Nightlife in Platteville

An extension of Minhas Craft Brewery, Minhas Micro Distillery's heritage of handcrafting fine spirits dates back to 1845. Today, the facility produces vodka, rum, Irish cream, horchata, and rye whiskey. Guests can visit the tour center and take home with them the latest clothing, glassware, and collectibles.

Behind State Street Brats' charming Old-World half-timbered façade, a convivial bar-and-grill atmosphere welcomes visitors to lively feastings of pub fare. With a special focus on sausages and cheesy meals, the menu celebrates the best-loved staples of Midwestern cuisine. Chefs serve up brats two traditional ways, with the Sheboygan-style white brat soaked in beer and red brats split open and grilled for a smoky flavor. Patrons can customize their orders at the condiment bar by slathering on a wide selection of toppings, such as tomatoes and sauerkraut, and picking the best flavor from a spread of local mustards, including Koops, Silver Spring, and Mustard Girl.

A two-time finalist for Madison Magazine’s Best Sports Bar, with a gold in 2011 and silver in 2012, State Street Brats relishes the company of happy regulars and avid sports fans there to catch games on the bar’s 25 TVs. Extensive cable and digital subscriptions keep crowds entertained with professional football and baseball or collegiate action. Four evenings a week, the second floor comes to life with a live DJ and a packed dance floor. Bartenders also keep fans on their toes with themed specials, such as Flip Night Tuesday, where patrons can flip a coin to determine how much their drinks cost.

The name The Sports Pub explains it all. Here, the night's biggest college and professional games zip across 15 high-definition LCD screens scattered among the bar's tables and booths—and patrons can also watch live sports every spring and summer from the patio, when volleyball-league members serve and spike balls across the pub's four sand courts. Weekly karaoke nights and live DJ appearances diversify The Sports Pub's entertainment lineup, which spectators can relish while sipping one of the bar's 13 draft beers. Those brews make perfect matches for the kitchen's pub food classics, such as pizza burgers and baked pretzels filled with jalapeño cheese.

Jade Monkey's menu has a martini, iced tea, mojito, classic or specialty cocktail, hard-hitting spirit, or craft, imported, or domestic beer to appease any esophagus. Chase the bubbly Rosie Palmer, a champagne cocktail with PAMA pomegranate liqueur and champagne ($4), with a red-headed slut specialty shot ($3) to jumpstart a sultry summer-night romance. For hops and froth enthusiasts, Jade Monkey's eight on-tap brews (including Ale Asylum Hopalicious, Bell's Seasonal, and New Glarus Spotted Cow) complement a hearty list of craft brews, domestics, and imports. Because an ice-cream truck's jingle only hypnotizes children and stray dogs, adults sweeten hot days with Jade Monkey's ice-cream drinks such as the grasshopper, a creamy whirl of crème de menthe, crème de cacao, and ice cream ($7). Classic cocktails such as the mint julep ($6) are available along with signature creations such as the Dog Sled, a sweet and tart pour featuring Captain Morgan, Southern Comfort, orange juice, and pineapple juice ($4).

Lucky’s satisfies appetites for pub fare and sports with a lunch and dinner menu and 50 televisions broadcasting all major sports packages from above a dark wood bar. Patrons can commence flavor explorations with six wings, which cooks toss with a choice of buffalo, barbecue, or garlic-parmesan sauce ($6.99), before strapping one to each shoulder to attract newly single griffins ($6.99). For the Wild West burger, grillmasters herd a beef patty and strips of applewood-smoked bacon onto a fresh kaiser roll smothered with barbeque sauce, grilled onions, and cheddar cheese ($6.99). As parents masticate on the sauerkraut-filled Regent Street reuben ($7.49), pint-sized palates can step up to bat with the minor leaguer’s menu and punt a slider hamburger into a side of fries or applesauce ($2.95).