January isn’t a big month for beer-related events in the Milwaukee area, but Inventors Brewpub in Port Washington is doing its part to make sure beer lovers have something to look forward to during the dark days of winter.
Inventors is hosting two days of craft beer festivities with a Homebrew Expo on Friday, Jan. 23 and a Winter Beer Invitational on Jan. 24.
“We talked about having a beer fest, especially in the winter when it’s slow, and just trying get craft beer people together and have fun in Port Washington,” says head brewer Trevor Thurston. “I belong to the Sheboygan Sudsers, which is the homebrew club of Sheboygan. One of the members was talking about wanting to do a swap meet. And I thought we should do it and get all the craft people together and make a weekend out of it.”
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
The Homebrew Expo features equipment vendors, the equipment swap meet that spawned the idea, sampling and a homebrew competition (entries are due by Jan. 16).
Saturday’s Winter Beer Invitational showcases winter warmers (imperial stouts, barleywines, Belgian quads and other hearty beers) from 20 breweries. The beer fest also features three collaborations that Inventors created with Milwaukee-area breweries:
- A collab with Explorium Brewpub that’s a pastry stout made with chocolate (from Hollander Chocolate Co. in Port Washington) and cherries.
- Inventors worked with Dead Bird Brewing to create a dry-hopped imperial black IPA.
- A collab with Brewfinity Beer Co. is a grodziskie, a smoked Polish wheat beer.
The Winter Beer Invitational has three sessions planned. A VIP session runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., session 1 is scheduled from noon to 2 p.m., and session 2 takes place from 3 to 5 p.m. Tickets are $65 for the VIP session and $45 for either of the other two.
The two-day event isn’t just giving beer drinkers a place to go in January, but also providing Inventors (305 E. Washington St.) with a chance to show off its gleaming new building that opened in April 2024 in the heart of the historic town’s charming waterfront. Both events are happening in Edison Hall, the brewpub’s large event space. Inventors was started in 2017 by owner Adam Draeger at the former Lakeside Brewing building, just a couple of blocks from the current location.
“(Port Washington) is just a cool spot,” added Thurston. “I think it seems far to a lot of people, but if you live on the north side of Milwaukee it’s (not really that far at all).”
