Robin Shepard
Tap handles.
There’s a lot of Tyranena on tap at the tied-style taphouse The Fharmacy.
Tyranena’s new The Fharmacy Public House in downtown Lake Mills opened in January. With its brick walls, wood floors, dark paint scheme and tin-ceilinged entry, it has the feel of an upscale brewpub more commonly found in much larger cities. The building at 203 North Main St. overlooking Commons Park dates to the 1890s. It was originally constructed for a furniture company, but in more recent times it was known for being a pharmacy. (Tyranena’s nod to the building’s past with its name required a spelling shift, because state law forbids any building not licensed as a pharmacy from being called a pharmacy.)
Lake Mills has been home to Tyranena Brewing since 1999, but its production brewery with its small taproom and beer garden is in a business park on the east edge of the town. “We’re excited to bring some additional vitality to Lake Mills,” says owner and brewmaster Rob Larson.
The main floor is open, dominated by a long copper-topped bar. The first floor also has a stage with the backdrop of large windows that frame views of the park. The second floor can be used as event space or for overflow seating.
The tap tower with 24 handles will support a lot of beer rotation. While Tyranena’s core brands will be mainstays, Larson and brewer Ryan Nikolay will also be able to showcase limited releases and a range of vintages from the brewery’s barrel-aging program.
Now the taps read like an album of the brewery’s greatest hits, among them The Kissers Monday Night Special, an imperial double oatmeal stout named after the Madison band The Kissers, that I’m hoping will last through Saint Patrick’s Day. One of my all-time Tyranena favorites that I’ve not seen since 2019, Dirty Old Man imperial rye porter, is on tap too. Other beers well worth stopping in for in March include Down ’N Dirty, a chocolate oatmeal stout aged in port and bourbon barrels; and (on a tap reserved for pilot batches from the brewery’s Big & Hoppy series) an imperial IPA with assertive citrus nose and flavor from Ekuanot, Mosaic and Idaho 7 hops.
The Fharmacy also reserves one tap for the brewery’s own root beer. Other alternatives (in cans and bottles) include gluten-free beer from Alt Brew, hard lemonade, hard seltzers and non-alcoholic beer and sodas.
The Fharmacy has a full kitchen; however, it will likely be early summer before a menu is developed and staff hired to run it. Tuesday evening is trivia. Live music on Saturday evenings will last through May 6, when those shows move outside to the beer garden at the brewery.
The Fharmacy and Public House is open Tuesday-Thursday 5-10 p.m., Friday 5-11 p.m. and Saturday 3-11 p.m. Hours are expected to expand as the weather gets warmer.
