Snuggle up with some holiday cheer as OnMilwaukee shares stories of everything merry and bright in the spirit of the season.
Brought to you by Noel Indoor Light Park & Christmas Market and MillerCoors.
Black Husky Brewing in Riverwest will use part of the 2020 City of Milwaukee Christmas tree that was unveiled Tuesday night to create a new beer.
“We were able to get spruce boughs from the 2020 City of Milwaukee Christmas tree in order to brew a special batch, with proceeds benefiting the Milwaukee Urban Forestry Fund,” says the brewery’s Toni Eichinger.
“It’s an especially touching story due to the family who donated the tree to the city.”
The 35-foot-tall Colorado Blue Spruce was donated by Edward and Kathy Gill from their home on the far northwest side. They planted the tree 22 years ago in memory of their son Eddie and call it “Eddie’s Tree.”
A special batch of Black Husky’s Sproose – a double IPA – will be released using the boughs from Eddie’s Tree on Small Brewery Sunday, Nov. 29.
Spruce will be available in four-packs and a special commemorative 22-ounce bottle.
“We are thankful to Mayor Barrett, the City of Milwaukee Forestry Services and especially the Gill family for including us in this celebration and letting us make a special beer to commemorate this event. In the spirit of giving these occasions represent, proceeds from this beer will support the Milwaukee Urban Forestry Fund,” said Black Husky’s Tim Eichinger.
Proceeds from the sale of Sproose will benefit the Milwaukee Urban Forestry Fund, which supports tree planting projects across the city at schools, parks and other green spaces.
Eddie’s Tree – decorated by City of Milwaukee Department of Public Works staff with nearly 3,500 lights and more than 200 ornaments.– can be seen this holiday season in front of City Hall, 200 E. Wells St.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
