The Standard

Cheap drinks and friendly bartenders. This cozy, candlelit bar is located on N Franklin, just off Brady Street. Get there early for the peace and quiet and leave late for the hussle and bussle that all Brady bars have. Get to know the bartenders! I promise you will never be bored there due to the conservationists (customers and bartenders), pull tabs, pool table, tvs, and a fun game of Dice. No food is served, but chips. Look for Cookoff’s (Chilli, Soup, etc) held a few times a year by this bar where contestants are regulars. Look for excellent Nitros and Stouts. Quite the range of ales, lagers, stouts, fruit, IPA, wheat, etc. A fun cozy neighborhood bar.

This is exactly my type of place. The type of place I’ve found in Bay View — but since moving to the East Side, have had difficulty finding close to home.
It’s dark, cozy and welcoming. They have plenty of craft beers and cocktails to choose from. The service here is absolutely down to earth and friendly. I will definitely be back :)

This is my new favorite bar! NICE.
My boyfriend, who is typically clad in button ups and Nikes, told me that people with tattoos get better service than the rest of the customers. Having this insight and looking like the poster child for counter culture next to my boo thang, I was not surprised to be chatted up by all of the employees. I received fantastic service and enjoyed a thorough discussion about music, the community, and the beers they have on tap. I can’t say if this was actually because of my appearance but if it was, it benefited me and I’m not complaining.
They have a decent selection of high ABV beers, which is what I’m all about. Barley wine on tap? Yes please. Can’t speak to the mixed drinks, as I typically stick to beer.
They have a pool table and a few TVs. The tables next to the doors have Risk maps as the tabletops. Dope.

We stood at the bar, obviously trying to get drinks for 15 minutes. The bartender was speaking to management about policy and when she finished continued to drink with her friends at the end of the bar. We left without anyone so much as looking at us. This place is a joke.

This place rocks. Great booze, clean bathrooms, unlike Hosed on Brady.
Steve and his crew are professional and proficient!

Owned by locals, The Standard has been a spot I like to visit pretty often since they opened.
I was originally drawn to the bar by it’s proximity to my home. In winter, it’s great to be able to walk a block and be somewhere familiar, where everybody knows your name.
The staff is very friendly, and will always help you find a new beer or drink to try, and there’s only been one time I didn’t like what they recommended, and they helpfully pulled the bottle, chugged it, and handed me another beer, that I loved. Win win.
It’s a great place to go with friends, and it’s one of those bars where you can easily pull up a chair to someone, and start a round of bar dice and meet new people.
It’s not a large bar, so when it’s crowded, it can be tough to make it to the bar, but again, this is where the staff shines. They are fantastic at keeping up, and I’ve never had to wait more than a few minutes to get a drink, even when the place is packed.
They also have a surprisingly good Bloody, if you don’t mind it being a bit light on the garnishes.
I’d definitely recommend coming in on a weekday night, and trying a new beer, and stay for a round of bardice. I guarantee that you’ll stay till barclose.

I am not a Hipster or a Harley rider, this is not a bar for me. I may also have an inherent distaste for dive bars, this is most certainly that. But, some could call it ‘cozy’ and I liked the old school Standard gas sign on the wall. We managed to snag the table on the stadium style flooring after a group left — otherwise, seating is limited. Not sure if the old piano is decoration or actually works, but that would open up space for more seats.
Not a fan on seeing their specials listed on the board above the door, asking for it and hearing «we’re out of that». Then asking for another beers on the board, which they were also out of. And yes, even the third option, also out. Why is it up there still? «we’re too lazy to change it» … we just spent 5 minutes trying to order a drink, wasn’t that more of a waste of time than actually fixing your board?
The only saving grace that prevents me from giving it one star is that the bartender did hook me up with a great beer that I hadn’t tried before: «Buffalo Sweat Oatmeal Cream Stout.» That was seriously delicious and for that, The Standard has earned two stars from me.

Great little hole-​in-​the-​wall with an impressive selection of microbrews. Great example of the townie bars we Wisconsites love to frequent!

So this place is odd. It calls itself a tavern, but it doesn’t have a tavern feel. It’s very open and clean. It actually smelled like a tattoo parlor upon walking in (and if you understand what I’m getting at, that’s a good thing). The tap beer list was awkwardly placed on a chalkboard over the entrance and the beer menu is for bottles/​cans only.
That being said, the prices were reasonable and the selection was quite large. They had Abita Purple Haze in a can which was a total win for me! We had two rounds and our tab was 15 $ which isn’t bad at all.
They were playing rockabilly music which was cool. Definitely some of the best people watching I’ve witnessed in a Brady Street area bar.

I finally made it to the standard and what a cool place! I love the relaxed vibe and the cool interior. They have plenty of beer to select from, which I’m a big fan of. I’ll totally come to this place in the future, I can’t believe it took me so long to make it here!

Great, I mean amazing Beer selection. Very Comfortable environment, one of my favorite places to frequent and recommend to others!

