The discussion standing on the street outside of Safehouse was how best to get to and back from Lakefront Brewery. We decided the place was close enough to use foot power then call for a Lyft back to the hotel when the tour was completed. The sky was blue and the temperature moderate as we began our trek to Lakefront Brewery which is located on the banks of a river. The river might be the Milwaukee River but it might be the Menomonee or Kinnickinnic. Fortunately, we didn’t need to know the name of the river to partake of the brewery products. So, Lakefront Brewery is not on the shores of a lake. The brewery never was on a lake front. When the Klisch brothers started brewing beer they were near a lake but they didn’t believe Lake Adjacent Brewery was going to catch on. Thus, Lakefront became the name.
Along the way we passed the old Schlitz Brewing company which filled more than a block of downtown Milwaukee.
Most of the brewery buildings appear to be apartments and one building is the Upper Campus of Golda Meir 3-12 grades school.
Golda Meir School provides an array of gifted and talented offerings including the AP Diploma program and a wide selection of Advanced placement courses. It looks like Schlitz made Milwaukee famous and is providing housing and education for the city residents. That seems to be a pretty good legacy.
Back in the seventies some shipmates and I helped make Milwaukee famous from California.
I’m the one wearing the green hat.
We knew we were getting close to the brewery when we encountered the female part of a wedding party coming toward us more or less on the sidewalk. The ladies assured us the brewery was just ahead.
The ladies were correct, and we soon were standing in front of the old Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company’s coal-fired power plant.
In 1998, the city considered tearing down the old power plant, unless a non-industrial business was interested in the location. Turns out the city thought beer making an appropriate industry and sold the place for $10,000 to the Klisch brothers.
Jeff and I registered for our four o’clock tour. We were given four wooden tokens to ‘purchase’ beer while we were at the brewery.
The gal handing us the tokens suggested we buy a beer while waiting (approximately one hour) for our tour to start because it is more fun to take the tour with a beer.
You see, Lakefront Brewery thought it was odd to wait until the end of a tour to drink a beer. They believe there is a direct correlation between attention span on beer tours and drinking beer. Jeff and I settled into a spot in the beer hall while we shared a huge pretzel and sipped our first beer of the day.
We responded to the announcement for our tour and made our way to the correct spot. The first thing we noticed was two Yankee fans also waiting for the tour. Jeff, wondered out loud if we might be in the wrong tour, being a Red Sox fan. The conversation with this father and son got started immediately with us telling them about our sitting in empty old Yankee Stadium one afternoon. They thought this was a great story.
Adam, our guide, got our attention and proposed a toast. I don’t remember why we toasted but we toasted several times on the tour.
Adam informed us his mother was so proud that he was a full time brewery tour guide. Naught! One fact I remember is the brewery produced the first certified organic beer to be bottled in the U.S. starting in 1996 with their Lakefront Organic E.S.B. (extra special bitter). The ale is brewed using 100% organic malt and hops.
I also remember that Lakefront Brewery is the owner of the original Bernie Brewer’s (Milwauee Brewers mascot) Chalet. When the Milwaukee Brewers built their new stadium, the Chalet needed a new home, and the Klisch brothers wanted that home to be in their brewery. I think I remember this fact because we were standing in front of Bernie’s Chalet when we were poured our second beer.
The chalet cost more than the brewery.
About this time Jeff struck up a conversation with the gal to his left. When she stated she was from California my ears perked up. Living in southern California for nearly seven years I‘m always curious to find a connection so I asked, from Jeff’s right side, ‘Where?’ An answer never came back from the gal as Jeff explained he was a tour guide and knew folks from Santa Barbara. The gal appeared wary of the two of us and kept shuffling away from our space. Moving along on the tour Jeff commented, “We must look like a couple of creepy old men.”
The brewery tour ended with everyone singing the Laverne and Shirley theme song because the girls worked at a brewery. The opening song video was shot at Schlitz but that didn’t matter to the folks at Lakefront Brewery.
Released from the tour, Jeff and I found a spot on the riverwalk to start our third beer.
Suddenly, I noticed a mathematician who does risk evaluation for insurance companies and a pediatric nurse walking our way. (I didn’t know the girls were a mathematician and nurse at the time.) The mathematician was wearing a shirt that read, “I’d rather be in Fenway Park.” I knew Jeff, the Red Sox fan, would love to see that shirt so I jumped up and greeted the girls. I mentioned the shirt (the details are fuzzy) and called to Jeff, “Look at her chest.” Ugh! Two creepy old men. I have no excuse for such a creepy exclamation. We were into our third beer but that too is no excuse. Fortunately, both girls had stamps on their hands that announced, ‘old enough to drink’ so they didn’t take offense. We had a long conversation with the two recent college graduates before going our separate ways. Jeff asked to have one of those hand stamps when we traded in our fourth token at the bar.
Somehow, we returned to the beer hall
and were enjoying number four when a couple nimbly climbed onto the high stools at the table next to us. Turns out the couple lived in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Jeff immediately commented that Lake Geneva is where the mafia lives. I’m not clear on how the conversation evolved but we learned the guy was a lawyer who was seventy-five years old and he would introduce us to his Uncle Bruno (we don’t talk about Bruno). The guy looked great for seventy-five so I asked if I could take a photo with him. He said, “Sure, son.” I said, “Thanks Dad.” And here we are.
As our adventure wound down we paused for a photo with Larry Moe and Curly in front of Lakefront Brewery, hailed a Lyft and returned to our hotel.
(According to Adam the sculpture of the Three Stooges was not supposed to include arms. But the sculptor was partaking of the brewery product while creating and the arms were added for free.)
We arrived safely at our hotel carrying souvenir glasses we think were given to us as part of the tour.
We are not sure how we came to possess these drinking vessels. Jeff doesn’t remember anything about the return ride to the hotel. We arrived at the hotel and found our room so I guess we didn’t get thrown out of any establishments on the way. Just kidding. I have a slippery grasp of everthing that happened.
To be continued next time.