48 Hours in Milwaukee

With a free weekend in between events in Washington DC and Chicago, it was time to visit Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the first time. With two food/wine/spirits/travel writer friends living there, I wanted to see the city they call home. I arrived on Saturday afternoon and we immediately headed over to Bert's Bar (3907 S. Lake Drive), a local bar on the south shore of St. Francis. It was a perfect early summer day with temperatures in the high 70s and the sun shining as we sat on the patio, looking out to the lake. Surprisingly, for a local bar, Bert's has a very substantial and interesting wine and beer selection. We enjoyed a bottle of the crisp private labeled Bert's Bar Chardonnay (the grapes come from California) and typical bar food - fried mozzarella sticks and fried zucchini.