The craft cocktails in Madison are so fun and unique, unlike I've ever tried before! This was one of the best bars for such cocktails and every one was delicious. This is my local friend's favorite spot, and I can see why! Incredibly friendly bartenders and ample space for large groups of people made for a fantastic night! read more

Just the best drinks around. Can get a little crowded when a few bigger groups hop in . Great vibe , strong drinks and a staff with a sense of humor read more

Old Sugar Distillery - Old sugar has a great vibe and this made me laugh - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

A new gem! Tucked away between Willy Street and W Wash. This cozy distillery really takes the cake for yummy, sweet drinks, and cozy and rustic ambience. We got a Honey-cap and a Gringo. The honey cap is so so scrumptious. So sweet and downable they don't lie. The Gringo is really just alcoholic horchata, equally as downable. Old Sugar Distillery's prices really make it stand out 7/8 dollars for a great unique drink? Where else can ya get that? read more

Old Sugar Distillery - Honey-cap and Gringo - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

We missed Old Sugar Distillery so much! We finally got to hit this place up when we were last in town. It has all the Wisconsin vibes - warm, cozy, and welcoming and located just a 10 minute walk from the Capitol. They had a few autumn drink specials that looked enticing but we went for our tried and true favorite, the Honeycap! They go down easy and taste delicious. This space is great for parties and private events in the open side room. Stop in here before you hit up a show at the Sylvee! read more

Old Sugar Distillery - a glass of lemonade and a menu - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

This is one of my favorite distilleries in Madison. Their honey liqueur is one of my favorites. Pleasant and helpful bar staff. Enjoyable ambience. Reasonable prices. Highly recommend. read more

Old Sugar Distillery - Seasonal drink menu - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

My buddy and I were spending the day in Maddison and wanted to branch out and try some of the local distillery/breweries. I found this place on Yelp and had to give it a try. It was quite small they are just getting going but the bar tender was extremely friendly and helped us suggestions of other places in the area we should add to our list. We tried a flight of a couple of their spirits. The Ouzo was something I had never had before, almost like a clear absinthe with a sweet Anise flavor. I was very impressed with the ouzo and may have to make a trip back for some in the future. read more

I was here for a wedding (was actually one of the wedding coordinators) and it was such a beautiful space for a wonderful couple! The staff (Bill in particular) were so accommodating and easy to work with. Staff was very accommodating to help flip the room from ceremony, to dinner, and then to reception. For a wedding of 50-75, this was prefect. The big banquet room is filled with long tables for communal seating. Along the ceiling are a ton of flickering lights that creates a romantic setting. During the day, the large windows encompassing the walls brought lots of natural lighting. There is a little hallway that connects the space to the main tasting room and where bathrooms are situated. In the large room, there is a private bar, which is great for a private event. There is also another doorway to the outside, which was particularly useful when the dance floor was heatin' up (from all the sick dance moves). The drinks Old Sugar provided were delicious and the bartender is fast! I particularly liked their take on the old fashion. They are on the sweeter side, but really good. I loved my experience here and has become a new go-to location for any events! read more

Old Sugar Distillery - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

We decided to take a quick trip to Old Sugar Distilkery to try their brandy. The distillery is small and filled with charm. The staff were kind and excited to share their knowledge about the spirits and cocktails. The tasting flight consisted of 5 of their mainstays. Surprisingly my favorite was the ouzo and the small-barrel rum. Both had less bite than expected yet full of flavor. The other samples were their honey liqueur, brandy and bourbon. If I was in the area again, I'd stop in to try their specialty drinks. read more

Old Sugar Distillery - Tasting flight - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Old Sugar is definitely a cute and cosy environment to go hang out with friends and have a drink or two. I attended the Yelp Event there last night and had a great time. Everyone was friendly and helpful. I tried the Honey Ginger Daiquiri which was very tasty. I've also been there before and had the Honey Cap which is also really good. The whiskey there is tasty and they just added some delicious cider. You can also book the spaces for private events as well. read more

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I don't think distillery's are my thing. Old fashioned wasn't very strong or cold. Love the neighborhood.

It is what it says. A distillery. With a very fine selection of things that come from distilleries. Like brandy. Fantastic gift selection.

