According to the Wisconsin State Journal, Mount Horeb’s Skal Public House — closed for most of this summer — reopened its patio last week as a beer garden behind neighboring Artemis Provisions & Cheese.
The village this year stopped allowing the restaurant to use the alley where it had been operating since August 2020, so the patio was unable to open as it had before. The village’s move came in response to complaints from the bike shop next door, where access for delivery drivers had become complicated. Skal Public House was awarded second place for best patio in Madison Magazine’s Best of Madison competition last year — despite its location outside of the city of Madison.
Skal’s owners opened the restaurant in May 2018 and put around $20,000 into conversion of the service alley into an outdoor dining destination. The patio included a large wooden pergola and seated around 50. At the height of the pandemic and initially in spring 2022, it generated roughly 25% of the restaurant’s annual business. In August 2020, sales increased by $35,000, and the restaurant hired 15 new employees.
This spring and summer, the restaurant has been limited to standard, street-side seating along its building, accommodating seven tables and around 20 chairs. The sidewalk seating is near the town’s highly-trafficked Main Street. Patio sales dropped by about 90% with the change.
Skal is now using the beer garden area Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with carryout ordering done via app. The owners have reconfigured the alley’s canopy structure as well and have a bar and refrigerated beer trailer that serves four tap beers and five signature cocktails. The restaurant will host its fourth annual Skaltober Fest there Sept. 15–17 with a polka band, beer, and German food.
