This content was created in partnership with Heard Hospitality.
If you’ve ever made the journey from Milwaukee to Lambeau Field for a Green Bay Packers game, you likely know that the game itself is only about half of the experience. There’s also an approximately two hour drive to Green Bay that can certainly make getting to one of the holy grails of the NFL a bit more of a hassle than most would like. Fortunately, there’s a way to ride in style on game day, and you only have to get as far as Downtown Milwaukee.
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to take a coach shuttle from Heard Hospitality, operators of East Side fixtures Wurstbar, Jack’s American Pub, and both Milwaukee Brat House locations, from Milwaukee to Lambeau Field for the Packers vs. Arizona Cardinals game, complete with a VIP tailgate. While typically, I prefer to drive to most games, the idea of getting to and from the stadium without having to get behind the wheel (especially with a stadium beverage or two involved) was definitely a win in my book. That being said, Sunday’s trip more than exceeded my expectations.
The day started at the Downtown Milwaukee Brat House location (1013 N. MLK Drive), where I walked into a busy bar at 6 a.m. full of eager Cheeseheads. With check-in beginning at 6:30, there was a bit of time to tailgate before the tailgate, before an announcement that Packer fans could start lining up to get to the bus. Check-in was simple, flowing fans up the Brat House stairs to the second level, where they’d get a pass for both the bus and the tailgate (or just the bus ride if they had opted to take a slightly cheaper route), and then back downstairs to the bar’s back alley, where it was time to head up to Green Bay.
While you could certainly bring a drink to the bus with you, there were plenty waiting on board, with coolers of beer, water, and seltzers for fans to enjoy during their ride. More important than the drinks, though, was the fact that you could bring a personal bag on board, as the bus would remain locked for the duration of the tailgate and game once you arrived in Green Bay, and you were assigned to take the same bus back that you rode in on. A chaperone for each bus would also make sure that your belongings were protected. With rain in the forecast, we opted to take a change of sweatshirt along for the ride home, which came in handy.
Once the bus parked in Green Bay, we were just a couple of blocks from the stadium, with a VIP tailgate waiting for us at The Bar (2001 Holmgren Way.) For a noon kickoff, The Bar was ready, with not only a spread of burgers, brats and wings, but beer, bloodies, and bartenders for whatever your pregame ritual of choice was. There was music from both a polka band inside The Bar, as well as a DJ in our tailgate tent, hyping us up for gametime. Some folks on the bus didn’t actually have tickets for the game, but still came up to Green Bay just to take in all that Titletown has to offer on a football Sunday. Without having to find (and pay for) parking, or cook their own food and buy their own drinks, the all-inclusive option was certainly money well spent.
From the tailgate, we walked to the stadium to watch the Packers beat the Cardinals for what ended up being a 34-13 victory. There was no need to rush out of the stadium early to avoid missing the bus, however. Each designated bus is set to leave 45 minutes after time expires at the end of the game, and text alerts would let us know if we were getting close to our departure time. With plenty of time to spare, we stopped into The Bar for one more beverage, then got back onto our bus for a (much needed) warm up and comfortable ride home.
Heard Hospitality runs shuttles for all Packers home games to Lambeau Field, as well as an away game against the Chicago Bears, with the option of purchasing passes for game day shuttle rides, VIP tailgates, or both. They also run shuttles for Brewers games, concerts at Alpine Valley, and much more. You can check out the full list of coach shuttle opportunities at the Heard Hospitality website, and you might see me on your next ride up to cheer on the Packers, as well.
