Balsam Lake Brewery and Market, 101 1st Ave East, Balsam Lake, WI 54810, (715) 405-3669
website: www.BalsamLakeBrewery.com
Hours: Monday through Thursday 12 PM - 9 PM | Friday 12 PM - 11 PM | Saturday 11 AM - 11 PM | Sunday 11 AM - 9 PM

Experience before you go . . .

Balsam Lake is a lake in northwest Wisconsin right at the village of Balsam Lake, which has a brewery in it called, fortunately enough, Balsam Lake Brewery. The lake itself is over 2,000 acres and has over 65 miles of shoreline. It's great for fishing with its Bluegill, Perch, Crappie, Bass, Walleye, Pike and that's quite a list! The brewery is right downtown in this village of just over 1,000 people. It's officially called the Balsam Lake Brewery & Market. In addition to a full brewery with Pizza and food, they also have a full market with drygoods, produce and fresh and frozen foods. Hoodie's too!

We ordered a pizza right away and took a look at the beer menu. Beer menus are a part of breweries I like the best. I looked up and saw a menu of 15 different beers, artwork included. Matt from Barron was our beertender and I ordered the West Coast IPA. Two thumbs up and especially with that pizza! Matt told us that they planned to open before Covid but actually built the place during Covid. They had been opened for two and a half years when we arrived and they are the only brewery in town.

In addition to their beer selection, they also make hard seltzers. This is a trend I have noticed lately in breweries, maybe due to the upwards trend in seltzers like White Claw, Truly and High Noon. My next pour was a Deadly Narrows double IPA. They had just gone through their special Labor Day batch of Sweet Corn Jalapeno beer. Sounded great, but it was drained. During our pizza eating and beer drinking (and unrelated lol), a glass shaker of oregano was knocked to the floor and broke. I expected Matt to be displeased but he took it in stride and broke out the broom in quick order. With a smile on his face he cleaned it up. Sorry again Matt, but that corner of the brewery smelled really good when we left!

Balsam Lake was one of my favorite destinations as a kid. Our friends the Ericksons lived on the lake and we visited often and I took advantage of the great fishing. I also snowmobiled there and had a spectacular crash when the throttle cable on the old sled I was riding frayed while I had it opened up and did not retract when I tried to slow down. It was spectacular indeed and everyone walked away except the sled. I'm sure the brewery is a favorite stop now for snowmobilers as beer and snowmobiles go together so well. Snowmobile responsibly! They have many winter events at the brewery to keep the customers coming in.

In addition to their winter events they also have a full slate of events during that short period during the year when there is no snow. There is a corn on the cob fest during Labor Day with a wrestling ring, Oktoberfest, dueling pianos in November, and other outdoor events in the summer. The brewery is locally owned by someone who used to be a salesman for Schmidt brewing. Hello, hello!

So now there is another reason to visit beautiful Balsam Lake. The Balsam Lake Brewery and Market. I do recommend you visit! Stop by and have a couple and enjoy the "2054 Wonderful Acres" of Balsam Lake.

Until next time . . .