Karben4 Brewing, 3698 Kinsman Blvd, Madison, WI, 53704
phone: 608-241-4812   website: www.karben4.com

Hours: Daily 11AM - 10PM

Experience before you go............

Well after a 2-3 year decline in health and energy, my wife's Dad died peacefully at home on 6/29/17. He was 87 years old. He lived a very full life and many would say, he did it his way. He had wonderful 24/7 care and all five of the sibs helped out, but since we lived right down the street from him we were there helping right to the end. Losing a loved one is never easy, it's never scripted and it hangs on tight forever. RIP Paps!!!

Now one crazy thing is that Kat and I had an escape to Minocqua, Wisconsin trip to visit our "Best Man", Clark, planned for weeks. And after 2 weeks of saying farewell to Paps and having family finally leave on Wednesday and bing, bang, boom......Thursday we're driving up to the Northwoods. The plan was to have lunch in Madison at a brewery and we'd decide which one as we got closer.....we love adventures!! Up pops Karben4 on my AroundMe app and it's not far off the freeway so the executive decision was made and Karben4 Brewing it was.

Siri was doing great directing us to Karben4 until we exited the freeway and were told to do a u-turn and get back on the freeway and precede to the route. What...now get this, on my phone with the volume down we were following directions to Karben4 and on Kats phone with volume up was our route to Minocqua....so after one u-turn, a head scratch and us both laughing after being duked by competing phone directions we arrive at Karben4 Brewing.

Karben4 is the right end unit in a 4-6 unit strip mall with about 10-12 parking spaces in front and I'm sure during busy hours along the street is where you'll end up. I snapped the out front selfie and we headed to the door. The first thing that came to mind as we entered was spacious! Directly in front and looking through a couple high tops with chairs was the bar and behind the bar was Sammi with a big smile and a sit where ever you want. Well you guessed it, we decided to sit at the bar and give Sammi some company. I gave Sammi a hoppinbrewerytour.com card, told her the short story and introduced ourselves. Before you knew it, I had an IPA beer flight heading my way and Kat had a 4 oz sample she was sipping on. Making up my flight we had Fantasy Factory - IPA (6.3 %), Dragon Flute - American IPA (5.3%), Idiot Farm - Imperial IPA (8,4%) and finally Lucky Lady - Imperial Red Ale (7.5%). Along with the brews I ordered their famous Reuben and Kat went with the Grilled Cheese, both very yummy!

Since we were on our way to Mincoqua, come to find out that Sammi was just up there and actually her folks own a Supper Club called The Pines in Mercer, Wisconsin just 10 miles north of Mincoqua. She said her dad's name was Erv and if we stopped up there to tell Erv that Sammi sent us. Unfortunately we didn't make it but plan on it next time we're in the area.

Karben4 started in 2012 and they have experienced phenomenal growth. At this point you can find their craft beer in Madison, Milwaukee and Appleton, Wisconsin. But who knows, Karben4 has their mojo working and you might just soon find them in a town near you.

Best of luck to you guys and Sammi, keep on smiling!!

Until next time and remember.........

Go get'cha one!!