Crazy for Beer

The folks at Ale Asylum would like to get one thing straight: It’s not a restaurant; it’s a brewery.

“It’s about the beer,” says co-owner Otto Dilba. “That’s who we are.”

No complaints here. Ale Asylum has been churning out some wickedly good brews since Dilba and brewmaster Dean Coffey joined forces in 2006. Their beer was so good, in fact, that they could barely keep up with demand in their three existing markets: Madison, Milwaukee and Sheboygan.

So they opened a new location off Packers Avenue on the north side this past September. The expansion has meant more than just five times the brewing space and four and a half times the production capacity. They’ve hired a kitchen manager and enhanced their menu, adding items like ceviche, fish tacos and pulled pork sandwiches, and even incorporating Ale Asylum brews into a vinaigrette dressing and barbeque sauce. They still bring in pizzas from nearby Falbo Brothers, as they did at the previous Ale Asylum locale. But Dilba still insists they aren’t trying to be a food destination. “We would never want to deter people from going to other restaurants,” he says.

Ale Asylum’s new spot also boasts a tasting room with double the capacity of the old brewery, plus upper- and lower-level patios. Now with the space to accommodate up to three hundred, Dilba sees their new home as a future destination for beer release parties and other fun suds events.

Again, no complaints here.

Ale Asylum
2002 Pankratz St. 
663-3926, aleasylum.com

Photo by Nicole Peaslee