Capital Brewery & Beer Garden

Nick was a great tour guide. He’s very informative and he moves the tour along at a nice, quick pace. He also brought out a pitcher of beer for a «bonus» sample in addition to the four given as part of the $ 7 tour fee.
Thankfully, due to a wedding, the bar was open and we didn’t have to go out in 95 degree heat to the beer garden. The Maibock was the best sample we tried. Fishing In The Dark was also good.

This was our second brewery in the day and by far the best. Our tour guide Nick was very funny and knowledgable. The tastings were generous and delicious. Would highly recommend this!

I had an awesome time here last Friday night… we danced to The Jimmy’s…I bought 2 Roman Candle pizzas to nosh on while we danced and drank our most excellent beer. Beers… uhhh… consumed were Supper Club, Amber, and Doppelbock. All delicious. If you have never viewed a band on their patio you are missing a great time.

Beer is overpriced and the invited bands that play are not very good since they are usually just bad cover bands. Also people like to bring their very young kids here so that kills any atmosphere.

Came here to enjoy some brews on a sunny day. We didn’t do the brewery tour, just the biergarten. My friends had flights of beer, and I had a Madtown Mule. It was delicious and refreshing. The bartenders were nice and helpful, and they really seemed to know a lot about each brew. The biergarten itself isn’t much for atmosphere — splinter-​heavy benches, a giant tarp roof, and that’s about it. I think that some refinishing on the benches, flowers/​plants, and string lighting would really make it pop (and make it a must-​do for dates or friendly gatherings). If you’re in it for just cervezas, though, you can’t go wrong with Capital.

My boyfriend and I wanted to find a brewery to try something new on a Friday night, so a quick search found this just a few miles away.
We walked in, and it’s a little bit of an odd set up. You walk down a long-​ish hallway, and it dumps out into a pretty small room that is open with columns at the front. The bar is along the back wall.
This night happened to have a really good band playing, but it was pretty crowded and we stood around for a while before we could find a place to sit. We tried a couple different beers (The pumpkin kind, the Island Wheat, and the Capitol Red), all good. The pumpkin was the standout, and the other two were good but somewhat generic.
We left afterward finishing our couple drinks because the general atmosphere was pretty filled with regulars. Everyone seemed chatty and like they new each other, which is great if you go there often, but felt a little cold to us outsiders. Not to mention we garnered a few stares walking in.
So if you’d like to establish yourself as a regular here, it would be totally worth it. They even have super cool mugs that you can buy and keep there on a wall to use every time you come in. But if you’re just looking for a cool friendly place to have a few beers, it was just alright.

We came here for the $ 7 brewery tour which included 4 4oz samples of beer and a pint sized souvenir glass. Lucas was our tour guide and was very knowledgeable about the brewing process and history of Capital Brewery. Additonally, a sample of Oktoberfest was provided on the tour.
After the tour, we went into the pub-​style bar area and tried several samples including: Mutiny IPA, Special Pilsner, Island Wheat, Supper Club, Winter Skol, Pale Ale and Ghost Ship IPA. The beers were all excellent and provide a wide variety of options for craft beer enthusiasts.
There is a small gift shop that offers a 20% discount if you take the tour. It has several tshirts, sweatshirts, and other novelties as souvenirs.

Stark contrast to New Glarus Brewing we visited earlier. The interior design is outdated with an Applebee’s like touch. Outdoor garden area is extensive, but much too cold for use during our visit. The brewing facility itself, after going on the tour, was not very clean. It was pretty filthy in places, flies buzzing around. Beer flavors were in the mid-​tier range with not too many off flavors present besides diacetyl. So if you like margarine flavors in your beer, this is the place.

I think this was my favorite brewery on my last Wisconsin tour. At the very least it tied for 1^st place. The tour was informative and quick. I hate long boring tours. The value was good. We definitely got our moneys worth with the glass and beer.
They have a beer here for everyone. None were exactly life changing to me. But I was happy spending an afternoon here. The outdoor area is awesome! I would love to be here in Summer with food and bands. This is a definite stop if you are anywhere near here. Check website for tour times.

I liked Capital but unfortunately we made it here about an hour before they closed, so we couldn’t fully enjoy it as much as we’d like.
I sampled the Ghost Ship, which had a nice hint of citrus. My husband is a fan of their Supper Club so he drank some of that and ended up purchasing a case (even though it’s available back home, but when in Rome…). He also enjoyed their Grateful Red brew and we both tried the «Lake House» and ended up purchasing some six packs of those as well.
We sat outside in the beer garden which was a good size, with plenty of picnic tables and a large music stage. Residential homes sat beyond the fence which seemed a bit odd in comparison to other breweries I’ve been to. It was a quiet afternoon in the beer garden but it was nice to enjoy some brews in the late autumnal sun.
I definitely want to return for the tour, maybe (for $ 7? ehhh…), to sample some other beers, and spend more than an hour of my time at Capital.

This is the best place to go when you want to bring in your own appetizer, listen to a live band, and have a good beer. Unfortunately, the bier garden is not quite accessible in the winter months, but it is a summer/​fall must have. You can’t go wrong with being outside, having a beer, and having great snacks. Don’t worry, the often have vendors serving food if you forget to grab something along the way!