1st Yelp Event 2nd time at Old Sugar Distillery and will definitely be coming back again and again. Great place to hang out and have drinks. read more

Old Sugar Distillery - Enjoying Drinks - Cheers! - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

We stopped in here on Friday night, and had a great time. Delicious and reasonably priced cocktails. Caleb spent time telling us all about the options and the whole operation. The tough part was deciding what two bottles we wanted to buy to bring home. Easily could've bought one of each. read more

Another review I am struggling to write... Came here last weekend with a group of 5 that became 6. One of the folks ordered a rootbeer cocktail from one of the bartenders. It's not on the menu, but it's been ordered before by members of the party. The bartender, in a very snide way, replied "who's been making you those?" and seemed to be very annoyed at the request. If someone asks for something off menu, and you don't want to make it, the best reaction would be to say "oh I'm sorry but we don't offer that anymore," or something along those lines. But just the tone in her voice, the look on her face.. it was clearly an issue and she handled it poorly. We also ordered a group drink that on the menu reads "serves 6." There were 5 of us at that time and she said, "that serves 6 ya know..." Okay fine. There were 5 of us and a 6th was on the way. She seemed annoyed at everything we asked for. Just a lot of snarky tone coming from the bartender... It made for an uncomfortable situation. Later on, I got a chance to have an actual conversation with this same bartender and, outside of the bar, she was awesome. That's why my review is difficult to write. She sucked in that moment but seemed pretty chill otherwise. The drinks were good, the space is cool, but some improvement on interaction with customers would be good. read more

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Though I've come to the OSD many times, I recently celebrated my partner's birthday there last Friday night. We were a party of 15-17, so I had a few concerns about having enough space and bringing in outside food. Fortunately, everything went better than planned. The OSD is very welcoming of outside food (we brought snacks and a birthday cake), and even decorated the table a bit! We arrived at 5pm on Friday, so we were able to snag a good table indoors. We ordered the Schill ($36); it was listed as serving 4-6 people, but we actually got much more use than that. It was delicious and a great drink for a large group. So, if you're looking for a spot to have a small party that *isn't* a restaurant, and you want to bring in your own food, OSD really is perfect. The two other Madison spots most comparable with OSD--State Line Distillery and Working Draft Beer Co.--wouldn't be as good. The OSD is much larger than State Line, for one, and has large tables that can accommodate big groups. OSD is also much less crowded than Working Draft, so you won't have to worry about waiting an hour for a table. read more

Old Sugar Distillery - The Schill - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

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Nice place to stop by for some cool drink's in the heat of summer. The bartender ( owner) was very informative, had the honey cap and gringo they were potent and delicious! Drink's came with metal straw's that seemed to make the cocktail's colder and taste better. Check it out!! read more

I purposely waited until after a second visit to write a review... When it comes to the atmosphere, ambiance, drinks, the limited food they serve....5 stars. Hands down. Love bringing friends here who come to visit from out of town. Service is what warrants the 3 star rating, because yes, it is that bad. Both times, but the most recent visit was worse. There were four other guests in the building other than us and neither of the bartenders could be bothered. Any time we went up to the bar for a drink, we had to wait until they were done talking. Even after making eye contact several times, we would have to wave them over. We were sitting at a table extremely close to the bar and would walk back to sit and chat while drinks were made. After a few minutes, we would look up and see our drinks sitting at the end of the bar. Is it too much to ask that they walk the extra 10 steps to bring them to our table, or at the very least, say something so we know they are ready for us to retrieve? If it was even slightly busy, I wouldn't have thought twice about any it. I've been in the service industry for more years than I'd like to admit, so I'm a very understanding patron, but this was awful. Frustrating, really. We would've stayed for more drinks, because they're DELICIOUS, but our party of four was over it, so we walked to a place down the road. I will still come back, and tell others to come, just with minimal expectations. read more

Old Sugar is one of my favorite bars in Madison, and I'm happy to say it's a great place both for a casual bar-goer and for event hosting. For the casual goers: the drinks are tasty and strong. Ask the bartender what they have going for seasonal specials and you probably won't be disappointed. If you can swing by with a group for a tour, it's a fun evening activity. They also sell their in-house whiskeys and ouzos, so grab a sampler set to enjoy at home. For those hosting events: Old Sugar is one of the best (and affordable) venues to host a gathering! I hosted my wedding there and it was an amazing space for a small ceremony/dinner of 50 and an open reception of 100+. I got continuous feedback on how perfectly intimate the space felt and how good the drinks were. Bill, the manager, was receptive to all of my frantic event questions both via email and in-person, even when we used the space for our ceremony, dinner, AND dance floor. Check out their website for the Rickhouse space! read more

