Planning events with local breweries is something every chapter head does for their chapter and one spring day in 2016, I asked Henry (co-founder of Mobcraft Beer) and the team at Mobcraft if I could plan an ice cream and beer pairing for Milwaukee Girls Pint Out. And with an enthusiastic yes, I moved forward planning the event.The typical things came up…Time? Date? Co-ed? Number of guests? When faced with the question of how many attendees I remember telling Henry, “Oh, only about 30 people.” Henry must have taken it as a personal challenge because he quickly replied, “How about 100 people? We can close down the taproom.” I was in my second year of running my chapter and 100 people made me nervous. We agreed to 100 but no hard feelings if it was any less.
The event was a sell out. We packed the taproom and sold well over 100 tickets to this pairing. The event was a lot to do alone, but thankfully I had some help from friends and Mobcraft staff. Henry with a big grin on his face said to me, “We should do a collaboration brew with the Milwaukee chapter.” And with a smirk, I told him, “You made me go bigger. Why not go bigger! A national collaboration brew.” We smiled, laughed, and agreed to make it happen. That was 2016.
Our first collaboration brew was January 7, 2017 with the winner being from the DC Metro Girls Pint Out chapter. Mobcraft paid for her flight and hotel for the weekend. I showed Larissa, the winner, and her husband around Milwaukee and we started a brew day at 8 am on Saturday morning. Larissa and the Mobcraft team explored every aspect of the recipe for what is now known as Girl Grey IPA. I designed my first beer can not knowing what all of this would turn into. By the time the beer was released, I was working in the beer industry so I got a chance to sell it into accounts and raise awareness for Girls Pint Out. I don’t know about Larissa but seeing it on tap or out in the market was like having a piece of our heart on display for everyone to see, taste, and judge.
Mobcraft worked out distribution to the DC Metro area and a few of them flew out for a big release party. The chapter worked hard finding accounts that would take it and getting that info to Mobcraft. Girl Grey IPA was written about twice! The Washington Post made it Beer of the Week and Food & Wine listed it as one of 10 Delicious Breakfast Inspired Beers. And with that Henry and I agreed we had to do it again. Of course, in all of this, we didn’t go rogue. Amanda gave the okay to even allow me to even present this to Girls Pint Out as a whole and she approves the labels…along with the TTB, of course!
By now, you’re probably asking, Why Mobcraft? Or what is Mobcraft? Well Mobcraft Beer is a brewery that started as a dream in 2011 and established in 2013 by Henry Schwartz and Andrew Gierczak. They moved from Madison to Milwaukee in 2016 in an area of the City called Walker’s Point.
Mobcraft gets its name from crowdsourcing beer. Hence the “Mob” in Mobcraft. They hold monthly contests allowing the public to showcase every idea you could imagine for a beer. They beers get voted on and the one who wins comes in for a brew day! How is that different from the Girls Pint Out contest? Well, they aren’t flying anyone else in or paying for their accommodations for the weekend for starters. The whole weekend Mobcraft goes above and beyond for Girls Pint Out! Brew day includes brewing beer, a cookout, bottle share, and Cranky Al’s doughnuts. Henry hangs out all weekend showing you craft beer hot spots around Milwaukee and deep diving into the Mobcraft cellar! Mobcraft also pays for the beer to be canned and distributed throughout their footprint which expands yearly! The first year, I designed the label but the last two years one of the members from the Milwaukee chapter designs them for the Mobcraft Team. Sarah Hand, the designer, is around on brew day and will talk with the winner about what they want to see on the label. Sarah has extensive knowledge of what’s allowed legally and offers her design services at no cost to Girls Pint Out or Mobcraft.
What beers have been done? You know the history of Girl Grey IPA which was submitted by Larissa Hanpeter of the DC Metro chapter. The following year, Keri Boisclair from Rhode Island won with Peachy Queen. Peachy Queen is a peach, sea salt, coriander, and basil gose. It was very tart and I got a chance to cut up pounds of fresh peaches for the beer to ferment on! Most recently, Katie Bruno of the Ann Arbor chapter won with Glazed Over. Glazed Over was an Imperial Cream Ale with honey, maple, cinnamon, and vanilla. The beer ended up being a triple collaboration as we brought in Cranky Al’s doughnuts (Wauwatosa, WI) to help us offer the doughnut flavor in the beer. Cranky Al’s is a well known doughnut shop in the Greater Milwaukee Area and is always a stop for Alton Brown when he’s in town!
If brewing a beer seems daunting, don’t let it be! You don’t have to come with the exact malt bill, just your love for beer and a tasty combo for starters. There are many special things that come with winning this contest and I love being a part of it every year. Every year, this collaboration brew brings extra joy to Girls Pint Out because we get to create a stronger community between chapters, near and far!
We are currently accepting ideas for our 4th annual collaboration beer with MobCraft!
You have until February 7, 2020 to submit your idea for the collaboration beer here!