If you’re one of those people that’s decided to embrace the winter cold (now that it's arriving), Gathering Place Brewing’s Tosa taproom has got just the thing for you.
The taproom, 7208 W. North Ave., has added an 23x15-foot ice rink to its back patio (sorry, no skating) – which also boasts patio heaters and heated greenhouses – and on Jan. 9 will launch its keg curling leagues.
League play takes place Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The league can accommodate five teams per night.
If you’re not a joiner, you can still keg curl Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays by reserving a lane, which costs $15 for a 60-minute block.
According to Gathering Place owner Joe Yeado, "Keg curling works a lot like bocce. Players take turns sliding kegs towards the middle of a target or house with each team sliding four kegs. The team with the keg closest to the center or tee wins the end and gets an additional point for each keg closer to the tee than the other team's kegs.
"The team with the most points after 10 ends is the winner. The main difference with actual curling is that players don't use brooms to sweep the ice. With keg curling, people stay off the ice and slide the kegs from the side of the rink."
In league competition, teams can have 2-8 people and they’ll play four 20-minute games each week in a round robin format, and there will be first and second place prizes in each league at the end of the season.
Yeado says he's long been interested in doing keg curling but could only now make it happen.
"I've been interested in curling since I was a kid and always enjoyed watching it during the Olympics," he says. "A couple years ago I thought it would be cool to do something similar with kegs. A quick search brought up some videos of people curling with full size half-barrel kegs, but that was a bit too intense. I eventually found some places in other parts of the country doing curling with smaller kegs, but at the time we didn't have any outdoor space at the Riverwest brewery to do this.
"When we opened our Tosa Taproom + Patio in fall 2022 I knew we had the perfect space for it, but the timing didn't work out for last winter."
You can sign up for the leagues here.
"We're really excited about keg curling and I don't know of another brewery or bar in the state doing this," Yeado says. "It's a different and fun way to be outdoors during the winter. You don't have to be athletic and it's a sport you can do with a beer in hand.
"It's also just one part of transforming our Tosa patio for winter, which includes adding heated greenhouses and propane heaters. It's such a nice space and we're looking forward to it being active all winter."
Also, there’s a bar just inside offering a wide range of locally brewed craft beers, and some good nearby food options you can carry in to the taproom.
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.
