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Potawatomi Hotel & Casino is partnering with a neighbor to feature some Menomonee Valley-made craft beer over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend.
Potawatomi will feature City Lights Brewing's Coconut Porter and Irish Red Ale at Bar 360, Curve Bar and on the casino floor, March 17-20.
“This is a great opportunity to promote two local beers during our St. Patrick’s Day weekend festivities,” says Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Interim Food & Beverage Director Chef Michael Christensen.
“Working with City Lights is an added bonus because we get to showcase the great work that’s being done by businesses in the Menomonee Valley.”
City Lights is located just a stone’s throw from the hotel and casino on the opposite bank of the Menomonee River.
“The Valley is a special place and any experience we’ve had with other businesses in the valley have always come with a cool sense of camaraderie you don’t necessarily always get elsewhere,” says City Lights Owner, Founder and Brewmaster Jimmy Gohsman. "We always jump on any chance we get to support or collaborate with other valley businesses and this opportunity was no different.
“It goes without saying that Potawatomi is an institution in this city so to be able to partner up with an iconic Milwaukee institution on such and iconic holiday in the city is pretty awesome; and a humbling reminder we’ve come along way since making beer in the basement.”
Coconut Porter is one of City Lights’ enduring and beloved flagships.
It’s nice and malty, with a drinkable 5.3 percent ABV, and that hint of coconut that offers a unique twist.
The Irish Red Ale at 4.9 percent, is even more sessionable and with its traditional Irish red ale roastiness, it’s a perfect St. Patrick’s Day quaff.
“They’re both fantastic beers and both styles are synonymous with St. Patrick’s Day,” says Gohsman. “The Irish Red Ale was our very first seasonal beer that we brewed and always an anticipated release every year.
“When we first released it on St. Patrick’s Day in 2017 we hired bagpipers for the event. I’ll never forget starting my brew day that day with the piper warming up in the production area while I was starting to brew another batch of Irish Red Ale; it was a magical moment.”
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.
