It’s a day of Racine brewing news here at OnMilwaukee, where this morning we shared this profile of Racine Brewing Co., which is the only craft brewery in the Belle City, for now.
Two other are slated to open soon and one of them, well, 1 of Us Brewing actually, is offering a little preview via a beer festival in early March for which tickets are now on sale.
1 of Us expects to open later this spring at 8100 Washington Ave., not far east of I-94 on Highway 20, in Mount Pleasant.
“While we have beers in the brew stage, we are not yet open,” says Steve Rosenberg, one of 10 owners of the brewery. “Our current target is mid to end of May as we are very close to finalizing funding with a bank.”
The brewery got its brew system just this month and has begun to installing it in its new home, a former car dealership.
“We're already in construction on many items in the facility,” says Rosenberg, “and have just purchased a 20-barrel brew system. We have made great progress in revamping the old dealership showroom into a 5,000-square-foot taproom. The brewhouse in the back is a 7,000-square-foot service bay for the old dealership.”
In the meantime, 1 of Us is contract brewing three beers with Kenosha’s R'Noggin Brewing Co.
Afterglow Shimmer is a mango peach marshmallow slushy gose; The Lerch is a breakfast stout with cinnamon, milk sugar, vanilla and coffee; and Tip to Tip, a hazy double IPA, which was the brewery’s first release back in July.
You’ll be able to taste these and a whole lot of other brews when 1 of Us hosts Winter Wobbler, an outdoor beer festival, Saturday, March 6, from 2 to 6 p.m. at its future brewery and taproom site.
“The festival is strictly an outside event with 16 committed breweries, four food trucks, fire pits, and a game tent to provide funding for our animal rescue partner, HOPE Safehouse,” says Rosenberg.
“This is all permitted, and approved by the Mount Pleasant Village. We have a COVID plan for our three-acre lot/facility, with temperature monitoring, outside toilets and sinks, as well as hand sanitizer at each location. We will also be utilizing single serving cups for sample tasting to minimize contact.”
Participating breweries include R'Noggin Brewing Co., Bobtown Brewery, East Troy Brewery, Lakefront Brewery, Plymouth Brewing Co., PUBLIC Craft Brewing Co., Kenosha Brewing Co., Rhinelander Brewing Co., Round Man Brewing Co., Rustic Road Brewing Co., The Runaway Micropub & Nanobrewery, Wisconsin Brewing Company and Lake Louie Brewing.
Tickets are $40 (includes souvenir glass that you’ll get as you leave and unlimited tasting of more than 50 beers), $50 for VIP early access (1 p.m., plus other swag), $55 for VIP with parking and $5 for designated drivers.
Picos Tacos, Moose's BBQ, Captain Mikes Burgers and Mr. Wings food trucks will be on site.
Visit 1 of Us online here and at Facebook here.
And stay tuned to OnMilwaukee for a full story as the taproom opening approaches.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
