This is a solid, solid beerfest for a solid, solid cause.
Midwinter Brewfest rocks MKE the day after Food & Froth every single year and has been doing so for eighteen now. Held at the MKE Ale House, it's upstairs, downstairs and in the connected underground parking garage... they make it work!
You'll see local, regional, and national brews repped at this fest, and at $45/ticket you def get your money's worth. The event ran from 1-5pm this year and it was PACKED, my friends. (And w/ many of the same vendors/breweries as at F&F, too.)
Highlights this year:
-New Holland's sour (yum, not too sweet, very awesome!)
-Three Sheeps' IPA (YES PLEASE)
-Pearl St.'s coffee stout
The UW marching band plays in the basement every year and this adds to the festive good time vibezzz.
A few observations:
-bathrooms (man oh man, the wait at peak attendance is rough even w/ the portable toilets downstairs in the parking garage... maybe more of them and on the patio outside would help?)
-speaking of outside, a heated tent to break up the density might be a good idea? It's clearly packed to the gills in there, so finding a way to keep attendees AND vendors a little more spaced out would be rad. Just a thought!
-the volume on the main stage: those poor vendors in front of the main Ale House stage... the volume was out of control! I think having stand up comedy could be fun in that space, and that would allow beer vendors to still converse with the attendees/save their eardrums. read more