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Just a few months after opening, Riverwest's newest brewery, Amorphic Beer, 3700 N. Fratney St., is celebrating its first Pi Day with a series of events from Saturday, March 12 through Monday, March 14 (the actual Pi Day, 3.14)
"In addition to being Einstein’s birthday and the day of the year matching the magical π constant," says co-owner Ron Hockersmith, "Amorphic Beer will have beer releases, musical performances, food trucks, engineering challenges for all, pie (the edible kind) from Honeypie cafe, and a presentation on “Exploring Exoplanets” from UWM professor Dr. Jean Creighton of the Manfred-Olson Planetarium."
When's the last time you attended a science presentation at a brewery?
But that's to be entirely expected from Amorphic, which made clear its passion for science even before it opened at the end of last year.
Note, too, that the design on the taproom bartop is Hockersmith's riff on a a mesh from a finite element analysis.
"It’s an opportunity to enjoy some craft beer, have fun and get smarter all at once," all at once, he says of the weekend's festivities.
Here's a schedule of what's on tap.
Saturday March 12
- Beer releases
- Food Trucks all day
- Music from Listening Party, 3-5 p.m.
- Music from TBA, 6-8 p.m.
Sunday March 13
- Beer releases
- Engineering challenges at 2 and 4 p.m. (no engineering skills required)
Monday March 14
- Free pie from Honeypie Cafe
- “Exploring Exoplanets” presentation from Dr. Jean Creighton of the UWM Manfred-Olson Planetarium at 6 p.m.
The beer releases will likely include three brews:
Hypothetical Terroir a 9.5 percent ABV Nelson Sauvin/Hallertau Blanc IPA with oats, dual fermented with ale and wine yeast, loaded with Sauvignon Blanc grape must. Hockersmith says it's two-thirds IPA, one-third white wine.
Particle Smasher (8% ABV) double dry-hopped IPA with various forms of Citra, including full Spectrum® flowable/liquid dry hop.
Fluffy Gem (6.3% ABV) The brewery's hazy IPA with a double dry-hopping that includes the new Idaho Gem hop. Hockersmith promises hints of honey malt, orange and cherry.
"We also made a single keg batch of a beer with a base of victory and honey malt with vanilla – tastes like graham crackers – and then added huge amounts of blueberries to create a beer that should taste like blueberry pie,"says Hockersmith. "Good one to go with the pie from Honeypie on Sunday!
"Unfortunately this year no big barrel releases for Pi Day, as we've only been making beer a few months. We do have some beer in barrels already, but those are for Black Friday/One-year anniversary."
For more, visit amorphicbeer.com.
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.
