Although The Fermentorium Barrel House opened in East Tosa last May, the tasting room and barrel-aging facility at 6933 W. North Ave. is finally hosting its official Grand Opening.
The party is slated for Friday, Feb. 28 from 1 p.m. to midnight and its free and open to all.
In addition to a ceremonial ribbon cutting by owner Kristopher Volkman at 2 p.m., there will be beer specials, raffles – each full-size beer purchase gets you a ticket – for gift certificates and other prizes, beer releases, The Gardens food truck and live music by Lost Cat (at 7 p.m.).
The barrel house is a second location for The Fermentorium, which opened its brewery and taproom in Cedarburg in 2016.
"We’re thrilled to officially be a part of the Wauwatosa community and to contribute to the growing craft beer scene in the area," said The Fermentorium Director of Sales and Marketing Maggie Skinner.
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.
