Bitter Esters Brewhouse

The service was fast and friendly with a book of joke to read as you pay your bill. The waitress was friendly always asking if everything was to our expectations and very prompt in every step of the process from ordering drinks, food, serving, and check payment. Will go again if in town.

So disappointed. Had eyed this restaurant the night before and convinced the family to try it. After being seated it was a good 20 min to get our order taken and after another 20 – 30 min my husband finally has to ask if we could have our drinks while we waited for our food (our waters never arrived until the manager brought our food). The kids drink was $ 2.50 (a half filled adult cup). The kids meal chicken fingers was a sliced chicken breast with a small handful of chips. Not much food after waiting over an hour. The large house salad was greens, a few pieces of tomato and some white onion for over $ 10. Missing the cheese and seasonal vegetable. The bangers and mash was probably the highlight although onions overpowered. The waitress didn’t check on us once other than too deliver the check. I did speak to another sweet waitress and they took drinks off the bill. A nice gesture but after almost two hours felt deserved. Yes it’s a small town but if this is your business be prepared for guests and to hustle. There was no wait or line at door even.

Disappointed. Sums up the experience my girlfriend and I had at Bitter Esther’s. After ordering appetizer and drinks, our waitress informed us that they were out of the pretzel beer cheese appetizer, so we ordered chips and dip and proceeded to order our entrees. She then came back and informed me they didn’t have the beer I had ordered off of the «extensive» beer list. So I ordered one on tap. Beer came before my girlfriend’s water did, about 15 minutes after we sat down. Chips and dip came, salsa was good and spicy but not what was listed on the menu as a black bean salsa. The cilantro jalapeño dip was mediocre at best, and we could barely tell if there were jalapeños in it? Cream cheese? Not sure. We both looked down in disappointment when the same blend of cilantro, «cream cheese» and jalapeño was on both of our sandwiches. I ordered the creamy jalapeño sandwich and my girlfriend the jalapeño chicken sandwich, not a hint of jalepeno or cream cheese flavor, the sausage wasn’t infused with jalapeño or cream cheese as I had expected from a «sausage kitchen», it was all just kind of, blah. My girlfriend’s «side salad» was incredibly overpriced, waitress said it was a little extra which is fine but it was $ 3 for a salad that would fit in the palm of your hand and the home-​made garlic dressing had no hint of garlic in it. My side of baked beans was too sweet and it was as if they had just cooked the beans and then poured BBQ sauce over them. Also had to remind our waitress to take off the pretzel appetizer (which they were out of) which was still on our bill. All in all, slow poor service and overpriced unflavorful food. I don’t know who is running this place but they are doing a great job of running it to the ground. Will not be back.

Staying in Custer tonight. Looking for somewhere to stop for a beer. Happened upon Bitter Esters Brewhouse. It is a really nice place! Tried a couple of their house brews, and an appetizer. The service was outstanding! the beers were very good! The pretzel appetizer with beer cheese was delicious. Everyone was very friendly, even recommended some places to explore while visiting the area. (On a side note: the location in the Unilocal app is incorrect. They are located right in town on the main road.)

This place was a pleasant surprise. I’m from Milwaukee which is known for beer and brats, and to be honest I was skeptical. Even though I’m not a drinker my mom got one of their on site beers and enjoyed it. They go the extra mile to try to be as locally sourced as possible. I had an excellent house salad that was from an organic greenhouse nearby. We got three different brats and were thoroughly satisfied with all of them. All brats are made in house. Try the beans for a side.
Another plus is that they didn’t play horrible pop country you hear in every other place in South Dakota. They succeeded in doing something more original.

Good brew tap and bottle selections, house sausage was excellent, pulled pork very good. Flights available. House brews pliable… Blonde and Misconception Amber worthy of a taste. Not a wide selection of taps, but the food was great. There are small and large growlers available. Good enough that I found one to take home. An authentic experience compared to others in Custer. For straight beer options consider a drive to Newcastle.

Pleasantly surprised by great food, beer & atmosphere! We tried sampler flight of the local & non-​local beer selections. The beers brewed on-​site were our favorites! Beware though if you are expecting to tour the brewhouse, we were told «no» due to it’s small size and precarious location. We were a little skeptical of the homemade sausages, but decided to take a chance and it paid off — the meal was wonderful! We had the Violet Bouregard & Italian Stallion and both were delicious! The Cilantro coleslaw was also super fresh and delicious. If we lived anywhere nearby we’d definitely be «regulars».