I feel for the guy who has to lead a tour with a bunch of tipsy tourists, I really do.
The tour is about an hour long, costs $ 7, and includes a take-​home pint glass. You also get four bottle caps which you can trade for four tastes of their beer or a pint. I’ve been on many brewery tours before, and this one is equivalent to the others I’ve done in the past.
The beer and beer garden here are really nice – lots of trees and picnic tables, and they had a band there for a little while (the old lady in me says the volume could have been turned down a bit). Even though it was super humid outside, it wasn’t too hot on the patio. Also, you can bring your own food and drink to enjoy while you beverage.
I really enjoyed tasting all of their beers, obviously some are better than others. Because they weren’t so vigilant about taking the bottle caps after each taste, the three of us really ended up tasting all of the different beers (an added bonus, but I wouldn’t count on that happening to you).
It’s the only actual brewery I’ve been to so far in Madison, but it’s definitely a worthwhile stop.

The reason for this particular visit is The Mustard Museum is thanking volunteers from The Mustard Fest with some cold brews, delicious Middleton BBQ and of course… MUSTARD! I love Capitol Brewery’s beer garden! Always new friends to be made while enjoying the beautiful outdoors! Never a bad time! Fishin’ In The Dark and Bike-​fed Red were perfect for the event and the day!

Capital Brewery makes delicious beer, but it tastes best from a tap with live music in the background on a perfect summer night. Beers are reasonably priced, lots of seating, and no cover charge for live music. Parking is mostly street, but easy to come by. They usually have a food vendor or two, the barbecue we tried was really good! Not sure if the vendors rotate or not though, but we will be back to find out!

I love the beer garden! A great place for a good beer and a picnic or take-​out. My favorite beers are the Pilsner and the Amber. The Bike Fed Red is a good, too. Enjoy!

The only reason I’m giving one star is because I don’t know how to give something lower.
We went on a late Friday afternoon. The beer garden was out of the most popular styles. The brewery tour was by far the worst brewery tour on which we’ve been (& we’ve been on a lot). The tour guide rambled & was unfocused. He kept us in the hottest room for the majority of the tour while imparting no real info. Seemed like a drunk dude who liked to hang out there.
Shirt sizes in the gift shop were limited. We were told there would be more in three weeks. Too bad I’m on vacation now.
The free pint glass & four samples weren’t worth the $ 7. The only positive was the food provided by a local restaurant.
«Pretty cool» — I don’t think so.

I’m puzzled as to why this is such an attractive spot for parents to bring their young children. It doesn’t seem to matter if it is in the afternoon or evening, especially on a Saturday, the handlers enjoy their beer while ignoring their kiddos zipping around, climbing on trees and being loud. Two episodes pretty much told me they didn’t want my business; having a charity event involving squirting toddlers with a water hose and watching a family bounce a ball around. There are terrific parks in both Madison and Middleton for these kind of activities, but oddly a beer garden is the best place for these sorts of things.

Went here in the winter — beginning of the end? It was an average stop. We’d been doing our own personal beer tour, but when we came here, we just wanted to get to the beer. Unfortunately, we skipped the beer tour, maybe we coulda got some laughs there. The waitstaff was helpful, but all we experienced was a small room with a big flight. Pricing was good, but we just didn’t like the beer. I was very sad because I LOVE supper club, and was just hoping to love something else here. Their stout was promising, but the flavor profile was just off for us.
Fast forward to now, more summer like weather, I just tried their Lake House (at Brat Fest) … very similar to Supper Club, and me likey. The Amber was drinkable, but if I’d had more options I might have picked something else. Keep on keepin’ on. Drink up Wisco.
Will update after tour and experiencing the beer garden in summer.

The three stars are mostly for the event, Bockfest, that I attended last weekend with a friend. The beer itself is outstanding and would be worthy of four or five stars. Although we had VIP passes, it really entitled us to nothing except getting into the event first, before the general admission ticket holders. No complimentary beer, snacks, nothing. It was packed with people and by the time we reached the bar, there was already no blonde ale left. We also had no idea we would need cash, so the guy next to me at the counter bought my beer, which was nice but a bit embarrassing. People who had attended in previous years described this year as disappointing in that respect compared with past events. We did get plastic Bockfest mugs… which quickly went into my St. Vincent’s donation bag. I don’t drink out of plastic. Ick. We were told that in previous years, glass mugs were given. It was a bright but bitterly cold day, and the event was held outside. I assumed there would be those outdoor space heater things, but I didn’t see any, if there were. No one seemed to know the order of events or where to go for anything, there was no signage, no brewery tour, it was just cold and boring and a morning I wish I had spent doing anything else. But the beer was good.

Meh. In my quest to visit EVERY brewery in Wisconsin, I had to stop at Capital Brewery. I previously tried some of their beers at the MKE Brewfest and was semi-​impressed by the new Imperial IPAs so I wanted to give some of their other beers a try. I don’t know if it’s because we came on a day where there was a 5K or what, but the brewery was pretty much closed except for the beer garden and the little store inside. There were no samples or flights offered and you could only get a pint for like $ 6 outside. Bah. We wanted to try something new so we had an Autumnal Fire and the Appleanche Dopplebock. We weren’t impressed with either one. Frankly, the Appleanche was just weird. It smelled like an apple cider and tasted like an average ale. The Autumnal Fire was decent but nothing special. I totally committed alcohol abuse and threw half of my beer away. *GASP*
Sadly so, I expected more from Capital and don’t think I’d stop back in next time I’m in Madison when there are breweries like Ale Asylum nearby.