packs to purchase has a nice selection. Highly recommend this one, but you should know there is no food, the owners at the brewery love the town they live in and highly recommend you visit the town for food. 5 stars for a great experience, I will definitely return!!

Brewery with a WORTHY patio!

Took us two and a half hours from Chicago to get here. New Glarus is a smaller Wisconsin town that requires driving on back roads to get to. The land that this brewery is located on is iconic. New Glarus Brewing is one of the more picturesque breweries I've visited.

The parking lot is a little chaotic. Keep in mind you have not only tons of locals that visit daily, but also travelers. The brewery is located on a hill. The main parking lot is located next to the entrance. The over flow parking lot is located parallel to that, and then I was told there was another parking lot at the bottom of the hill. We went on a Saturday at 2:00pm and snagged a parking spot in the main lot, but it was sheer luck.

Walk up a set of stone stairs all the way to the top, to get to the tasting room. Take a Ralph. There is a staff member located at a register to give you your wristband for three tastings ($8), or the other option was to order a pint. Then, the bar was in the next room. The place filled up quick! On tap was Two Women, Moon Man, Spotted Cow, Cabin Fever, Belgian Red, and Totally Naked.

Now... about the beer. It's a Wisconsin staple, and can ONLY be sold in Wisconsin. So, yes, that might be another reason why people travel to visit this gem of a brewery! Spotted Cow is most popular. Personally, my favorite is Fat Squirrel, which is out of season, and will continue to be out of season for quite some time (SAD FACE).

Sharing the room with the Tasting Area, is a smaller gift shop that has apparel and nick knacks. If you exit the building where you came from and go straight, there is a bigger gift shop.

Walk down the set of stone stairs, and the beer store is on the bottom level. I like this because you can mix and match bottles of four packs or six packs for purchase!!

The patio.... my favorite part of this brewery, by far! It's dog friendly, which we did end up bringing our pooch, and saw other dogs, as well! There were even water bowls for dogs set out. The patio had picnic style seating and plenty of it! The view is great! There were even mini trails that we took our dog on a walk on with our tasting beers. So relaxing!

This brewery is a must for the view, beer, patio, gift shop, beer store, and self guided tour. We spent an hour and a half here! It's a great day trip from Chicago!!!

Pretty great self tour. Wish the machines were running though

Rode out on the bike with some friends, the building is very new and looks good. But the tour is a " self guided tour" no info. No q and a. Takes less than 10 minutes to see everything in this tour. Not worth the drive. Always wanted to come and was disappointing.

What a WONDERFUL day we had visiting your brewery. Great tasting beer and the self guided tour was better than I anticipated it being. We meet two of your employees Lance who was answering questions on the tour whom was such a pleasure to talk with and had so much knowledge of the brewery and Tyler whom we ran into after his shift having his pint who took a half hour of his time to grace us with his knowledge on the process of making the beer. Thanks for your hospitality and we will be telling our friends of our wonderful day at your brewery!!

The open courtyard/taproom area is incredibly scenic and great to stroll around. The fruit and farmhouse beers are top-notch and definitely worth the visit for any beer enthusiast visiting the area. Bunch of rare stuff too!

With the articulate attention to detail and great beers, this is must stop for anyone!

This brewery exceeded my expectations! Beer is top-notch quality and flavor, which I already knew. However, when visiting for the first time, I discovered how great this place is on the outside as well. It's a brew lovers paradise!

This place is located in a fantastic place and offers pretty delicious beers that can only be found in Wisconsin. My rating is based on the fact that this is a great place to spend a few hours sharing a few pints with friends or family especially during summer or early fall.
A few things to keep in mind: the prices on site are more pricey than at a local bar even if you take getting your pint with your purchase into account. The selection may be a little small, which is surprising since you are at the source.
Finally, the to-go prices are a little more expensive than the ones you will find at your local stores. Yes, some beers found there are only available at the brewery but this is something to keep in mind.
Having said this, I would recommend this place to anybody at least once.

Clean and shiny and smelled delicious (beer! Yeast!) inside. Gorgeous grounds and facility.

Beautiful grounds and a very nice set up facility. The self guided tour would have been a little better with a few signs explaining what you were looking at. The samples were a little expensive but the beer is worth it.

