By Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer Published Nov 30, 2021 at 8:40 AM

Snuggle up with some holiday cheer as OnMilwaukee shares stories of everything merry and bright in the spirit of the season.

Brought to you by Noel Indoor Light Park & Christmas Market and MillerCoors. 

Once again, Black Husky Brewing has collaborated with the City of Milwaukee to create the City of Milwaukee Christmas Tree Sproose beer.

The 9.9 percent ABV Double IPA brewed with spruce tips from the city Christmas tree will be released in the taproom Dec. 4, in conjunction with the Riverwest brewery's Santa Cycle Rampage MKE celebration.

The beer is brewed in partnership with the City of Milwaukee Forestry Department – members of which were on hand to brew the beer on Nov. 23.

Proceeds from the sale of Sproose benefit the Milwaukee Urban Forestry Fund, which helps fund tree planting projects at city schools, parks and green spaces.

Mike Connell and Katie Major, who donated the tree to the city this year, were also on hand for the brew day. Three days later they got married and guests at the wedding were the first to get a taste of the new Sproose brew.

According to Black Husky, Connell proposed to Major on Christmas last year and Major's grandfather proposed the donation.

The tree was harvested by the city on Nov. 2 and it has since been decorated with 3,500 lights and more than 200 ornaments. It was officially lit on Nov. 18 in front of City Hall.

Black Husky is owned by husband and wife Tim and Toni Eichinger.

Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer

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.