A group of beer enthusiasts gathered at the Milwaukee County Historical Society’s Brew City MKE exhibit at the Shops of Grand Avenue last night for Evolution to Revolution: Milwaukee Reinvents the Classic Lager.
The panel discussion featured Megan Mares, a certified cicerone and trade brewer at Miller Coors; Jim Klisch, cofounder of Lakefront Brewery; Andrew Gierczak, cofounder of MobCraft Beer; Joe Yeado, founder of Gathering Place Brewing Company and John Graham, cofounder of The CrafterSpace.
Graham, who moderated the discussion, started off by saying how valuable events like these are for the growing beer economy in Milwaukee. “I believe that education programs like we are doing tonight are essential for growing the pie,” he said.
From there the evening played out as a hybrid between a history lesson and a science class. Mares told the history of Miller Lite, which may have seemed out of place at a craft beer event, until she brought in the importance of a local product gaining that level of ubiquity. “There’s something to be said about a beer that everyone has had that comes from Milwaukee,” she said.
Mares, Gierczak, Yeado, Klisch and Graham, who also filled in for Third Space cofounder and head brewer Kevin Wright, then led the group through tastings of Pilsner Urquell, Oddball Kolsch from MobCraft, Ryed of the Valkeries from Gathering Place, Ice Bear from Third Space and East Side Dark from Lakefront. As we tasted each beer the brewers went in-depth on the science behind their recipes as well as that style of beer’s place in history.
The evening ended with a special treat for any beer lover. Lakefront offered a tasting of their 30th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel-Aged Eisbock.
Brew City MKE opened in October 2017, and is a one-year pilot project and expansion of the historical society’s 2016 brewing history exhibit, “Brew City MKE: Craft, Culture and Community.”
