(Madison, WI) – The brewery list and table setup for Great Taste of the Midwest 2008 is now online as of earlier tonight. By and large, it looks like most breweries that came last year will be returning. However, in scanning the list I noted at least one brewery that will be new this year that may be of interest. Kansas-based Free State Brewing, a brewery that has seemed quiet over the years despite a good reputation, will join this year’s lineup of breweries. There is no beer list out yet so we don’t know yet whether Free State will bringing its top 50-rated Owd Macs Imperial Stout or highly regarded Old Backus Barleywine.

GTOMW takes place this Saturday in Madison, WI, and is easily one of the major beer events of the year. Tickets are limited each year and sell out to long lines of beer people months in advance. This year saw close to a 40% increase in Beer Advocate signups for the event from prior year.

The event is so big that it also draws numerous pre-parties:

The guys from The Beer Spot will be hosting two parties at Alchemy in Madison sandwiching the Taste, one on Friday night and one on Saturday night. The parties will feature some special stuff on tap courtesy of Surly Brewing. It has the makings to be huge with close to 50 attendees signed up on their forums.

Maduro’s will be featuring Bell’s beers all day long on Friday.

Dexter’s will be hosting a New Holland Brewing event.

Missouri Tavern in nearby Waunakee will be hosting O’Fallon beers all night.

More specific details about the events are discussed in this RateBeer thread. There’s probably a Beer Advocate thread, too, but couldn’t seem to find it.