The fifth annual Lakefront Brewery / Pink Boots Society collab beer is in the tank getting ready for release on March 7.
Queen Bean is a Caramel Coffee Blonde Ale brewed with Stone Creek Coffee beans.
The style was selected by Lakefront Brewery Retail & Donations Coordinator Elizabeth Mauritz, as a reflection of her love for coffee and an opportunity to collaborate with Stone Creek Coffee.
“My career first led me to coffee, and later to craft beer at Lakefront Brewery,” says Mauritz. “You tend to see coffee more often in stouts or porters, but I prefer the lightness of coffee blonde ales, which allow for a more balanced and delicate coffee flavor to shine.
“Stone Creek Coffee is my favorite local roastery, and they are also a B Corp just like Lakefront. It’s a great feeling to be able to collaborate with another company that holds itself to a higher standard and has a sense of purpose beyond profit.”
The beer was brewed on Jan. 9 when 15 collaborators from Pink Boots – which strives to help amplify the positive impact of women and non-binary individuals on the alcoholic beverage industry – got together for a brew session.
They ground grain, mashed in, tested gravity, added hops and then some caramel and vanilla for sweetness and, voila!, a new brew.
In a first for this annual collab during Women's History Month, the beer will be packaged in 12-ounce cans with label art by former Lakefront employee and Pink Boots collaborator Amy-Sue Hazel. It depicts a serene goddess formed from the swirls of coffee inside a mug.
The beer will be released at 11 a.m. Friday, March 7 on draft and in cans. Lakefront will donate $1 for every full pour, $2 for every crowler and $1 for each can consumed on-site to Pink Boots Society’s National and Wisconsin Chapters. The equivalent of $3 for every 6-pack to go will also be donated.
There will also be a special special draft-only preview of the beer at Regano’s Roman Coin on Brady Street on Thursday March 6 at 6 p.m.
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.
