Cedarburg Breweries, Wineries & Distilleries: A Drink Crawl Guide

Cedarburg breweries, wineries, and distilleries pack more into one small town than almost anywhere in Wisconsin — two wineries, two breweries, and a distillery, several of them within a few walkable blocks downtown and the rest a short drive away. You can taste your way through the whole scene in an afternoon. Here's each spot, what it does best, and how to string them into a crawl that actually works.

What makes Cedarburg a real drinks destination rather than a one-stop visit is the mix and the density. You get a historic mill winery, a personal downtown tasting room, a serious craft brewery, a creekside brewpub, and a grain-to-glass distillery — five distinct experiences, most within reach of Washington Avenue. Add the festivals the town is known for, and it's no accident the Wine & Harvest Festival built its name here. Below is each spot, what it's best at, and how to link them together.

The wineries

Cedarburg's headline winery is Cedar Creek Winery, set inside the restored 1860s mill at the Cedar Creek Settlement. It's a working winery aging some of its wine in the building's original limestone cellars, run by the Wollersheim family since 1990 under 13th-generation winemaker Philippe Coquard. The easiest way in is the $10 walk-in flight, available daily with no reservation; there's also a seated tasting and a cellar tour if you want the fuller experience. Look for the seasonal blush wines — Strawberry, Cedarburg Spice, Christmas — which are the bottles people take home. Our full Cedar Creek Winery guide covers the tastings, tours, and history in depth.

A few blocks up on Washington Avenue, Chiselled Grape Winery is the smaller, more personal option — a downtown tasting room where the staff tailor your pours to what you tell them you like rather than pouring from a fixed flight. It's home to the "Sexy Series" of wines, and regulars come back as much for owner Allen's welcome as for the wine itself. Reservations are recommended, especially for groups over six, and it's closed Mondays and Tuesdays, so it fits best into a Wednesday-through-Sunday visit. The pours run generous and the small-batch approach means the lineup shifts between visits.

The breweries

The Fermentorium Brewery & Tasting Room is Cedarburg's craft-beer anchor. Opened in 2016 as one of the first craft taprooms in Ozaukee County, it pours 24 beers on tap across a full spectrum of styles — from hoppy IPAs to stouts to the head brewer's more experimental one-offs — in a 2,500-square-foot room with a long ambrosia-maple bar, games, and a big patio. Its flagship, Juice Packets, turns up on draft and in cans across the state. The kitchen does gourmet hot dogs, pizzas, and shareable plates, and you can bring your own food too. One thing to know for planning: the Cedarburg taproom sits out at Five Corners on Highway 60, a short drive from the downtown core rather than a walk from it.

Rebellion Brewing is the other side of the beer scene — opened in 2018 by a trio of home-brewers, it sits inside the historic Cedarburg Mill at the north end of Cedar Creek Park, with a patio right on the creek. It's about as scenic as a pint gets in Cedarburg, and it pairs naturally with a walk through the park, making it the easiest brewery to fold into a downtown day.

The distillery

Handen Distillery, on Washington Avenue, rounds out the scene with spirits made in Cedarburg — the name is Northern European for "hands," a nod to both the town's Germanic roots and the hand-crafted approach. They specialize in bourbon and gin, with a line of liqueurs, and pour cocktails and tasters at the downtown location. It's the one stop where you can taste the full range from grain to glass, and it sits just a couple of minutes' walk from the heart of downtown.

Do it as a walkable crawl

The downtown core makes an easy walking crawl on its own: start at Cedar Creek Winery in the Settlement, walk up Washington Avenue to Chiselled Grape and Handen Distillery, and you've hit a winery, a tasting room, and a distillery without moving your car. Rebellion Brewing is a short walk further, out at Cedar Creek Park by the creek. The Fermentorium is the one that needs wheels — it's a few minutes' drive out to Five Corners on Highway 60 — so slot it in at the start or end rather than mid-walk.

Space the crawl out with a meal in between; our guide to where to eat in Cedarburg has the options, and several downtown restaurants pour local wines and beers from these very producers. Several also run a Friday Cedarburg fish fry, the classic pairing for a local pint. If you're driving in from Milwaukee, line up a designated driver or plan to make a full afternoon of it so nobody's rushing between stops.

One planning tip: check days and hours before you go. Chiselled Grape is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, the Fermentorium doesn't open until mid-afternoon on weekdays, and tasting-room hours shift seasonally — a quick look at each spot's current hours saves a wasted trip.