Last year, when Green Bay's Badger State Brewing and Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery collaborated on the Packers-themed Gold Package brew, it was a 5.6 percent ABV golden ale brewed in Green Bay.
Now, it's back as a Helles-style golden lager brewed at Lakefront in Milwaukee.
"The concept is to change up the style up," says Lakefront's Andy Jungwirth. "We wanted to keep it an approachable, easy-drinking beer for the football season."
A tribute to the season ticket package that the Packers created for Milwaukee fans, the beer is now a 5.4 percent ABV Helles lager.
The beer is available in kegs and 12-ounce six-packs throughout the state, but especially in the Milwaukee and Green Bay areas.
“I knew Kevin Kuzlik since before he joined Badger State as their Director of Sales, so I reached out as soon as I knew he landed in Green Bay,” says AJ Belling, who is the northern Wisconsin sales rep for Lakefront Brewery. “This collaboration is all about great friendships, quality beer and showcasing our collective brewing expertise.
“Our former Lead Brewer, Ryan Hillesland, is now the head brewer over there, which gave us all the more reason to partner with our friends up north.”
Gold Package was brewed with Pilsner, Light Munich and Vienna malts and is a light-bodied, easy-drinking, bready beer with notes of honey.
It's seasonal, so it won't be around forever.
“It is quite an honor for us to collaborate with Lakefront Brewery again this year on Gold Package,” says Kuzlik.
“Last year we went through 21,000 cans and 150 kegs of it. I can’t wait for beer drinkers across the state to get their hands on this year’s version!”
If you're not too busy dreaming in blue and gold, you might want to seek this out and toast the upcoming season for the green and gold.
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. A fifth collects Urban Spelunking articles about breweries and maltsters.
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 been heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
