There’s a familial aspect to much of the local craft brewery scene. In large part, area brewers are supportive of each other and want to see everyone in the industry succeed. But the idea of family gets decidedly more literal when talking about a new beer collaboration between Broken Bat Brewing and 3 Sheeps Brewing.
What’s In a Name? is a pale ale being released on Saturday that doesn’t just nod to the fact that Broken Bat founder Tim Pauly and 3 Sheeps founder Grant Pauly share the same last name. The two brewers actually share family lineage that neither of them knew about until 2021.
“My Grandma [Elizabeth] Pauly passed away after 95 amazing years on this planet in 2021,” said Tim Pauly. “After spending time with my extended family, a ton of stories were told about the Pauly Cheese Co. from back in the day, and several people mentioned that some extended Pauly relatives were a part of a group that revived Kingsbury Breweries near Sheboygan in the mid-1900s. That led me to some articles that mentioned Grant’s lineage and I was able to connect the dots. Our great-grandfathers were brothers!”
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Frank Pauly, Tim’s grandfather, was a third-generation president of Pauly Cheese, which was founded in the late 1800s and operated in the Green Bay area for nearly a century. Grant Pauly’s great-grandfather purchased what became Kingsbury Breweries in 1926. The retro can art for What’s In a Name? subtly references both companies.
In 2021, Tim reached out to Grant, sent him a few family news clippings, and pointed out they were cousins – second cousins, to be exact. The two decided that a collaboration was in order and both busy breweries finally found time this summer to put a beer together.
“We’d met before in passing,” said Tim Pauly. “His family was more about beer and my side of the family was about cheese. But we’d both heard the same family stories. It was really cool to have it all come to fruition.”
What’s In a Name? – a pale ale made using the dip-hopping technique, which maximizes hops’ fruity characteristics – will be available on tap and in to-go cans for a limited time at Broken Bat Brewery (135 E. Pittsburgh St.), 3 Sheeps Brewing (1837 North Ave., Sheboygan), and the Triple Taproom (2018 E. North Ave., Milwaukee).
