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As the new Wauwatosa Draft & Vessel moves closer to a full opening in its stunning new building at 7479 Harwood Ave., it's celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with a fundraiser for its Tosa Village neightbor, CelticMKE, whose work includes Irish Fest, the Ward Irish Music Archives and other celebrations of Celtic culture in Brew City.
The bottle shop at the Tosa Draft & Vessel is already open, but the bar has not yet begun to pour.
Head to the Draft & Vessel website and you’ll find four packages – created with local partners like Third Space Brewing, Breadsmith and the Village Cheese Shop – you can purchase, each of which benefits CelticMKE.
Details on those are below.
On St. Patrick’s Day, Wednesday, March 17 at 7 p.m., Draft & Vessel’s Nat Davauer and Rob Nowak will host a live stream on its Facebook page with live Irish music from the new venue, and they’ll also teach you how to pour a black and tan.
They will also unveil the new bar space in a walkthrough (When I wrote about it a couple weeks ago, I didn’t show the bar interior in my story).
“We'll chat about the beers, food, and music with our Tosa Village friends throughout the program,” says Nowak. “You'll also be the first to get a sneak peek at the new Draft & Vessel with a virtual tour and walkthrough. We're excited to share our space with you.”
You do not need to make a purchase to take part in the St. Pat's Craic'n Pack livestream.
There are four packages available for the craic, including the $60 big kahuna, with a 16-ounce growler of Third Space’s new Mystic Knot, a four-pack of Celtic-inspired brews (Guinness Draught Stout, Harp Lager, Third Space Unite the Clans, Phase Three Irish Red Ale), Breadsmith Irish Soda Bread, Kerrygold Dubliner Irish Cheddar from Village Cheese Shop and, while supplies last, a black & tan blending spoon.
You can also choose just the growler for $13, or just the four packaged beers for $16 or just the soda bread and cheddar for $15.
Pickup is Tuesday, March 16, after 5 p.m. or Wednesday, from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. at Draft & Vessel Tosa. There are also some pickup options at the Shorewood Draft & Vessel, which you can see when ordering.
“Normally, we'd be ordering copious amounts of beer, lining up an amazing spread of Irish treats, and getting ready for a day-long party with non-stop music,” says Davauer.
Slainte!
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.
