A year or so after Paul and Heidi McGraw opened their 50-tap self-serve Geneva Tap House in Lake Geneva, they have teamed up with Peter and Pam Jergens and Regan and Jim Homan to open the new lakefront Kenosha Tap House.
The Kenosha venue, at 125 56th St., debuted earlier this summer, but celebrates its grand opening on Saturday, Sept. 9.
This tap house even outdoes the already expansive Lake Geneva place, with 60 beverages on tap.
“(It’s the) largest self-serve tap house in Wisconsin,” says Kenosha Tap House’s Jenifer Fleming. “From craft beer, craft hard seltzers, craft ciders, craft cocktails and even wine!
"Heidi, the owner and GM of Geneva Tap House makes sure all the beverages are unique, tasty, local-ish and from smaller breweries.”
When I visited Geneva Tap House last summer it had craft brews from all over – as local as Elkhorn’s Duesterbeck’s and Burlington’s Low Daily and as far-flung as Dogfish Head and War Pigs and others.
Unlike Geneva, however, which offers only a few limited food options, Kenosha Tap House has a full kitchen and a menu that includes a range of bar food-style apps (wings, pretzels, tots, tacos, curds, sliders, etc.), plus burgers, fish fry, flatbreads and more.
A weekend brunch menu with biscuits and gravy, french toast and more, is available Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
There’s a patio, a view of the Lake, live music, DJs and more.
“We have three separate families that are the owners,” says Fleming. “Peter and Pam Jergens designed and created the space. Peter has worked on many other restaurants including Oakfire, and Pam is an interior designer.
“They all love craft beer and wanted to bring this exciting new way of craft beer to Kenosha especially after their success with Geneva Tap House.”
The Tap House is open Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday 10-6.
The grand opening event starts at 6 p.m. and features live music by the Spirit Shakers, plus raffle and prizes every hour.
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.
