Waunakee harbors a gem in its downtown called The Lone Girl Brewing Co., a worthwhile destination for grabbing a bite as well as watching a game.

Let’s start with the beers. I applaud Lone Girl for not doing what every brewery does these days, which is having IPAs represent 80 percent of the selection. Instead, you’ll find a welcome breadth, including a stout, a porter and a cider. My favorite was the Towhead ($5.50), a Belgian blonde with a subtle sweetness. Meanwhile, the Pipe Dream ($5), a wheat beer, is a perfect companion to basically any entree here.

The appetizers list has some unique items such as the Albondigas ($10; meatballs with beef, pork and chorizo) and the Bloody Mary Board ($12.50; cheese, sausage, etc. over a spicy bloody mary mix reduction). In the same vein, the hush puppies ($10) aren’t your average hush puppies. Inside a perfectly crispy shell are crab, shrimp and risotto. The hush puppies are moist enough that you don’t need any sauce.

I appreciated that the main menu has a wide array of items instead of 10 variations of burgers like other brewpubs have. For example, Lone Girl has a vegetarian ravioli ($14.50) and a beef stew ($14.50). I’m glad I tried the Get In My Belly ($12.50) entree. The mac & cheese portion (actually corkscrew cavatappi) is creamy–although it wasn’t at all spicy as the description says–and the stout-infused pulled pork is slightly sweet and quite tender.

The OG patty melt ($13) has all the right components: lots of cheese, the right amount of tangy sauce, buttery toast and a juicy patty. The only part of the meal I didn’t enjoy was the house fries, which were soggy, flimsy and tasteless.

Although I didn’t order any bar snacks–such as the wasabi-spiced cashews & peanuts–I thought it was clever that they’re served in mason jars. This brewpub also features a signature cocktail menu and a Friday night fish fry.

The Lone Girl Brewing Co. serves dinner every day and lunch Tuesdays-Sundays.

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See more photos in our The Lone Girl Brewing Co. Flickr album.