Went here for my bachelor party. We were driving in from Chicago and got in a little late. So we were about 10 min late to the tasting. And the tasting "tour guide" (Anders or Andrew)made a joke about us being late but then he spent 20 minutes aggressively berating us for being late. He was trying to be funny but he was coming off as a jerk and people weren't laughing. But he didn't catch on and kept making his terrible jokes. Also he needed constant verification that we thought what he was telling us about the distillery was amazing but really it was like listening to Wikipedia talk. The tasting was 40 minutes of this guy talking about whiskey and 20 minutes of another guy talking about apples and ciders. That part was pretty boring. The different whiskeys we tasted were mediocre at best. One of them tasted like gasoline. Then we tasted the hard cider which tasted like bandaids. After the tasting, they give you a ticket to get a mixed drink at the bar, and the bartenders didn't seem interested and mostly just didn't acknowledge us. Overall, it was a mediocre experience with a major dbag tour guide and iffy whiskeys. Definitely don't recommend it! read more

Established in cooperation with the excellent Old Sugar Distillery in Madison, the cider-master of Hidden Cave excels across both geographical (to be exact: Wisconsin) and knock-out flavor dimensions. If you order hard cider, in a bottle, at a bar, these are sometimes sweet things that can please you, but ultimately they might not exactly satisfy. Hidden Cave is a whole 'nother thing. The Hidden Cave ciders are about genuine flavor dimensions way beyond, "Yeah, I like apples, and I like alcohol". Hidden Cave takes the subtle sugars, and rich, ripe dimensions, of the apple, and they make it intoxicating, but in perfect, celebratory ways. When I heard that Hidden Cave, in some of their ciders, were using additional flavors to enhance the apples, I winced. But when I tasted, I bowed. Hidden Cave uses cider from great apples, and when they add flavor accents to the apples, you can't tell they ever did that. The hibiscus, or lemongrass, or whatever, that is so deftly added to the mix, is something you cannot pick out. It does not jump at you. Instead it draws you in, to a product that is smackingly good. Real understanding of how subtle, original fruit flavors work, produced in ways that both accentuate their innate quality while maximizing every aspect of their intoxicatingly fermentational potential, makes these ciders exceptional. read more

Honey cap indeed. It's like having honey with lime soda. And also the gringo, old fashioned. I know I'll like the other drinks as soon as I try them in the near future. Go with the platters, they're good with the drinks. read more

Old Sugar Distillery - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

I purchased the groupon for 2 last night. It included a cocktail, 4 liquor samples, chips, cheese and a set of old sugar glasses for $31. It was a beautiful fall night, so we sat outside. The cocktail selection is remarkable. We were all really impressed. Drinks ranged on average $5-$7. I had multiple "Honey Cap" cocktails, which is their specialty if you like something sweet. I also, had some sort of pumpkin drink that was tasty but I could only have one. Overall, our experience was great. We are within a 10 minute walk so we will back. Downsides are that there are no other bars or restaurants in immediate proximity. This makes it hard to make a night out of it. Breese Stevens was having a concert which made parking a nightmare...but normally street parking would be fine. read more

Old Sugar Distillery - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Not much I can say that hasn't been said already by Miss Chy or Miss Stacey. Place has a nice ambiance and great drinks. Staff are friendly. Fairly priced drinks... read more

Old Sugar Distillery - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Great tasting ciders and whiskey! Very friendly and funny staff. Would go back to sample the entire menu.

The whole place from the interior to the bartenders are cool. You walk in and waif in the scent of spirits. We ordered the Gringo, made with horchata, OSF honey liqueur, topped with freshly grated cinnamon and nutmeg, and Honey Cap, muddled lime, honey, and lime juice with OSF Honey Liqueur and soda water. They were both very refreshing on a typical hot, Wisconsin summer. We were able to grab a picnic table outside to enjoy our drinks! read more

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Madison needs more hole-in-the-wall distilleries. Just like this one. It's in the middle of the industrial area of the E. Wash isthmus. Hoppin' hood. At the time of authoring, they only have a couple spirits (honey liquor, ozuo, and rum). They make cocktails from the spirits that they distill right in the distillery. Very concise menu, but of the cocktails I tried were yummy. Reasonably priced too. The interior is pretty open, and has lots of wood and concrete. One complaint - there is no music, so it's pretty quite/tame. They need to amp up the energy here. I understand the ambiance is very chill, but they can do better. read more

Old Sugar Distillery - inside of the bar (from their website) - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

SUCH a cute place. Loved the ambiance and the drinks were delicious. There's a patio with group style seating and dogs are welcome inside and out. Great spot for a date, catching up with friends, or just hanging out, appriciating some locally crafted spirits with your pup in tow! read more

Old Sugar Distillery - Old Fashioned - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

