The cruller beer magic continues at East Troy Brewery, where in January the now-departed brewery created a Grebe’s imperial stout beer – Mrs. Grebe's Beer for Breakfast – in tribute to the legendary West Allis bakery and its delectable crullers, which are crunchy on the outside and beautifully soft inside.
Tonight, new brewer Shay Leamon releases her brewed take on the Grebe’s cruller with the Beer for the Break Room white stout, which clocks in at a much more sessionable 5.4 percent ABV. Its predecessor packed 10 percent.
“Golden in color, and yet there is more to this white stout than meets the eye,” is how Leamon, who previously worked at Third Space before taking the East Troy gig a few months ago. “This rich brew has been conditioned on Ecuador cocoa nibs and Mexican vanilla giving notes of dark chocolate rich and silky with subtle notes of smoke."
“Mrs. Grebe’s white stout is smooth and velvety, abounding with notes of chocolate, vanilla, and icing to present classic stout flavors in a delicious new way.”
Leamon brewed an eight-barrel batch of the beer, which will be released to East Troy’s beer club tonight and will hit the taps in the brewpub on Friday.
Like the first beer, the brew will also be available packaged at Grebe’s Bakery, 5132 W. Lincoln Ave., in West Allis, but it’s not clear when it will arrive there.
“I wanted this batch to be lower in alcohol and to be enjoyed during the warmer months on the patio with friends,” says Leamon. “It is rich, sweet and delicious.”
“The impetus for the collaboration was a standing relationship between myself and Brandon Grebe, co-owner and president of Grebe's Bakery,” said the brewery’s General Manager John Turner when the first brew arrived in January.
“I've known Brandon for many years. My wife, Ashley Turner, is the executive chef at East Troy Brewery and we had been visiting with Brandon about bringing on some of his products – buns, rolls, even donuts, etc. – at the brewery."
“Supporting and featuring small and local businesses in our products at East Troy Brewery is something that is very important to the both of us. As the conversations progressed, we naturally turned to beer and donuts, and decided to do a beer/donut collaboration back in January of last year.”
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.
