Sahale will be metro area’s 34th craft brewery
3,000-square-foot site in Grafton to open to patio
Sahale Ale Works, from longtime brewer Matthew Hofmann, is on track to become metro Milwaukee’s 34th craft brewery.
The three-barrel brewery at 1505 Wisconsin Ave. in Grafton will open to the public on July 20 with eight taps and seating for 90 to 95 inside. There’s room for 60 on the patio.
Hofmann, who named the brewery for a mountain he scaled, was previously the head brewer at St. Francis Brewery. Before that he worked at 3 Sheeps in Sheboygan, Lakefront Brewery and Avery Brewing in Boulder, Colorado.
Hoffman was still organizing some glassware, waiting for outdoor tables to come in and getting a final permit to begin brewing late last week. The brewery fills a nearly 3,000-square-foot space with two garage doors that open to a courtyard patio, a lounge area with a fully stocked Super Nintendo, and booths made by Hofmann with the help of friends and family.
The wooden bar top is burnished with feathers designed by Hofmann’s wife, Kat, who also created artwork for the lounge area. Pieces of wood salvaged from an Elkhorn barn dating back to 1860 hang from the ceiling to muffle sound and also because they didn’t make the cut as table tops. Televisions in the taproom won’t be on every day, but a projection screen will be used for Brewers games and other sports events.
Hofmann, whose TEOTWAWKI Imperial Brown Ale medaled at the Festival of Barrel-Aged Beers in Chicago not long ago, plans to have four approachable beers on tap: a stout, a golden ale, an India Pale Ale and an amber. He’ll have four more taps for specialty beers such as barrel-aged brews, sours and collaborations.
He has three collaborations ready to go.
Hofmann worked with Adam Draeger of Inventors Brewpub in Port Washington on a beer they call Benjamin Franklin Brown Ale. It’s made with ginger, bay leaves, coriander and molasses. He also teamed with Kris Volkman at The Fermentorium in Cedarburg for Rose Lemon IPA made with lemon peel and rose petals. Visible in the taproom is a barrel from Working Draft Brewing. Hofmann worked with the Madison brewery on an IPA made with seven different kinds of hops and two types of oats.
Sahale (pronounced sa-hal-a) will also serve non-alcoholic beverages such as root beer from Potosi Brewing, lemonade and kombucha.
Sahale expects to be open from 4 to 9 p.m. Thursday, 3 to 11 p.m. Friday, noon to 11 p.m. Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. Sunday.