Black Husky will host another Riverwest Brewing Syndicate collaboration brew at its Riverwest brewery, 909 E. Locust St., from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Sunday, March 8.
This time around, Black Husky, Company Brewing, Gathering Place Brewing Company and Lakefront Brewery will work together on a pale ale called "Yes, She Can!"
The event is an International Women’s Day fundraiser for the Pink Boots Society, an international organization that aims to inspire, assist and encourage women beer professionals through education. The brew will be made with the special Yakima Chief Pink Boots hop blend of Azacca, El Dorado, Idaho Gem and Loral hops, said Black Husky co-owner Toni Eichinger.
Milwaukee’s Malteurop and Aljan Packaging have donated ingredients for the brew, the centerpiece of the event which will also include live music by women musicians, food made by local women restaurateurs and more.
Guests are also encouraged to bring donations of personal hygiene products to be donated to the homeless and residents in shelters run by Street Angels Milwaukee Outreach and other organizations. Eichinger says they will also accept items for The J.A. Love Project's Fostering Memories initiative, which provides formal dresses and tuxedos for homeless and foster youth to attend prom.
"The brewing industry as a whole is working very hard to promote women and diversity in the brewing industry," said Eichinger. "We at Black Husky wanted to help in that effort by not only hosting a fundraiser for the Pink Boots Society but also by showcasing women-owned businesses and bands, as well as supporting charitable organizations assisting women less fortunate."
History happy hour at Vennture
Beer historian John Harry, who wrote last year’s "Stevens Point Brewing Company" for Arcadia Press’ Images of America series, will host a history happy hour talk on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at Vennture Brew Co., 5519 W. North Ave., at 6:30 p.m.
Though based on his research into the history of Peoples Brewing Co., America’s first black-owned brewery, he notes he will use the occasion to talk more broadly about cultural diversity in craft brewing.
Admission is free. There’s a Facebook event page here.
414 Lager is coming
Remember, too, that after hosting a private tasting party later this week, Too Much Metal Fred Gillich will release his 414 lager, brewed by Vernacular Brewing at MobCraft in Walker's Point, at local bars and retail outlets. Read more about that here.
Time to get funky ... Sour Fest is back
Speaking of MobCraft, the crowdsourcing brewer has announced that Sour Fest is back. The second annual celebration of wild yeast will bring the funk to the brewery at 505 S. 5th St. on Saturday, March 28, from noon until midnight.
Part beer festival, part pop-up bottle shop, part taproom party and part beer education opportunity, Sour Fest will take place at the taproom, where admission is free all day. Beginning at noon, the bar will pour a more than 30 wild beers and sours made on site, as well as host Wisconsin Wild and Sour Sampling Sessions in the brewery space and a pop-up bottle shop with sour beers from breweries across Wisconsin.
"Our goal is to expose Midwestern craft beer drinkers to some of the awesome wild and sour beers brewed here in Wisconsin," said MobCraft Founder and CEO Henry Schwartz.
Among the breweries represented are 1840 Brewing Company, Ahnapee Brewery, Black Husky Brewing, Component Brewing, Indeed Brewing Company, Lion’s Tail Brewing, O’so Brewing Company, Pearl Street Brewery, Sahle Ale Works, Stock House Brewing Company and Vintage Brewing Company.
The Sampling Sessions are ticketed events and the limited tickets also include a souvenir sampling glass. The VIP session (which also includes early admission at 11:30 a.m.) runs from noon until 3 p.m. and is $60, GA Session #1 runs from 1 to 3 p.m. and GA Session #2 runs from 4 to 6. Tickets for both Session #1 and Session #2 are $40.
There will be special timed releases during the event, including a Sour Golden Ale variant featuring Pink Guava and Strawberry at 12:30 p.m., Stitch & Snitch at 1:30, Gin Barrel Aged Flanders Red at 3:30 p.m., 2016 Existence Rum at 6:30 and Existence Mango at 7:30 p.m.
The event will also celebrate the release of 2020 Sour Golden Ale, which is a highly anticipated after last year’s took the gold medal at the Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer in the Wild Beer (Acidic) Sours category in November.
"It’s awesome. It is a little less sour than last year’s blend with nice oak character and stone fruit notes," said Adam Thomas, director of barrel operations at MobCraft.
The brew is a blend of 10-, 16- and 20-month ales aged in neutral French and American oak barrels fermented with Saccharomyces and Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. It will be available on tap and in bottles.
The bottle shop will also have verticals of 2019 and 2020 Sour Golden Ale for sale, along with extremely limited quantities of three variants – Simcoe Dry Hop, Pink Guava & Strawberry, and Apple Blossom & Kumquat – in four-pack 12-ounce cans.
From 7:30 until 11, the taproom will host free the Get Low pHunk Dance Party with Moses pairing funky music with funky beers.
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.