The Dark and Stormy is the only way to fly, here. I don't care if you don't like rum. I don't like rum... but I love the Dark and Stormy. This place is always packed. They distill their own liquor, and the hipsters, they come a-flocking. One of the female bartenders will ignore you if you're dressed like a normal person, but the other ones are cool enough. Bear in mind you have to ASSERT yo'self at the bar to get service. This is a dog-eat-hipster olympic sport, and if you break eye contact, you lose. Parking is pretty cut-throat too; be prepared to park on the street. Don't wear uncomfortable heels, ladies--there's the chance you won't get to park all that close. PRO TIP: Get the drink that comes with a few servings in one beautiful tea-service style pitcher. Not because it's tasty (though it is, and very much so), but because you won't have to waste so much time fighting to get a drink at the bar as often. ;) read more

I wish this place was open later and not just Thur-Sat. But hey, it's a distillery not a bar. An awesome place to have a chill, relaxing conversation with a friend or friends away from the crazy college bar scenes downtown. Don't have to shout and lose you voice. YES! Got the Gringo. Tasted like cinnamon rice pudding in liquid form or spiked horchata. For $6 it was a steal for the serving size. I would skip desert at the restaurant and come here instead to end the night right. read more

Old Sugar Distillery - Gringo (front), Old Fashion (back) - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

I had such high hopes for this place, but my experience left me disappointed. First, when I arrived at 9:30pm (on a Friday night) I couldn't tell if they were open. I get a dark ambiance, but when you drive up, you want to be able to tell if a venue is open. Also, send someone out to shovel the snow... that would be a great help. After getting inside and discouraged by the bartender not to pick the flight due to a 10pm close and the flight being a lot of alcohol, I was directed to sample to Honey Liqueur and Rum. Nothing overly impressive, but I tried the Honey Cap. That was a poor choice on my part, I like a drink with lime, the Honey Cap could benefit from a little less. All I had was an unpleasant lime after taste. My brother had the Whiskey Sour, again, nothing to write home about. I did enjoy the atmosphere they had inside, good selection of folk and alternative music playing. There was some stadium like seating towards the back that left me wondering what was going on, I'd come back just to sit up there with a group of friends to try the flight. I also liked seeing all the barrels along the wall - aging their rum for 6 months, as the bartender informed us. Bartenders appeared knowledgeable and friendly. But I just didn't find anything too special about this distillery - Milwaukee has a better one. I won't return too soon, but I'm willing to give them one more try. read more

Love the drinks here! Great place to hang out and chill with friends. Patio is amazinggggg. If you're hungry, get some underground butcher meats and banzo hummus and pita. Great sides for drinks! What to get? Gringo - horchata with honey liquor Honey cap - easy to down drink; lime and honey liquor Everything is amazing! Because of Yelp's Boozing and Schmoozing, we got to learn all about Old Sugar Distillery from Ernest! Inspired by the old sugar factory behind olbrich, Old Sugar Distillery has been up and running in the Willy street area for 4 years. All the liquors are made from some type of sugar, and the makers attempt to source sugar and ingredients as local as possible. The gigantic pot steel by the door/window can fill up to 450 gallons of liquid! Most drinks start out with: 1000 pound of sugar 150-200 gallon of water Champagne yeast. Doesn't add a lot of flavor. 2 weeks fermentation. Then back into pot steel. Vapors. 15-20h of vaporizing alcohol into condenser. Gaggling style of cold water tubes. End up with 50 gallons of high proof alcohol for aging! Oak barrels from Minnesota Small 10 gallon barrels Used only once Efficient Takes 10 months to age 1 month to age per gallon Add distilled water to lower the proof of aged liquor 100% Wisconsin brandy Grapes are picked by their own employees or volunteers! read more

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I came to Old Sugar last night for an event - a costume party! I really liked this place because the ambiance was nice, the staff was friendly (one of them even let me try on his glasses after I'd had a few cocktails haha), and the drinks were mixed nice and strong. I forget the name of the mixed drink I had because, well, that's how drinks go sometimes haha. I do remember trying the rose hip rosemary cider (I thiiiinnnkkkk it was called) and I REALLY liked that. The only thing that kind of threw me off was the entrance to the event, There were doors in the event space, but you had to enter in the main area where non-party people were at. Walking through a crowded distillery in nothing but a Baywatch costume was a little weird, but nothing too terrible. I'd definitely recommend people checking out Old Sugar if you happen to be on Madison's east side! read more

Great place to meet people for cocktails - particularly during a nice summer night when you can sit outside. The service is so so. There is also a limited snack menu that features local sundries. read more

