Welcome to the birthplace of PBR and the former Beer Capital of the World. Of the iconic brews that “made Milwaukee famous” (as Schlitz’s tagline once read), Miller is the only one left in town. But the taverns—including many former “tied houses” originally affiliated with a particular brewery—have remained miraculously intact, a testament to the city’s esteemed drinking culture. The bars are time machines back to the days when the beer was cheap, cocktails meant a special night out, and the bartender was an old friend. Go on, pull up a stool: We’ve got stories to tell from a crawl of the finest—and occasionally strangest—places to drink in Milwaukee .

Matt Haas

Foundation Tiki Bar

The outside looks like just another average neighborhood bar. But inside it’s as though frozen Lake Michigan has transformed into the balmy Pacific. Is that dried puffer fish floating from the ceiling glowing? Or is it the Pirate’s Grog served in a ceramic mug you can take home with you? Yes and yes.

Serving Since: 1995; it opened as a punk bar before slowly morphing into a tiki temple around 2004

House Drink: Mai tai

Don’t Miss: The intricate tiki totems carved by local artist Dave Hansen

Website: foundationbar.com

Matt Haas

Koz’s Mini Bowl

“Three Miller High Lifes, please.”

“You folks must be from the east side,” a fellow patron murmurs, her tone signaling disdain for these highbrow intruders. The bar contains an apartment’s worth of clutter, the centerpiece of which is a taxidermied lion sprawled on an icebox. “The owner shot it when it escaped from a circus,” the bartender explains, not quite believing his own story.

Serving Since: 1978

House Drink: Miller Lite

Don’t Miss: Four lanes of duckpin bowling

Website: kozsminibowl.com

Matt Haas

Holler House

Todd, the gregarious manager, leads us down the stairwell to the oldest bowling alley in the country, where a neighborhood teen manually resets the pins for each frame. Upstairs the decor is unkempt living room slash boudoir: Todd’s mother-in-law, the cheeky 89-year-old owner, Marcy Skowronski, has been encouraging first-time female patrons to hang their bras on the ceiling for decades.

Serving Since: 1908

House Drink: Miller Lite

Don’t Miss: The chance to bowl a frame; call ahead to reserve

Website: none

Matt Haas

At Random

From a vinyl booth bathed in orange light, it seems as though we’re in a soda fountain that hosted an outrageous Christmas party in 1965…then pressed the pause button for 50 years. A father and son duo carefully pour spirits into punch bowls, mixing the same Singapore Slings that they’ve been concocting for decades.

Serving Since: 1965

House Drink: Tiki Love Bowl

Don’t Miss: The retro electric fireplaces

Website: none

Matt Haas

Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge

Illuminated (barely) by string lights and the blue-green glow of a pristine aquarium, Bryant’s feels like a movie set from Hollywood’s golden age. There’s no menu. Instead, we tell the server what we’re in the mood for, and the bartenders pull from a bank of 450-plus drinks, from boozy Depression-era libations to dangerously drinkable “ice-cream cocktails.”

Serving Since: 1938

House Drink: Pink Squirrel

Don’t Miss: The vintage audio system playing Rat Pack–era albums

Website: bryantscocktaillounge.com

Matt Haas

Wolski’s Tavern

What’s the difference between closing down a bar in any city and closing down one in Milwaukee? Well, when you end the night at Wolski’s, you get a prize for your efforts: an “I Closed Wolski’s” bumper sticker. The 107-year-old bar does everything right: The popcorn is salty and fresh, the bartenders are easygoing, the darts are steel-tipped (not electronic), and there’s still Schlitz on tap—as it should be.

Serving Since: 1908

House Drink: Lakefront Brewery’s Riverwest Stein

Don’t Miss: Closing time: 2 a.m. Sun.–Thurs. and 2:30 a.m. Fri. and Sat.

Website: wolskis.com

The Wisconsin State Cocktail

Matt Haas

Order an old-fashioned in Milwaukee, and you may be surprised. Here the drink is made with brandy (typically Korbel) instead of whiskey and topped with some type of soda (Squirt, Sprite, club soda), an orange slice, and maraschino cherries. In the right hands, such as those of the skilled bartenders at Boone and Crockett , it’s terrific.

Eat a Butter Burger

Yes, Milwaukee has a signature burger style, showcased in all its belly-busting splendor at Mazos . Here's the butter burger breakdown:

Matt Haas

The wide, squishy bun is toasted; then the top is spread with a pat of butter —giving the burger its nickname.

2. No special sauce here. The power move is to add fried onions (sautéed in a pan—with some more butter, of course).

3. Both American and Swiss are offered, though the latter cheese is considered a rogue order.

4. The beef is hand-ground daily and formed into generous flat patties that fit the bun perfectly. Griddled, greasy, and glorious.

Sleep Here

The Old World grandeur of the historic Pfister Hotel is just the right counterpoint to a tour of the city’s holes-in-the-wall. Rooms from $159.

Know Your Milwaukee Bar Games

When you spend this much time in bars, you start to think of new things to do in them.

Joe Wilson

Bar Dice

What it is: Players bang a dice-filled cup on the bar to get the most of a kind in the highest denomination. Losing is called having “a horse”; it means you’re buying the next round.

Play it at: Wolski’s Tavern

Joe Wilson

Hammerschlagen

What it is: Participants attempt to drive nails into a stump with a hammer. The last to achieve this feat buys a round. No, we aren’t kidding. Not at all dangerous!

Play it at: Victoria’s on Potter

Joe Wilson

Duckpin Bowling

What it is: The balls are the size of grapefruits, the pins are scaled down to match, and in some circles, players get three balls per frame (rather than two).

Play it at: Koz’s Mini Bowl

The Morning-After Bacon and Cheddar Croissant

Matt Haas

Rocket Baby Bakery in nearby Wauwatosa is worth the short drive if only for this über-flaky recombination of those beloved food groups: pork, cheese, flour, and butter.

Learn While Drinking

Matt Haas

A visit to Brew City wouldn’t be complete without a look at how the suds get made. Miller is king, the old Pabst castle is worth visiting for the vintage glassware in the gift shop alone, and the Lakefront Brewery tour is essentially an hour of unexpectedly lewd stand-up disguised as a lesson in how beer is made. (We recommend it.)