Signs you’ve stumbled into a really good Wisconsin dive bar

I may just be a commoner, but I’ve traveled enough of the country and set foot in enough watering holes to know not all dive bars are created equal.  Further, what makes a good dive bar in one part of the country doesn’t necessarily work everywhere.  That’s especially true in Wisconsin which seems to me to have a bar culture uniquely its own. 

After looking back over several stops from numerous trips to Madison, Sheboygan and places in between, here are a few signs I’ve spotted to know I’ve stumbled into a really good Wisconsin dive bar.

The Brazen Head Pub in West Bend proudly serves Pabst Blue Ribbon on draft. 

Smelt and the Scenic Bar, Sheboygan, Wis.

Have you ever driven past a business’s sign so often that eventually you couldn’t help but stop and try what they were selling?  It happened to me in Sheboygan, Wis.  The place was the Scenic Bar, an otherwise unassuming little tavern among several others in the neighborhood known as the Indiana Corridor. 

   

The thing that hooked me in was the smelt.