Hop Garden Belleville Tap Room
107 W. Main St., Belleville
Wednesday and Thursday 4-8 p.m.
Friday 4-9 p.m.
Saturday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
thehopgarden.net/belleville-taproom (check the website for a full list of upcoming musical performances)
On Main Street in Belleville, nearly equidistant between the fire department and a Citgo gas station with a marquee sign that reads “summertime,” is a historic garage built in 1917.
Hop Garden co-founder Rich Joseph wasn’t necessarily looking to expand into Belleville — the beer brewer and hop grower already had two taprooms in Paoli and Evansville. But when he was approached by a group of locals buying historic buildings in the town about a half hour south of Madison, he knew exactly the location he wanted.
“This was a Buick dealership until the ’60s,” Joseph said. “In the ’70s, an auto body shop took this over, and that auto body shop was here up until about five or six years ago. … (it’s) a pretty unique place.”
Hop Garden co-founder Rich Joseph wasn’t necessarily interested in opening a new taproom. But when he was approached by a group of locals buying historic buildings in the area, he knew just which building he wanted to be in — a former garage on Main Street.
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Joseph, who co-owns Hop Garden with his wife, Michele, opened the Belleville taproom, 107 W. Main St., in early July. The 5,000-square-foot taproom, open Wednesday through Sunday, seats about 170. There’s also a massive outdoor beer garden for 200, with a music stage and a balcony overlooking the Sugar River.
For now, the taproom serves a limited menu of barbecue items similar to its Evansville location. Joseph wants people to order food from other local businesses and bring it into the taproom, like Johnny O’s Pizzeria or Borland’s Tavern, which he said has “a line out the door” for fish fry and chicken.
This is Hop Garden’s third location. The brewery has a taproom in Paoli and one in Evansville.
JONÁS TIJERINO
On a Wednesday afternoon, just after the taproom opened its doors, Joseph greeted nearly everyone who walked in, like a group of women meeting for a few drinks before their high school reunion at Oregon High.
“The goal is that we want people to come here three, four times a week,” Joseph said. He referred to the idea of a third place, a space separate from work and home where “you hang out and meet all your friends. That’s what we want this place to be.”
The Hop Garden Belleville taproom can seat about one hundred — the outdoor patio can seat an additional 200.
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Beer from Wisconsin-grown hops
Hop Garden has grown steadily since the Josephs launched their first beer in 2014. They opened the Paoli taproom in 2015 and the Evansville one in 2023.
The Belleville outpost has nearly 20 beers on tap, including Hop Garden favorites like Bushel Basket, an Imperial Amber Ale made with Cascade hops, and Nuggetopia, made with 100% Nugget hops. There’s a rotating selection of beers from local breweries like Working Draft Beer Company and ALT Brew (which makes gluten-free beers) in Madison and Tyranena Brewing Company in Lake Mills.
Hop Garden’s Belleville taproom has nearly 20 offerings on tap, from popular Hop Garden offerings to beers made by local breweries to N/A and gluten-free options.
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Non-beer drinkers can sip on cider on tap from Restoration Cider Co. or kombucha from NessAlla Kombucha.
Hop Garden got its start as a hop-growing business. Rich has a background in agriculture and worked in the dairy industry for 28 years before becoming a founding member of the Wisconsin Hop Exchange in 2011, which grows and sells Wisconsin hops to brewers.
“The whole idea was to quit my dairy industry job and just (grow) hops,” Joseph said. In the second episode of the cooking competition show “Top Chef Wisconsin,” contestants had to come up with a dish using hops — and the hops came from Hop Garden. The Josephs grow hops on a 20-acre farm just south of Belleville.
Hop Garden co-owner Rich Joseph said hi to a group of women meeting at the Belleville taproom before going to their high school reunion.
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What makes Wisconsin hops special isn’t necessarily the soil or growing conditions, Joseph explained, but rather the way they process the hops. Hops, cone-shaped and green, are climbing plants that look almost like vines. Hops are then heated and dried before being sent to brewers to use in beer.
“I started selling hops at different breweries,” Joseph said. “A lot of those guys were like, ‘You should just start brewing beer yourself.’”
The Belleville taproom has a limited barbecue menu for now, similar to their kitchen in the Evansville taproom.
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Joseph said that he and other members of the Hop Exchange never heat their hops more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit (others might dry hops up to 140 degrees).
“If you keep that lower temperature, like an olive oil that’s cold-pressed … it stays better longer,” Joseph said.
‘Hey, let’s meet’ at Hop Garden
Joseph wants Hop Garden to add to the local entertainment choices in Belleville — that’s why he wants people to order from his neighbors and bring it into the taproom.
The new Hop Garden tap room has a patio that overlooks the Sugar River in Belleville.
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“The whole goal is to keep people in the small towns. You don’t have to go to Madison … you can stay in your own hometown and have different food options and different music options,” he said.
There’s a small room off the main taproom that Joseph imagines people can rent for private parties and events. The outdoor garden has zones where the acoustics are optimized for folks to enjoy live music. If they move toward the edge of the balcony overlooking the river, the music is barely audible.
“The roof line was worked so that the water noise will come up a ways and then slowly stop,” Joseph said.
Hop Garden already has a long list of performers booked through October, concentrated on weekends. Upcoming performers include folk singer Bryant Switzky (Aug. 8 from 5-8 p.m.), acoustic rock duo Just Merl and A Girl (Aug. 15 from 5-8 p.m.) and “groovy” originals and covers from Doc Euphonic (Aug. 16 from 1-4 p.m.).
Zoë Huff worked on a large mural she’s painting on the side of Hop Garden’s Belleville taproom.
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Joseph said the Oregon High School graduates aren’t the only folks getting their reunions started at Hop Garden — he said a class from Belleville High also plans to meet at the taproom. He’s seen families embrace the space, and groups of friends have already made the taproom their hangout spot.
The idea was to make the Belleville outpost “a community space where you call somebody up and say, ‘Hey, let’s meet there’,” Joseph said. “And that’s what we’re seeing. That’s what’s great.”
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