One of the most unique brewery campuses I have been too and in an unique town of New Glarus. It's a perfect settling and beautiful area with great views and location. A nice drive from Madison down Highway 69. One thing that I would be love to do is a guided tour which is offered only on selective days, the self guided tour is okay but I would like to know more. Patio area, shop area and samples are excellent. This brewery is more than just spotted cow, which is great and have more to offer. Highly recommended.

Great place but was hoping for more of a variety of beers available in the taproom. Beer prices at the store were nothing special but they allowed you to build 6 packs

Best brewery anywhere. Amazing cleanliness and property is beautiful.

Beautiful brewery with my favorite beers. I look forward to returning in the summer when the patio is full and lively!

Well I was surprised that they only had six beers to taste. They give you a glass a little bigger than a shot glass and they fill it up 3x's for $8. Or you can get a 16 oz glass with one fill for $8. I asked how can I try beers outside the six? I was told a local tap house would probably have more of a selection. I could have stayed in Milwaukee for that. Anyway you get a coupon for another beer at a few local establishments.

Best looking, cleanest brewery I've been to, and the beer is phenomenal.

My wife enjoyed $8 for 3 4oz sample and she gets to keep glass and coin for short pour in New Glarus restaurants

Need to update their info. Just drove 2 hours to visit and closed. Website says open. Very disappointed.

Definitive a place to visit near Madison is 30 min ... to try new glarus beer

We have had lots of fun each time you visit the brewery and the tasting room. I want to go back at night and see how the patio is when it is crowded.

What an awesome spot, I had no idea it was that cool. I can't wait to go back!

Beautiful brewery had a great experience here plus helps when beer is awesome too.

Great place to have a beer and enjoy the beer garden and walk around the brewery.

It's a big brewery, the building is very beautiful. You can have beer, but there is not a bar where you can sit and watch sports games. You can buy reminders and even some clothes. It's good if you go by nearby to make a stop, take a look at the place and have some beers.

Great time and very pleasant relaxing time with happy helpful staff.

The tour is not bad, but like most brewery tours recently, they have shifted to the self guided model. Good merchandise, good deals on beer as well.

What a great place to relax with friends, enjoy a good beer and play some board games. I never expected the brewery to look like this, but it's quite beautiful with lots of space to roam and relax. Worth the visit if you live New Glarus brews, lots of options on tap and you get a nice pint glass out of the deal.

Love the location, the best beer and a great staff.

Pretty cool brewery but some details you might want to be aware of.
We were there on a Sunday early afternoon. When we left, the parking lot was quite full.
It was a great, sunny day. Our first time to the brewery and there was a fair amount of construction/renovation going on.
We didn t take the self-guided tour so I can t comment on that.
The outdoor area is quite beautiful with a great view.
The way the outdoor area is currently configured, beers that are available year around (e.g., Spotted Cow) are sold on the main patio area. Also available on the main area are a few food items. I had an excellent brat. Seasonal beers are only available on a lower area on the hill.
To get to all the natural terraces off the main patio (where the seasonal beers are) you will need to walk on some roughly structured stone paths. These paths don t have hand rails and I certainly didn t see a way for a wheelchair to get down. My balance isn t great (I have MS) so it took me awhile to get down. I would think anyone with mobility issues might be challenged not to mention anyone who had one too many beers.
I really liked the seasonal beer Scream a double IPA. I brought some home with me.

Awesome Brewery! its a must see.. thats all i can say..

I enjoy many of the beers produced by New Glarus, so I was pretty excited to visit the brewery itself. Personally, I thought my time there was really fun. New Glarus trades the technical brewery tour for a more relaxed tasting type of atmosphere. The brewery is located in a very pretty spot, and they have a large deck available for enjoying the view while trying various beers. As a home brewer, I thought the self-guided tour was totally adequate, and honestly, I was glad I could check things out at my own pace and get back to enjoying the nice day.

Such a fun place! My boyfriend and I were heading back to Chicago after visiting house on the rock. We popped in 30 minutes before close (sorry for being THOSE kind of people) and everyone was super friendly. We tried the Dancing Man Wheat and the Belgian Cherry Red. They were both phenomenal, so glad we ventured and tried something besides Spotted Cow. After our self guided tour the gentleman cleaned our glasses and told us they were ours to keep. They also gave us coins good to redeem a New Glarus beer at any New Glarus bar. I thought that was such a nice touch! I'm sure had we came with more than 30 minutes to look around we could have seen more of what goes on there and explored more. We will have to take a trip back!

