Third Space Brewing

"Open for: Lunch, dinnerPrice range: $2025 may be remembered as the year Milwaukee’s microbrew wave crested and rolled back (R.I.P. Enlightened, City Lights, MobCraft, Company). But Third Space proudly carries the torch for Beer City. Since opening in 2016, it has established itself as a forerunner of all things hoppy, hazy, and juicy. The brewery itself features a sprawling indoor/outdoor tap room and “beer garden,” which is actually an industrial maze of riverside and train track-adjacent Menomonee Valley charm (though the space is plenty welcoming when filled with live music and food trucks). You’ll find Space represented on a lot of taps around town, usually anchored by the aptly named Happy Place: a 5.3 percent sessionable but potent ale that pops with just the right bit of bitter, which has become one of Milwaukee’s best, ubiquitous brews. Know before you go: If you don’t eat here, head across the street for a burger at Sobelman’s, and then make your way to BBC Lighting, a family-friendly treasure trove of bric-a-brac and miscellanea." - Todd Lazarski