After being frustrated to find out that most of the places to eat in Custer close at 7:30 or 8:00pm (what the?!) we stumbled upon Bitter Esters. It was SO good! I had a pepperoni pizza and my husband had a chicken pot pie. Normally we don’t finish all of our food but it was so good that we couldn’t stop eating it! My husband also had a raspberry beer which he thought it was really good. They make pretty much all of their food in house with local ingredients and compost their waste.

I have to give them credit for trying. The beers are good. The food was ok, but quite over priced. I paid $ 12 for essentially a single brat. My wife had the pulled pork which she said was alright, nothing special. This place seems to have a huge upside if they can tap into it it could sore.

The homemade sausage is great, and so are the sauces, and all the salad and slaw ingredients were garden fresh. The house-​brewed apricot wheat beer was also very good. Definitely the best food of our trip in western South Dakota!

We stopped in for a quick beer before heading over to Bedrock City Flintstones Park down the street. It was a cute place, the servers were nice and they had a nice selection of beers, both brewed in house and they had some guest taps as well. I tried their SLH Dirty Blonde Ale which was very good. Normally, I drink IPAs but I wanted to try something different and I was happy with my choice. it was nicely balanced and refreshing for a hot summer day. We were informed that served housemade sausages as well and we were given menus. There’s bar seating as well as table seating if you prefer. We also used the restrooms which were clean as well. I would go there again.

This place is great. We tried an IPA and a lager; both were great. Chicken pot pie is amazing. I had the spicy reuben, which is a great take on a classic, and very messy — ask for extra napkins. The BBQ beans are delicious. I think the only misstep was the housemade pickles. Some things do not need to be pickled, and broccoli is one of them. The service was excellent and friendly!

I was so tired of eating buffalo burgers and I was pleasantly surprised by the variety and quality of the food. Great atmosphere and drinks too!

Nice find in Custer. Brew house and sausage kitchen. They have house made sausages. We had the Italian sausage which was very good. The Violet Beauregard however was great, a brat with a blueberry honey mustard, (yes it goes together great). Lime cilantro coleslaw was good too as were the brews.

Great service! Great beer selection, brewed on site and on tap from other breweries.

Homemade sausages– we had the Greek and the Italian Stallion; both were good, but we preferred the Greek.
Side dishes– we tried the cilantro lime cole slaw & bbq baked beans– I would recommend the bbq baked beans, they were smokey, spicy and wonderful!
Appetizers– had the baked breaded green beans– I didn’t feel they were worth $ 8. The menu says they come with a parmesan garlic dipping sauce, but it tasted like Ranch dressing with a few sprinkles of shredded parmesan in it and the portion of green beans was very small.
They offer beer flights as well as free tastes to help you decide what you want. We would definitely go back.

Stopped here with wife and 8yo son. We all enjoyed it. Not a fancy place but a fun little bar/​brewery. Had good hand made sausages, a handful of house made beers and a nice menu of kids food and desserts. Would go again if in the area.

Ate here for dinner tonight. Horribly SLOW service, long wait for meals to come out, they lost our check and more than half of the beers listed on tap they did not have. High prices for mediocre food. Will not be back. Huge disappointment!

So glad we stopped for a drink and snack. I had wine and my husband had an IPA on tap. We shared a potato/​nacho appetizer. Though the glasses were odd sizes, it was refreshing and tasty.
The waitress was friendly and helpful, the restaurant and bathrooms clean and the atmosphere was happy.
I definitely will come back.

Awesome food! Brats were great! LOVED You asked for it IPA! Friendly service! Kid friendly. P
Kids pizza had homemade pizza sauce and chips!

I’m bumping this up to 3 stars because I don’t want to give a bad review to a local business.
I visited this summer on my trip to Mt. Rushmore. I’ll start with the good. The restaurant was very clean and the staff was very friendly. The beer I had was also tasty. Now to the bad… the pulled pork sandwich wasn’t flavorful at all. I asked for extra barbecue sauce because I didn’t feel the meat on its own was very flavorful. I would try this place again and I would DEFINITELY have a beer here again. Just not completely sold on the food.