This is a fun place to come when if you aren't a big beer drinker. I always enjoy walking around outside to enjoy the scenery as well as walking through the self guided brewery tour.

By far the best brewery I've ever been to. The scenery is amazing.

Beer and Great Surroundings....how can it be less then 5 stars!

Brewery tour allows you to go at your own pace. One of the brewers was available to answer questions. You are allowed to walk around the brewery with a beer. Great place to sit outdoors and take in the views. The whole place is designed as a Swiss town.

If you want a tour of a working brewery while enjoying a pint of their excellent product, this is the place for you. We stumbled upon the New Glarus Brewery accidentally while heading to another location. What we found was a gem of a brewery. The gift shop is large, and the tasting area provides ample selections of their wares to try.

The tour of the brewery was by far the best tour I went on of an active brewery of it's size. I will be coming back again!

We love our Spotted Cow and stopping by New Glarus Brewing Co. is a must every time we visit Madison. There's nothing like enjoying a glass of Spotted Cow directly from the brewery without going through the shipping process. Besides being able to purchase copious amounts of Spotted Cow, there is also a nice gift shop, a brewery tour, and large outdoor area for hanging out and chilling with a glass of beer. Just be careful not to drink too much while visiting the brewery, there are often State Patrol camped along highway 69 making sure people didn't get too toasty while visiting the brewery. Be responsible, have a DD prior to visiting this place.

Awesome beer. Awesome gift shop. Awesome buildings. Self guided tour's pretty awesome, too. Would be better to go on the weekday during business hours.

I love this place. It is the perfect brewery. Not too big and not too small. It sits a top a hill and the view is awesome from the patio. The gift shop is a little small but has some good stuff. You can do a free self guided tour that takes about 15 to 20 minutes. I highly recommended this brewery as well as the spotted cow.

I was in Milwaukee on business from Minneapolis. At the hotel bar i heard a gentleman from Kentucky say to his friend on the phone that he was drinking the best beer he'd ever had.
hmmm. never heard of Spotted Cow.
on my way back home being an avid craft brew fan and homebrewer myself, i bought a case of Spotted Cow, a variety pack and two fruit beers for the wife. All New Gralus.
I have to say, they do make good drinkable beer. Id say if i can find it regularly in Minneapolis, they would become my favorite beer brand.

I love love love the beer! I'm a hard core beer drinker and in my 40 years of drinking it I've not experienced the feeling I get from not only your flavor but the different buz I get from the individual brands. my newest test is "cabin fever" awesome!!

Awesome experience. Great tastings for reasonable prices. Definitely will be back again. Thank you for a great experience

Please note my review is based on NGBC during construction (although it seems that through other reviews, the location has been under construction for quite some time. The place is a bit of a story as far as layout goes and we were disappointed that the gift shop was closed during the day on a Wednesday. It was difficult trying to figure out where tog o or what to do exactly to taste their brews.

We visit a lot of breweries and this is the first one where we had to purchase a glass in order to taste. And then you get a wrist band - ugh. They also do not pour flights - so every time you want to taste a beer, you need to wait in line to get one. You also have to wash the glass yourself (the wash station was located outside in the courtyard so it was a PITA).

The room where they were pouring and selling some merchandise was small, VERY noisy, and did not have adequate seating.

While the husband enjoyed a few of their offerings (I didn't) - we'd just as soon purchase them from other local sources.

Very cool place! Take the tour then grab a spotted cow at the picnic tables and enjoy the view of New Glarus!

Had been to visit 4 years ago and views were fantastic. It now seems all trees and shrubs are overgrown and views are gone. Very warm on Wed. and NO place outside to go for relief. Umbrellas are needed for tables please as the heat can be overwhelming.
And agree, most do not want the glass so offer that option. And we found the beer $3.00 cheaper for 4 pack at the grocery store. I just felt my first visit in 2015 was much nicer. The area is pretty in New Glarus and missed that beautiful view this time. Beer is good though.

Excellent brews and the experimental lines are truly bold and worth trying. There is a reason this place does so well.

