Lakefront Brewery Inc. has launched a new USDA-certified organic beer, Growing Power, as part of a partnership with Milwaukee-based nonprofit Growing Power Inc.
Will Allen, founder and chief executive officer of Growing Power, and Russ Klisch, co-founder and president of Lakefront Brewery, unveiled the new beer last week at Growing Power’s location at 5500 W. Silver Spring Drive.
The hoppy pale ale, fermented with a specialty Belgian yeast strain, is available nationally in six-packs and on draft. A portion of the beer’s proceeds will support Growing Power’s sustainable farming efforts. Both organizations celebrated last week with a launch party at Meritage, a local farm-to-table restaurant.
The cooperative beer marks a long-standing relationship between the two organizations. In 2001, Growing Power began using way the brewery’s spent grain for composting, and in turn, Lakefront Brewery provided beer tastings at the farm’s seminars. The two organizations “grew to see each other not only as business partners, but as social activists in bringing good food, grown and produced locally and sustainably, to our communities,” Klisch stated. “It is hard to image anyone else in Milwaukee that shares our values more than Growing Power.”
Allen stated the partnership serves as “a strong example of how two companies that work together over many years are able to demonstrate stewardship of a sustainable food system. This sustainable food system will not only provide good food and drink to Milwaukee and beyond, but will also be a catalyst to create more jobs and economic development in our city and around the nation.”
