Heading to Madison... where should I eat and drink

The Red Shed.

And it's tradition to have a brat with every meal when visiting Madison for a football game.

Funniest thing I saw the last time I was up there for a football game:

Car stops in the middle of the street, young girl - probably a college freshman at the oldest and definitely not old enough to drink - jumps out and starts heading across the street to join up with some tailgaters. As she starts to walk away from the car, the driver - who looks like she's the girl's mom - honks the horn and waves the girl back to the car to hand her a 12-pack of beer.

 

Don't have a lot of experience over by campus but more downtown on the Capitol Square is the Old Fashioned (30 taps of nothing but Wisconsin beers). Also down that way are the Essen Haus (German food) and The Great Dane (brewpub with solid chow). The Glass Nickel (a bit on the east side of downtown) has pretty good pizza and cheese curds, with a good bar selection.

Try Capital Brewing's Autumnal Fire while you're there. Great beer, a doppelmarzen (Double Octoberfest) that's malty heaven. 9% but you'd never know it.

 

Nothin better than the State Street Crawl...

 

On game day, Regent Street is better for pure, full-on drinking.

State Street has all kinds of shit, bars are just part of it. I'd recommend the Kabul restaurant on State, but it doesn't sound like dining is going to be the priority.

 

I recommend a stop at the Kollege Klub if for no other reason than to see the old-school Big Ten logos in stained glass above the bar.