Component Brewing Company in Bay View will host its first brewery tour on Saturday, Oct. 14, and in an awesome and positive – but, sadly, rather uncommon move – the brewer is offering American Sign Language tour translation.
The tour, which runs from noon until 2 p.m. at the Lincoln Warehouse brewhouse – 2018 S. 1st St., in Bay View – will be led by Component’s co-owner Jonathan Kowalske and will, of course, include tastings, along with a souvenir glass, answers to your questions about beer and brewing and, full ASL translation by a member of UWM’s School of Education, American Sign Language/English Interpreting Program.
“Although we are aiming to attract people from the deaf community who enjoy craft beer but do not usually attend brewery tours, these tours are open to anybody and everybody of legal drinking age who wants to attend,” says Component’s Brad Vietrogoski.
“Our hope is to reach a part of the craft beer crowd that might sometimes get overlooked as well as expose more people to the world of ASL.”
A second tour is also slated for Saturday, Nov. 11 from noon until 2.
Tickets are $20 for the tour and each tour is limited to 20 people. You can order tickets here.
“We are extremely excited to be putting these tours on,” says Vietrogoski.
Earlier this year, Component hosted a Rare Disease Day Celebration and Beer Release to help raise funds and awareness for the National Organization for Rare Disease’s Rare Disease Day.
Representatives from Able Milwaukee (Audio & Braille Literacy Enhancement) helped the brewery assemble a menu in Braille for that event.
Cheers to you, Component.
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.
