*This is the seventy-sixth post in an on-going chronicle dubbed the Great Wisconsin Brewery Tour. Follow the journey here.*
Black Husky Brewing
909 E Locust St
Milwaukee, WI 53212
414.509.8855
Visit date: 10/12/16
Quick Hits:
1) How many different beers?
8 on tap.
2) How long operational?
Milwaukee tap room opened Summer 2016.
3) Why? (here, this, etc)
Husband/wife team wanted a job to do together.
4) Distribution?
Very select bars and restaurants around the state. Some bottling.
5) What sets you apart?
“Genuine-ness of what (the owners) do.” Motto is “Rarely Balanced, Never Boring”.
6) How did you get your name?
Brewery and beers are named after owners’ retired sled dogs.
Black Husky Brewing in Riverwest, Milwaukee. All photos by Joe Powell.
We’ve known about Black Husky beers for quite some time. It was always a special treat when you came across one on tap in Milwaukee, and regardless of style we would always order it when we had the chance. To this day I’ve never found one I didn’t like. We weren’t the only ones…
The drive from original location to current location. Screenshot from Google Maps.
Milwaukee has long been the biggest market for Toni and Tim Eichinger’s nano-batch beers, which the husband and wife duo handcrafted in their log cabin 200 miles up north and personally delivered, bar to bar, every so often.
The new taproom, complete with friendly patrons.
So it was a no-brainer that Brew City was the place to move their operations if they wished to continue growing. The new taproom and brewery, in a completely-remodeled industrial space in urban Riverwest, is a far cry from rural Pembine. But they’ve managed to bring a touch of northwoods to southeast Wisconsin, including a larger-than life wood-carved homage to the brewery’s namesake.
The dog, the myth, the legend: Howler the Husky.
Oh, and they also brought down their beer. Which we drank. Barely in moderation. Northerners like their high ABV.
DON’T TAP THE GLASS.
Sproose IIPA
Holy cow, the flavor. It’s juicy, like biting into a beer-fruit.
Deck Dog “German Summerbeer?“
Almost a Kolsch: dry, woody.
Big Buck Maple Brown
“Dat brown doh…” Tangy & satisfying.
Black Husky Pale Ale
Starts smooth, ends with a hop-splash.
Mosaic Pale Ale
Subtlety is lost in this effervescent, piney beer.
Howler Smash Imperial IPA
I need my thesaurus for “tasty” synonyms.
Just our first sampler flight.
Our server, Michael, was quick to note that the owners and their philosophies about brewing are very genuine. In fact, both Eichingers were in the taproom (unbeknownst to us) just hanging out with patrons. A look at their blast-from-the-past website reinforces this notion, with a feature they call “Deep Thoughts”.
That’s no moon…
Black Husky Brewing’s motto is “Rarely Balanced, Never Boring”, and I only wish my own descriptions of their fantastic beer was as succinct and apt as that phrase.