Excellent cocktails, comfy environment, friendly bartenders, and all the kinds of people seem to be welcome. The Standard is a great place for a cocktail — they make one of my favorite old fashioneds. It’s also a great place for a beer. The rotating taps are always posted on a chalkboard, and if you want something like a basic PBR, it’ll come in a can. The taps are reserved for unique beer choices. I’m definitely a fan.
I also recommend it if you’re waiting for a table at Bel Air Cantina. It’s just a short walk away and since Bel Air texts when your table’s ready (and has a super duper small waiting area and a bar that’s usually packed), it’s easy to nip away for a yummy drink whilst you wait.

I made my first foray to The Standard a couple weeks back for a birthday party, and I have to say I am now a fan of this place.
First… I like beer, in all it’s forms and flavors. I used to manage a place with a selection that normally hovered around 350 beers. So, in a place like this, I’m pretty happy. There’s a ton of beers in the coolers behind the bar, and there’s a tap head with a dozen or maybe sixteen tappers on it. I was impressed with a few of the things I noticed.
Service was really good at this place. The bartender was very attentive and full of suggestions for our group of eight people. The bar was very full, and there were definitely some cuter groups to get his attention, so I assume that means he’s just a good bartender as a general rule.
The crowd was mixed in age and personality types, and everyone was well-​behaved while I was there. The music was a good volume for still being able to talk, and the clientele was pretty friendly.
This is in the trendy Brady Street area, and by trendy, I mean a mix of artists, students, hipsters and others from their twenties on up. Liberal, easy-​going, and there’s probably more bartenders and waitresses living in the neighborhood than anywhere else in the city. There is a seedy element in the neighborhood as well, but I did not feel it in the bar. Parking is generally a challenge in this entire area, but it seemed pretty easy that night.
I dig it. Not the closest to home for me, so I don’t know if I’ll be a regular, but it’ll be a good stop for me if I’m out in the neighborhood. I will pick them over the nearby beer joints Stubby’s or World of Beer.

Went here for a friend’s going away party. Never knew it existed. Glad I do now. Good rockabilly-​ish music, the beer selection was very good, and the bar tenders were fast and friendly.
Kinda small… But, is definitely a place I will visit more often when I’m on that side of town.

This seems to be hard drinkin’ bar. And no judgement, the night I was there, I was doing some hard drinkin’ myself. One of the owners was there the night we went and was super friendly and went out of his way to explain some of the many bottles of beer he has in the cooler.
While I had been to Circa, I was not a huge fan. Maybe I caught the tail end before they were closing but it felt very dull to me… enter The Standard. The vibe is now lively and fun. There is conversation a plenty at the bar with the sound of the bar dice cup slamming on the bar in the background. Good tunes in the non-​internet jukebox. Cool tables– ours consisted of the old Monopoly game board from when we were kids– sunk into the table and then a clear top on it. Just cool things like this make this bar different and cool.
If I was still in my 20’s, I could see this being a fun bar to retreat to at the end of a fun night on Brady St to get away from the crowds (and bump and grind at Jo Cats!). I was there way before bar time– so I can’t speak to that crowd but the crowd when I was there was friendly.
I like the fact that instead of holding your credit card until you cash out, they just swipe it once and give it back. No more going to the bar the next day at noon (usually with your tail between your legs due to the antics from the night before!)to retrieve your forgotten credit card… come on, you know you have done it at least once !

I decided to give this hole-​in-​the wall a chance one Thursday night around midnight. A friend and I just wanted to have a beer and chill out a bit after work. What struck me was the number of intoxicated, middle-​aged men in this establishment. I don’t know if this was a pick-​up line or a plea for help, but one older man staggered over and asked us if we could help him find his car.
This was not a good corner bar to «chill» after work – the music was very loud and we were shouting to talk to each other. For a dive bar, the beer was definitely not priced accordingly. $ 5 for a Lagunitas IPA. I can pay the same price at classier establishments downtown with less leering older men.

I was so very sad to hear that Circa had closed.
I mean, yes… it had been going downhill for quite some time. Their regular bartender was really quite «out of touch.» There wasn’t really anything left to drink. All of the sudden, there was a giant teevee in the corner, and it was playing the real estate channel. WTH? It was sad. Circa used to be phenomenal. Circa used to be all warm woods and low lights and live music and the East Side’s answer to Nessun Dorma. But that, dear friends, was many moons ago. Sigh.
Enter: The Standard.
Nothing flashy or fancy, from what I can tell this is a shot and a beer kinda joint. Now, I’m no longer really a shot and beer kinda gal, but I appreciate what this bar is doing. They’ve changed the décor a bit — they’ve added a pool table, a jukebox, the walls are now red, etc. — but it’s still got the same comfy cozy corner-​joint feel to it that I so dearly loved about Circa.
Cool: Great Lakes Distillery held their first ever «pop-​up speakeasy» at The Standard. I am a fan. Do this again. Me gusta.
The Pixies, Tom Waits, Motown, and Wanda Jackson make me want to stay and hang out. Plus one, Standard. Michael Buble and super angry/​loud Psychobilly make me want to leave. Minus one. Still workin’ the vibe out on that end, methinks. They have a good-​ish selection of beers, too… which is important IMHO.
Verdict: Corner bar off Brady boasts more character right out the gate than even some longstanding establishments in this ‘hood. Once they nestle into themselves a bit more, I’ll have a better idea as to if I’ll be a repeat offender of the joint’s; but for now, I think there’s potential, so they’ve got a fan in this gal.