Despite being located an hour north in Sheboygan, 3 Sheeps Brewing has always felt like it’s part of the Milwaukee craft brewing community. And now, thanks to a deal that allows them to have their own taproom presence in Brew City, it’s even more true.
Savvy patrons may have already noticed the change, which began on Wednesday, July 10, at Hacienda Beer Co., 2018 E. North Ave., where the 3 Sheeps logo has been added to the exterior windows.
“Our good friends at Hacienda and Door County Brewing (Hacienda’s Baileys Harbor-based parent brewery, whose logo is also on the window of "The Triple Taproom"), who we've known for years and years, asked us if we wanted to join them in their Milwaukee space,” says 3 Sheeps founder and brewmaster Grant Pauly.
“We’re stoked.”
Hacienda and Door County remain the focus of the “main” taproom that you first experience as you enter – which is unchanged – but the smaller taproom around the back of the bar, is now festooned with 3 Sheeps signage and 10 of the 12 taps at that bar are connected to a range of Sheboygan-made 3 Sheeps beer.
The kitchen is unchanged and will continue to serve patrons in either taproom space.
The taproom is open Wednesday-Friday, 4-10 .p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
According to Pauly, Hacienda/Door County – which has tapped 3 Sheeps to produce some of its core beers – will staff and operate the taproom with beer that it purchases from 3 Sheeps.
But that doesn’t mean the Sheboygan brewery, which brews a wide range of beers – more than 200 different brews last year alone and likely 250 this year – will be hands off.
“We just get to be a part of the experience,” Pauly says. “We’ll have a fun hub where finally we can give back to and become part of the Milwaukee community.
“We'll have at least 10 of our beers at all times, plus special releases, merch and beer to go. We’ll be bringing a lot of what we love about our place in Sheboygan down – donations every month to nonprofits, fundraisers, things like that.”
Pauly says 3 Sheeps will host regular events in the space, too.
The arrangement is a rather unique one, at least around here, where brewers – who often collaborate on beers (or share brew systems) – don’t often co-habitate within a taproom.
“It is a different setup and it took us a long time to kind of come to terms to make sure that it was still going to be representing both of our brands and how we wanna talk to our customers and represent,” Pauly says.
“But, it just gives us a really nice opportunity to get closer and, you know, gives us a place in Milwaukee to just do more of what we like to do here (in Milwaukee).
“With things being so uncertain and craft beer (sales) being down, you just hear of so many breweries closing and the issues and struggles. This was a really nice way for us to do what's important to me, which was just getting to be part of Milwaukee, in a safer way that doesn't put us ahead of our skis.”
At the moment, Pauly says, there are three year-round beers on tap, along with some seasonals like the Shorts and Hoodies amber lager, a sour watermelon beer and a new hazy called Citra Serenade, plus a few barrel-aged beers.
He says that they will bring down some of their popular limited edition beers and Sheboygan-only brews, too. They are even considering doing some Milwaukee-taproom-only beers down the line.
One of the beers on tap is 3 Sheeps’ 2024 Oktoberfest, the early July release of which has sparked some chatter on social media about “seasonal drift.”
"In all honesty, if you want your Oktoberfest in grocery stores, it has to be there by July," MobCraft CEO Henry Schwartz told me last week.
Thus, most breweries that package beer for retail have already brewed their Oktoberfest marzens. So it hardly seems all that odd that someone would decide to try releasing one.
“It's such a great style of beer that the reason it came out as early as it is is because we had the beer ready because we had to to get ready for the normal release and liquor stores and bars were like, ‘well, let’s get it out there'," Pauly says.
He adds that the beer is selling well enough that some accounts have already re-ordered it.
While some of the Oktoberfest is still in tanks and will be either kegged or packaged (or both), based on demand, packaging the beer and sending it out earlier than expected is also a decision that takes into account factors like tank utilization and brewing schedules.
“Brewing for our fall season right in the middle of summer is tricky,” Pauly says. “Once we’re in August, we have 20 percent (tank) capacity. So, it’s worked out and (people) have really been enjoying it. There's been no blowback at all.”
Schwartz says Oktoberfest is a favorite among the MobCraft team.
"We squirrel away a keg every year so we can always drink a little bit in the back of the brewery until next Oktoberfest comes out," he says.
But, Pauly says it's not quite the same up in Sheboygan.
"We really don't (save any), only because we love all lagers as much as we love marzens," he says. "It's why our pilot system basically always has a lager fermenting away, and we have the Wisconsin pack that always rotates a lager.
"That tides us over until marzen season rolls around again."
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.
