Friday the 13th of January will be a lucky day for craft beer fans.
That's when Riverwest's Gathering Place Brewing – which has a second taproom in Wauwatosa – kicks off a new small batch draft beer program at both locations.
Brewed in Riverwest (mostly) on the brewery's one-barrel innovation system, the new beers will hit the taps every Friday, allowing customers to beta test recipes. Gathering Place will, ahem, gather feedback on the releases from customers.
Each taproom will get a different beer.
“We want to engage our guests and hear what kinds of beers they want to see on tap,” says Taproom Manager Chelsea Muench. “If a specific beer goes over well, we may scale up the recipe for distribution throughout Southeast Wisconsin.”
The first two brews to be released, with descriptions from the brewery, are:
Glühbier (Wauwatosa) – Walking around the Christmas Market sipping on Glühwein. Now that is what we call heaven. So why can’t we do that walking with a Glühbier instead? We took what makes Glühwein special and added it to a malty Biere de Garde to make a new holiday tradition. Mmm. Now go sit next to that faux fireplace because you are special! Style: Biere de Garde with Orange Peel, Star Anise, Cinnamon, and Clove. ABV: 8.8% IBU: 22
Winter West Coast IPA (Riverwest) – It’s winter on the Fresh Coast. Time for us all to dream we are on the west coast. Well the southern west coast. The northern west coast is cold and rainy and they wish they were down south too. Aaaanyhoo. We made a classic West Coast IPA with all its piney, citrusy goodness and added some warmth of color to boost your spirits. Style: Winter West Coast IPA. ABV: 7% IBU: 65
According to founder Joe Yeado, the small batch releases will allow brewer Corey Blodgett to flex a bit and try recipes that maybe aren't as popular or that use especially pricey ingredients, like beers brewed with things such as pickled Japanese cherry blossoms, yuzu fruit, and sancho peppercorns.
“We want to stretch our creative muscles to develop new beers that push boundaries in terms of beer styles, ingredients, and flavors, while bringing in new faces to the taproom. Small Batch Fridays should help us accomplish these goals,” Yeado says.
“We’ve brewed with sake yeast, wild farmhouse yeast, and experimented with different fermentation temperatures. Each of these changes resulted in innovative and excellent beers.”
The brewery is also launching a free points-per-dollar rewards program that offers prizes, perks and more.
More info on all of this plus events and other stuff at gatheringplacebrewing.com.
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.