Beautiful Brewery, fun self guided tour... will be back for a guided one in the future. Only thing I didn t like was that there wasn t places to set your drinks down in the tasting room.

My wife and I come from Northwest Indiana just to come see this brewery and enjoy their amazing beer section! Love the outdoor areas, they're so beautiful. And the self guided brewery tour does not disappoint. They also have lots of beer selections that you cannot buy in stores!

Nice staff, they have self guided tour and tasting room to try several beers on tap. $8 to try 3 beers in sample glass that you keep.

Fabulous brewery and gift shop! Friendly staff and employees! Beer is great!

They never have Very Sour Blackberry on tap. What's uo with that?

State of the are facility...Moon Man still rules the brewhaus in my book.

Who doesn't love beer in Wisconsin New Glarus make great flavors only thing is if you're a truck driver and you're coming in from the north and there's no signs telling you where shipping and receiving it you might pull into the wrong building. Chauffeur driver out and put a couple Signs by the road on both ends of your building I would have never known I wasted 15 minutes of my time trying to figure out what address I needed to go to. Other than that I still love your beer

Really enjoy the beer here! The tap room was really unique (mostly outdoors) and had a small German town feel. It had plenty of space to sit and drink with friends. I would recommend trying the exclusive small batch stuff (obviously) because you can get the other beer wherever else in Wisconsin.

5 stars is an understatement for anything New Glarus produces. Friendly environment, great beer and a relaxing setting at the brewery. Any visitors have not completed a vacation to Wisconsin without a trip to New Glarus Brewery!

Love this place! If I ever have a reason to be anywhere near I'll make my way here. Most beers are ok to good, they cater more towards the low IBU ales and lagers, the Screaming IPA being a great exception. The highlight of New Glarus is the brewing facility itself and the fruit beers. Cool place, great courtyard for enjoying a drink in the beer garden and phenomenal fruit beers, New Belgium in particular.

Great beer! The tour is pretty cool and the surrounding town is worth checking out as well!

Nice unguided tour with a few people around to answer questions, they make great beer and I may stop by again some time.

Why did my friend have to take me here, now I feen for Spotted Cow that I can't get outside of Wisconsin. They have a nice brewery and building tour in the middle of nowhere. Taste samples are generous too.

No better way to spend a Saturday.. come to New Glarus, enjoy the tour and a Spotted Cow

Beautiful grounds, friendly staff, a great place to visit

Loved the self guided tour and the beautiful scenery from the open patio. The coffee stout is the best.

Had a great time, spent way too much money. Would've liked to do the hard hat tour

Excellent brewery, excellent beer. New Glarus is the pride of Wisconsin.

If you are a fan of craft beer, actually enjoy and know what good beer is... avoid coming here at all costs. They are an overpriced tourist trap. For being the source of the beer they make, they don't have anything on tap you couldn't find at most decent craft beer bars. Their beer depot is a joke... go to pick n save and save 25%... take a page from real craft breweries... where they actually want to share their exclusive beers on tap not $15 for r&d bottle or overpriced thumbprint series you can find elsewhere for cheaper. There's no middle man, you should sell this stuff for cheaper not for more! The grounds are beautiful... definitely nice but if you are coming here for the beer, pass. Commercial breweries like Miller, Coors and Budweiser were more enjoyable than this place. It's very commercial, boring, overpriced and not memorable. Read the other 1 star reviews... they are accurate.

This place is a mess. They have you park on slanted wet grass and exit on a one-way narrow road with traffic coming in both directions. Inside, good luck finding your beer. And make sure to grab a ticket before getting in the indoor beer line (no signs, you'll just have to figure it out). Only in Wisconsin.

They've done a good job of creating a nice environment. Just be aware that the glass you buy for the 16 ounce pour is only 12 ounces, Asked the gal pouring the beer and she insisted it was 16 ounces. If that's the case then the 12 ounce beer bottles they sell actually have 16 ounces in them as they really fill the glass nicely. I took the glass home and verified it was 12 ounces. Either a little crooked or incompetent.

Amazing location with great views of the surrounding areas. Oh and they also have great beer! New Glarus Brewing Company is not just a brewery its an experience. The self guided tour offers a good overview of how beer is made, we had fun wandering around sipping on beer. It was really cool to be able to see the canning/bottling line in action! Definitely one of the most unique brewery campuses I've been too.