Melms Brewing Company, Hartland

With its origins dating back to some of Milwaukee’s earliest brewing history, Melms Brewing Company launched in Hartland – about 25 minutes west of the big city along Highway 16 – and is working to grow its portfolio in Wisconsin’s beautiful Lake Country.

The origins of Melms indeed date back to 1854, when Franz Neukirch and Charles T. (“C.T.”) Melms opened a brewery on Virginia Street in the Walkers Point area of Milwaukee. Their original name of Menomonee Brewery changed to Melms, and by 1860 they were the largest brewers in Milwaukee. After C.T.’s passing in 1869, the Best Brewing Company came in and bought their operation. Best Brewing lives on with the name they flipped to in 1889 – Pabst. Today’s Melms grew out of a crowdfunding campaign that began in 2014. Their appearances at beer festivals and word-of-mouth helped create buzz, and they opened their Hartland Tap Room in 2018.

Melms Brewing Company bar in Hartland — *A Rhapsody Bohemian Pilsner at Melms Brewing Company in Hartland, mere feet from Highway 16.*

Melms offers 7-8 of their own craft beers in their Tap Room, which is in the basement level of a fairly non-descript shopping strip right at the corner of Highway 16 and Merton Road, at the northeast corner of the interchange. Their most popular is their Rhapsody Bohemian Pilsner, with other featured beers including their Blarney Stone Stout, Hootenanny Farmhouse Ale, Heifer Vice, Lake Country IPA, Reflection Imperial Porter, the Woodshed Imperial Amber Ale, and an upcoming (as of May, 2019) Disco Lemon-Aide IPA.

You can get any of the beers as a pint or as part of a 5 Beer Flight, which features 4-oz. samples. They also offer growler fills in large and small, plus sodas for non-drinkers.

You’ll find Melms in that aforementioned strip mall in Hartland, right at the interchange where Highway 16 meets Merton Road. Westbound Highway 16 travelers can use Exit 183 and just turn right immediately to find it; it’s right across from the Walgreens. Eastbound Highway 16 travelers can use Exit 182 (County E) and jog left and then right along the Frontage Road eastbound to Merton Avenue, where it’s right where the frontage road ends.