Beer Location: The Palm Tavern

I discovered this place about a year or so ago and it remains pretty much at the top of my list for places to go drink.

One of my cousins lives up in Milwaukee and bought a house in the Bayside neighborhood a couple of years ago. On one trip up there, he and I unsuccessfully tried to catch brewery tours at three of four of the local breweries and found ourselves sitting at the bar in a sushi place before they were actually open for a couple of hours.

After making our way through some of the sake selection, I noticed some Japanese beers (Hitachino - yum yum) that I'd never seen before. At some point after I'd tried a couple of them and been very impressed, the bartender recommended that we go to a bar that was actually about a block from my cousin's house. (My cousin was actually rather surprised to hear that there was a bar a block from his house.)

So after some sushi, we eventually found the Palm Tavern.

It's pretty small and nearly unidentifiable from the street. There's a tiny neon sign in the window of an otherwise totally nondescript building. But once you walk in, you realize that you've hit a goldmine. The place is pretty small and nicely appointed. It's usually not overly crowded or smoky.

They've got a beer and scotch list that's so extensive that they keep it in a binder. And John - the only bartender I've ever seen there other than the owner - knows just about every beer in the list. Everything comes in its proper glass or a glass particular to that style of beer.

According to John, the owner had some affiliation (at least I think so - it's been a while at this point) with the HopLeaf in Chicago and was inspired by it. I think he's taken the concept a step further and really focused on the beer.

Find this place if you're in Milwaukee.