A beer dropping this weekend isn’t just from a new brewery. It’s from (almost) all the new breweries.
New Kids on the Maibock is a collaboration among nine of the 10 breweries that opened or reopened in Wisconsin in 2025. The project was spearheaded by Badger Beer Report, a digital platform dedicated to promoting Wisconsin’s craft beer scene through podcasts, interviews and news reports.
The idea about when Greg Washington, Badger Beer Report’s founder and primary host, made a trip to Vault 202 Brewing in Appleton and met up with the brewery’s co-owner Scott Krebsbach to pitch a collaboration between a few of the state’s new breweries. The conversation expanded quickly.
“I [asked Scott], ‘Why don’t we try to get together a lot of the breweries that came in last year and brew a beer to celebrate that all of you are starting up during a rough time in the industry?'” Washington said. “He thought that was a great idea. We contacted 10 breweries that brewed their first batch in 2025.”
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The resulting beer is New Kids on the Maibock, a 7.3% ABV maibock was brewed on Feb. 26, with representatives from all nine breweries and Badger Beer Report on hand at Vault 202. Those breweries were Lombardi Brewing (Milwaukee), Brewed Omen (Hartford), Boulder Jct. Brewing Company (Boulder Junction), Fond du Lac Beer Co. (Fond du Lac), Last Ditch Brewpub (Kenosha), Tailwinds Brewing (Union Grove), and Vault 202. MobCraft Beer (Milwaukee) and St. Francis Brewery (St. Francis), which were revived in 2025 under new ownership, also participated.
New Kids on the Maibock is now ready, and all nine of the breweries will be tapping it in the coming weeks, with the first release this Saturday, April 25, at Boulder Jct. Brewing. Badger Beer Report is solidifying the dates for the Milwaukee-area releases but expects most of them to be the first weekend of May. Two other dates have been locked in: Vault 202’s release on May 2 and Brewed Omen’s on May 9.
“We had a lot of fun on collab day meeting all the new breweries,” said Krebsbach. “We love doing collaborations because they foster a sense of community within the industry. It’s important to share knowledge and experiences to keep up the great quality of craft beer in Wisconsin. The beer is turning out great. A little on the higher end of ABV than we were looking for, but deceivingly crushable.”
Added Washington: “Introducing people to Wisconsin’s breweries is our main goal (at the Badger Beer Report). We just love breweries. It’s a passion project, and we have even more collaborations coming up.”
Editor’s note: Milwaukee Magazine executive editor Chris Drosner is editor-at-large for Badger Beer Report.
