On a sunny and anything but horrible early summer day in Milwaukee Monday, MobCraft Beer brewer Andy Ledesma and his teammates arrived bright and early to get started brewing a special beer.
Last week, within days of a 34-time convicted felon calling Milwaukee “a horrible city,” Walker’s Point craft brewery MobCraft Beer, 505 S. 5th St., responded with the announcement that it will brew the “(not so) Horrible City IPA,” “a tribute to Milwaukee and all the people that make it the GREAT city it is!”
With that assignment, Ledesma and company got started.
"We are brewing a 26-barrel brew with the goal of having the beer out by July 15," says MobCraft's Ryan Doolan.
"This would include all pre-order pick-ups and a release party in the taproom."
The 6.7 percent ABV beer, which can be pre-ordered now, is expected to be released around July 8, just in time for the Republican National Convention, which takes place here July 15-18.
Details on the release party have not yet been finalized.
A dollar from each four-pack sold will be donated back to the community.
"The IPA is brewed with Chinook and Mosaic hops and will be dry hopped with Strata and Mosaic hops, landing at an approximate 6.7 percent ABV," Doolan notes.
"This IPA is brewed like a Hazy but hopped like a West Coast IPA. It's going to be delicious.
"We of course give all of our spent grain to local farms that pick them up."
The beer will be packaged in 16-ounce cans bearing labels adorned with the People's Flag of Milwaukee.
"We have been incredibly pleased with the preorders," Doolan says." "(not so) Horrible City IPA has been one of the more successful pre order beers MobCraft has ever sold.
"Anybody who wants to get their hands on this beer should not have any issues. Of course, it's best to secure your pre-order now at horriblecityipa.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.
