- A weekend full of fun and flavor is coming. Get a taste of it all at the Craft Beer Walk and Dells On Tap October 18-19.
Draft & Vessel craft beer bar in Shorewood will celebrate its 10th anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 5.
Nat Davauer opened in a former barber shop at 4417 N. Oakland Ave. in October 2014. Since then, he’s added another Draft & Vessel in Tosa village and is working on concepts in Walker’s Point and in the newly constructed cafe building in the new Vel R. Phillips Plaza Downtown.
“We will be showcasing 10 years of expansion projects which culminate next year with a large project in collaboration with the City of Milwaukee that will bring in Crave Cafe to partner on kitchen operations and resurrect the original Soup Brothers from Walkers Point,” Davauer says. “You'll be able to see this timeline of 10 years of growth on Saturday with a sneak preview of more things still to come in the following years like guided beer trips around the world.
“To celebrate 10 years and to showcase Crave Cafe, we will be working with them to provide $10 crave burgers with fries all day. Every 20 minutes we will put in bulk orders and have them delivered.”
There will also be a special tap list of beers from Wisconsin breweries specially curated for the event.
Of course we will be showcasing a special tap list with specially chosen beers from our local brewer friends across Wisconsin.
When Davauer opened his D&V, he told OnMilwaukee that he hoped to create a combination craft beer tasting room and to-go retail growler stop.
"I call it a boutique liquor store, tasting room, tap room or beer cafe," Davauer said at the time. "I try not to use the word 'bar' because it sets a certain expectation for people when they walk in."
Davauer says he’ll bring his Dremel to the celebration so that folks can carve their names for posterity.
"Draft & Vessel was launched by a Kickstarter in early 2014," he says. "One of the rewards with backing the small craft beer growler concept was to carve your name in the bar before it opened. On opening day and ever since there have been those names right there in the bar under your beer."
Davauer added another table for name-carving for D&V's fifth anniversary party.
"Saturday, we will bring out a 10-year table with the Dremel and people will be able to carve whatever they want that will hopefully last until the 25-year party."
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.
