It's no mystery that collaborations are a beloved tradition in craft brewing, but in what is perhaps a first, at least locally, one Milwaukee-area brewery is collaborating with a local author on a book-related brew.
St. Francis' Faklandia Brewing, 3807 S. Packard Ave., will release The Killer IPA in 16-ounce four-pack cans and on tap on Thursday, May 22 from 5 to 7 p.m.
The event, in addition to being one of the first to celebrate Faklandia's fifth anniversary in its space, will serve as a book signing and sale for New Berlin-based writer Kevin Kluesner, author of "The Killer Sermon," "The Killer Speech" and "The Killers' Terms."
The books, set in Wisconsin, feature Cole Huebsch, a Milwaukee FBI agent with a special fondness for a certain local reporter and a taste for craft beer, especially IPAs.
"The Killers' Terms" was recently selected for the Wisconsin Public Radio book club.
The books, of course, inspired the beer, and it makes perfect sense because brewer and co-founder Nate Fakler has called the brewpub, "the world's first storybook brewery where all of their creations are parts of their very own fantasy story."
While in the past that has trended toward fantasy lit, a little local crime fiction isn't a bad fit, either.
"Nate brewed three small batches of IPAs and we picked the one we did because it will have a broader appeal than some super hoppy IPAs," Kluesner says.
"It took a while for this collaboration to bear fruit. But I like what we've created."
The beer is 5.5 percent ABV.
"This beer used a combination of Azacca, Mandarina Bavaria and Nectaron hops to be crisp and citrus with a mild hop bite," Fakler says.
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.