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Overview: Great place to wind down the day! The atmosphere is laid back, yet it feels like you're part of something very special when you're in here. Distillery Tour: I have never been on a distillery tour so short before. However, I like that fact that you don't have to buy tickets (It's free!) or reserve a time. You can just show up at your leisure and ask for an informal overview of what they do. I should note that they do recommend you come early for a tour, as they don't always do them if it's very busy. That being said, it was busy the Friday night I went in and they still took the time out to do one. Alcohol: There was no formal tasting after the tour, however a bartender told my boyfriend and I to let her know if we wanted to sample any of the spirits. I regret not trying the Ouzo, as it sounded really unique. Vegan take: I was super stoked to find out that their Gringo is made with Horchata by Rice Dream, which is 100% vegan! However, if you are a strict vegan, you should know that the original Gringo recipe contains honey liquor, so you can always ask them to sub with something else. Bottom line: Quality spirits, creative cocktails and a great atmosphere! read more

Old Sugar Distillery - a red truck with barrels in the back - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

I popped in here briefly last week for a happy hour with some coworkers. The moment I walked in, it smelled like an Old Fashioned and I immediately knew I needed one. Everyone else was ordering fun, unique and delicious-sounding cocktails, but I ended up following my nose and ordering a standard Old Fashioned. But it was delicious and totally hit the spot. Everyone I was with seemed to be raving about their cocktails. I especially heard good things about the "Honey Cap," so I guess I'll have to try that one next time. The set up inside worked really well for our big group. They have long picnic tables in the back that work well for large parties. Also the decor and lighting made it feel warm and cozy and it was the perfect place to hang out on a cold, rainy night. read more

As a non-whiskey drinker, I was really impressed by offerings of this tasting room. They have plenty of drinks to impress the usual drinker and fun drinks like the Honey Cap for people like me. There is plenty of seating both inside and out. The interior is simple but comfortable. The outside is a series of picnic tables but it is dog friendly so it was a fun favorite for me during the summer. The people who were there are friendly and knowledgeable. The moment I leave, I start planning my next trip. read more

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We decided to drive West and ended up here. Uh-Mazing. This distillery is in a super cool building, has award winning cocktails (and a few that I've never tasted anything like before), and a great staff. Our bartender, Ashley, was so friendly and fun. She gave us all of the best recommendations for the area (Tavernakaya for more awesome drinks & Japanese comfort food, Tipsy Cow for goat cheese curds!!). We got to feel like locals for a night because of her awesome recommendations. The history of The Old Sugar Distillery is so cool! Make sure you learn about it while you're having a drink. The Honey Cap is delicious and I can see why it won awards. Perfectly balanced, not overpowering. They have a few snacks and a food truck outside. Don't miss this gem!! read more

Old Sugar Distillery - The Cherry Soda - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

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Nice to get some craft spirits to compliment all the beer that's out there these days. We had a couple of cocktails and were hooked. The bar shared a few recipes, and we left with a bottle each of Whiskey, Rum, and Ouzo. Yeah! You can even go home with a barrel. Looked fun. Was there on a sunny day so took a spot at the picnic tables out front and enjoyed a well mixed cocktail, including their take on a Sazerac and a rum-based manhattan served tall in a pint glass. Both were excellent. FYI, we stumbled on this place looking for Underground Meats. They share a building, but if you want to buy their charcuterie, go to Willy St Co-op. It's not for sale here. Just in case you were looking... read more

Old Sugar Distillery - Tasty cocktails enjoyed outdoors at Old Sugar - Distilleries Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

LOVE! I was won over with Chai Hot Toddy on a cold wintery night, and I have never looked back. Industrial distillery in an old warehouse, you'll need to know where you are heading. Perhaps a big light beaming into the sky would help over in that neighborhood. Every time I go back they have a new liquor to try and the bartenders have been great about sampling new options. They do have some schnackies to sample, but don't come hungry. I have gifted the Ouzo and Abe Cane Rum to my brothers out of state and they couldn't say enough. I will always have Honey Liquor on hand. It can be mixed with so many things. Check the schedule, sometimes they have live music. read more

I dig pretty much everything about OSD from the old-timey truck to the outdoor picnic tables to the delicious cocktails to be had in the tasting room. The bartenders are always inviting and happy to answer any questions one may have. My favorite drinks have a honey liqueur base - number one is the Gringo and number two is the Honey Cap. The Gringo is a tasty spin on horchata and I would drink a glass or two or three happily. The Honey Cap is their honey liqueur muddled with lime juice and soda. I generally don't care for lime, but something about the liqueur is able to balance out the flavor, even though lime makes for two of the four ingredients. The critique I hear most often when Old Sugar comes up in conversation is that their hours are too limited. While I, too, would enjoy extended hours, I also understand that they're a tasting room in a working distillery and not a dedicated bar. Their drinks are meant to be sipped and savored anyway, so I'm more than happy to start my night there and then move on to other pursuits. read more