This guide is brought to you by Third Ward Beer Garden at Catalano Square. Open Wednesday through Sunday afternoons, with live music almost every day!
Beer garden season has arrived in Milwaukee! Here's the dish – or should I say, the pour – including when they're open and more.
Bookmark this page as we'll keep updating beer garden information as it becomes available.
414, let's have one more!
Partner Pick
- Thursdays, 5-9 PM
- Fridays, 1-9 PM
- Saturdays, 11-9 PM
- Sundays, 11-7 PM
The Bay View Exchange Beer Garden
Zillman Park, Kinnickinnic Avenue & Ward Street, (414) 236-4056
exchangebv.com
Closed for the season on Sept. 29.
Elm Grove Beer Garden
Elm Grove Village Park, 13600 Juneau Blvd.
thirdspacebrewing.com/elmgrovebeergarden
Third Space Brewing collaborates with Elm Grove on this beer garden, which has great beer, trivia on Thursdays, live music, food trucks and a playground and pavilion nearby. Open Thursday, 5-9 p.m.; Friday, 4-9 p.m.; Saturday, 3-9 p.m.; and Sunday, 2-7 p.m. Open through Oct. 5.
Estabrook Beer Garden
4600 Estabrook Pkwy., (414) 219-9065
estabrookbeergarden.com
Estabrook Park – serving daily from noon until 10 p.m., with last call at 9 p.m. – holds the honor of being the first public beer garden in the U.S. since Prohibition.
The beer garden, which offers plenty of shaded seating and a river view, features imported beer from the Munich Hofbrauhaus, along with brats, hot dogs, freshly baked soft pretzels, a Friday fish fry and schnitzel on Saturdays and Sundays. There's a playground nearby for the kids, too.
Fox Point Beer Garden
Longacre Pavilion, 7343 N. Longacre Rd.
newbaronsbrewing.com/events
Closed for the season on Sept. 21.
Franklin Beer Garden at Croatian Park
9100 S. 76th St., (414) 710-0357
franklinbeergarden.com
This beer garden runs every Thursday night from 5 to 10 p.m., with a happy hour between 5 and 6 p.m. featuring $2 taps and live music. Open through Oct. 3.
There's pivo, the Croatian Park Ale house beer, local brews from Lakefront as well as Leinie's and more. Plus wine, seltzer, bourbon, Croatian cordials, soda and more. There's also food, including Croatian Cevapcici, burgers, wieners, nachos and more, as well as food trucks.
(PHOTO: The Franklin Beer Garden at Croatian Park)
Hubbard Park Beer Garden
3565 N. Morris Blvd., Shorewood, (414) 332-4207
hubbardparkbeergarden.com
This Old World Beer Garden in Shorewood is located along the Oak Leaf Trail just south of Capitol Drive.
The garden features locally brewed beers, non-alcoholic drinks and a menu featuring sausages, hot dogs, German-style pretzels and Wisconsin cheese. There's also a great fish fry on Fridays.
The beer garden's availability is weather-dependent, but on days that are sunny and above around 60 degrees, Hubbard Park will serve starting at 3 p.m. on weekdays and noon on weekends.
Malone Park Beer Garden
16400 W. Al Stigler Pkwy, New Berlin, (414) 988-0100
componentbrewing.com
Component Brewing will have its trailer at Malone Park on Saturday, Oct. 12, one more time before the season wraps up. K&L's BBQ will bring the food and Iron Monocle will bring the music.
The Vine at Humboldt Park
3000 S. Howell Ave.
thevinehumboldt.com
Closed for the season.
Juneau Beer Garden
900 N. Prospect Ave.
juneaubeergarden.com
Closed for the season on Sept. 29.
Kegel’s Inn Beer Garden
5901 W. National Ave., West Allis (414) 257-9999
exploretock.com/kegelsinn
Kegel's Inn Beer Garden is an easy walk to the ballpark and there’s incredible food plus live music, 5-8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, 6-9 Friday and noon-3 Saturday. Austrian/German classical music on Wednesdays, classical and jazz on Thursdays, authentic/traditional music on Fridays and singer-songwriters on Saturdays.
Open Tuesday-Thursday, 4-9 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
The Landing at Hoyt Park
1800 N. Swan Blvd., Wauwatosa, (414) 302-9160
friendsofhoytpark.org/the-landing
The Landing – with seating both outdoors and inside this amazing great hall – features a changing list of local craft and imported beer, along with red, white and sparkling wines and a food menu including Cranky Al’s pizza, giant pretzels, obatzda, beer brats, hot dogs, popcorn and fountain drinks.
A schedule of live music is also posted on its website.
There's a playground nearby and one of the best pools in the area is on the other side of the fence.
Oconomowoc Downtown Beer Garden
Village Green Park, 104 E. Wisconsin Ave.
downtownoconomowoc.org/events
Closed for the season.
Roundhouse Beer Garden
McKinley Marina, 1750 N. Lincoln Memorial Dr., (414) 395-4909
roundhousemke.com
Closed for the season on Sept. 27.
South Shore Terrace
2900 S. Shore Dr., (414) 617-1147
southshoreterrace.com
This beachside concessions area in South Shore Park – now open for the season – features the Miller 1855 Bar, with its nearly 30-foot concrete and cedar counter complete with 20 tap handles. The gathering space, open spring through fall, also includes a cedar pergola, two stamped-concrete stages, gas fire pits to keep everyone cozy during cooler weather, seating and a glorious view of Lake Michigan and the Downtown skyline.
And to help soak in the sights and the suds, there's also a menu of farm-to-table snacks including pretzels, cheese boards, fries, sandwiches, Friday fish fry and more.
Lakefront seating returns thanks to the support of Molson Coors.
The Tap Yards
Fox Brook Park, Brookfield
Menomonee Park, Menomonee Falls
Schlitz Park, Milwaukee
Minooka Park, Waukesha
Ackerman's Grove, West Bend
thetapyards.com
The Tap Yard group of dog- and family-friendly beer gardens – with beer, food, lots of events (including yoga classes this year!). Check out the website for schedules, hours, etc.
Third Ward Beer Garden at Catalano Square
East Menomonee & North Broadway Streets
thirdwardbeergarden.com
This beer garden opened in 2023 in Catalano Square in the bustling Third Ward neighborhood, offering a mix of local craft beers, imported German beers, along with wine canned cocktails and seltzers, water and bagged snacks. Plus live music, games and some other events make this a great beer garden right near Downtown.
Open through Oct. 5.
Traveling Beer Gardens
travelingbeergardens.com
Closed for the season.
War Memorial Beer Garden
750 N. Lincoln Memorial Dr., (414) 534-7289
warmemorialbeergarden.com
Closed for the season on Sept. 22.
Plus, a special beer, commemmorating D-Day, is available now!
Whitnall Beer Garden
8831 N. Root River Pkwy., Greendale
whitnallbeergarden.com
This beer garden is extremely fun, and popular, having done 39 percent more business in 2023 over the previous year. Last year, Whitnall sold 8,400 non-alcoholic beverages, 3,300 hard seltzers, 2,800 one-liter steins of beer and 72,000 pints of beer. Gift of Wings, the food vendor, dished up 2,800 soft pretzels, 3,800 burgers, 2,900 servings of cheese curds, 2,400 brats, 2,200 hot dogs, 2,500 fish fry dinners, 550 pig roast dinners and 3,520 hand-dipped ice cream cones.
There are 24 tap lines, taco Tuesdays, fish fry Fridays, pig roast Sundays, plus live music on Saturdays, and more! Proceeds benefit Milwaukee County Parks.
Open Saturdays and Sundays only now through Oct. 13.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.