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Find a local butcher/meat shop/grocery store that makes their own. They'll most likely taste better and won't be full of preservatives and other crap.

I'm from Wisconsin and we eat alot of brats here. Usingers are good, if you can get them, but around here, we're all big Johnsonville fans. I don't like a mealy tasting brat and that's typically what you get with the others. I guess perservatives taste good (when talking about brats).

I second the opinion on Johnsonville. I know they must be chock full of stuff that isn't the best for me - but when I want a brat, I want a Johnsonville!

Johnsonville is the brat benchmark. Louie's Finer meats in Cumberland Wi. has a vast array of brats in many flavors. It is also the mecca for meat. Once you go there you will be hooked.

The best brats I ever had were from a sausage shop in Wisconsin. I'd drive up there from Chicago a couple times a year and go crazy buying sausages and cheeses and smoked meats. Alas, now I'm a bit too far for that drive.

The local butcher has lovely cuts of meat, but I haven't been overly impressed with his sausages. The local grocers do carry some Johnsonville products, sometimes, so that's my choice.

I lived my first 29 years about 5 miles from The Brat Stop and they are indeed an excellent brat. Obviously Wisconsin is all about brats.

Usinger Sausage makes about the best brat around (and they ship). If you don't have a local German butcher shop, and if you choose not to contact Usingers, Johnsonville makes a pretty good substiute. Why Usingers - they're meaty, not "mealy" and have a good spice mix.

Johnsonville brats......simmered in some dark beer with sliced onions....then browned on the grill !!!

Brats- Johnsonville included- are one of the few forms of sausage not-filled-with-you-know-what. I was recently diagnosed with an allergy to meat preservatives- read:nitrites and nitrates. Bratwurst are one of the only forms of sausage I can eat because they are a fresh sausage- not cured and well-preserved. They're usually frozen for freshness instead.

Definitely hunt down a Johnsonville for a real brat, as a runner-up, Klements also makes a decent brat. If you're hunting down a butcher who makes one- make sure you specify "like a Johnsonville". Brats here in Wisconsin have a coarse grind to them- which adds to the experience. I've had way too many bad brats that were more like a "wurst" or a hot dog with a finely ground filling. Sorry, that's not a brat- it may be a delicious sausage, but it's certainly not a brat.