The Miller Brewery in the Menomonee Valley is one of the largest breweries in the United States and has been a Milwaukee institution since Frederick Miller arrived from Bavaria in 1855. Free tours run several times a day and are among the better brewery tours in America: you get the full history, a walk through the working production facility, a visit to the original 19th-century lagering caves cut into the hillside, and a tasting session in the historic Caves building at the end.
The tour lasts about an hour and a half and ends with several free beers. The caves section, cut by hand in the 1850s and used to keep beer cold before mechanical refrigeration, is the highlight — a rare piece of surviving industrial infrastructure that still feels genuinely old.
The brewery is about 5 kilometres northwest of downtown. Tours depart regularly Monday through Saturday; check the website for times and reservations, which are recommended in summer.