Snuggle up with some holiday cheer as OnMilwaukee shares stories of everything merry and bright in the spirit of the season.
The OnMilwaukee Ho Ho Holiday Guide is brought to you by Harley-Davidson Museum and MolsonCoors.
If you’re in holiday panic mode trying to find the perfect gift for the beer lover on your list, fret not because many local craft breweries have options – beyond the four-pack or trucker’s hat – that will please your beloved hop head.
For example, at Third Space you can buy someone beer for year or membership in the club that offers upgrades, discounts and more.
Many breweries also have mug clubs with annual memberships, like the ones at The Explorium and Broken Bat, to name but two.
These are a just a few of many such options. Check your beloved beer-lover’s collection of hoodies or koozies to find out which breweries are their favorites.
For the beer lover on your list that adores weighty, complex barrel-aged beers, consider the 3 Sheeps Barrel Society, which has $265 memberships, but also $50 ones that have proved popular, according to founder and brewmaster Grant Pauly.
“We're continuing to build off the success of our $50 per year membership,” he says. “This is the second year, and people are really excited to be a part of the Barrel Society at such a great price point.
“The $50 membership pays for itself very quickly.”
The society was launched in 2018 and includes access to six exclusive beers each year, including two variants of the popular barrel-aged imperial stout, The Wolf, plus discounted pre-orders on all 38 unique barrel-aged beers during the year.
The beers can be picked up in the Sheboygan or Milwaukee taproom, plus there’s a cellaring option that allows you to have 3 Sheeps hold the beer at the Sheboygan taproom until whenever you want to pick it up, for as long as a year.
Members also get an exclusive T-shirt and Barrel Society glassware, discounts on merch, invitation to a Barrel Society members party, access to the Secret Tap in the Sheboygan taproom and access to the twice-monthly Barrel Society Lounge.
The $265 premium membership includes two bottles of each of the six Barrel Society exclusive releases, a $240 value.
“We have a lot of fun making barrel-aged beers,” Pauly says. “The joy a lot of breweries get making that new hazy (IPA) every week and things like that, we enjoy that, as well, but for us to be able to take four or five barrels, blend them together and see what flavors are coming out of them and use those flavors to then accent, highlight that and try some different cool ingredients and processes ... we get super geeked about doing that sort of thing. It's fun.
“And that's where the Barrel Society is so nice because barrel-aged beer is particular, their cost per ounce is so expensive that by having the Barrel Society pre-order and let us know what they think they're going to want on this release, it lets us make it to order.
“That lets us keep our prices down, which is really nice. So we can keep doing these things.”
I had a chance to taste a couple recent 3 Sheeps BA beers, including Veneration, which is Belgian quad with figs and molasses that rests in 1792 rye whiskey barrels for four years.
The 14 percent ABV beer is all figgy pudding with a light sweetness.
But what grabbed me even more was the triple-barrel version of The Wolf imperial stout, which was finished one year each in a series of three barrels.
“So over three years ago, the first Wolf went into the Elijah Craig eight-year barrels. Then it went into Willett bourbon barrels, and then this past year it finished in Elijah Craig 18-year barrels,” Pauly says, noting that just as is the case in aging whiskey, the angels come for their share.
“Your yield is not great, which is where the $45 price tag comes in, unfortunately.”
This one is a whopper, at 17 percent, but, honestly, you wouldn’t really know it until you’re flat on your back. It’s rich and chocolatey and bursting with cinnamon. It’s one of the most drinkable BA beers I’ve tasted.
Pauly explains that prominent cinnamon note.
“Our sales rep found a bottle of 18-year Craig at the store, so we grabbed it and we were able to try the finished version versus our uncut (a bit of whiskey remained in the barrel). We filtered the uncut, so it was a similar appearance, and the uncut was all cinnamon. I got the vanilla, I got the chocolate, but there was just a cinnamon presence not present once they cut it. And it's my favorite flavor that translated into the final triple-barrel Wolf.
“I thought that deep almost baking spice essence was such a cool differentiator from regular Wolf.”
The Wolf triple barrel was released on Black Friday and Veneration arrived last Saturday. Both are still available in the Milwaukee and Sheboygan taprooms, but won’t likely last long.
The Wolf variants on tap – or, I should say, in casks – right now for release in 2025 include with molasses in Amburana wood; a rye barrel and bourbon barrel with cherry; a Bitter Barrel collaboration with Bittercube; and Barrel Select blending the best barrels.
Memberships in the barrel society are available through Dec. 25 or until they sell out and details can be found here.
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.
