Discourse Coffee Becomes the Official Backstage Barista of the Pabst Theater Group

The Pabst Theater Group is excited to announce a new partnership with Discourse Coffee as its official backstage barista. This ideal collaboration brings together a historical institution and a trailblazing newcomer, both committed to creating indelible hospitality experiences and elevating Milwaukee’s cultural community.

As a partner, Discourse Coffee, renowned for its innovative, narrative-driven coffee and tea experiences, will provide craft barista services to touring artists that highlight the best of Milwaukee’s artisan coffee scene. Discourse Coffee joins a team of backstage hospitality renegades, including an in-house chef and pastry chef, who are focused on delivering an experience that is both memorable and authentically Milwaukee.

“Our backstage barista experience helps to define the intentional hospitality that we pursue backstage for artists,” said Gary Witt, President & CEO of the Pabst Theater Group. “The curiosity, creativity and passion that drive Discourse Coffee makes them our perfect partner in delivering that singular Milwaukee hospitality experience to our performers when they visit our city. Performers are only in Milwaukee for a very brief time, sometimes our venue is the only Milwaukee experience that they get. Discourse Coffee will help us to send the message that our venues and this city are unique in the touring world and are places they want to return.”

To celebrate the partnership, Discourse Coffee is offering a special Pabst Theater Group drink menu in their two Milwaukee locations featuring four drinks inspired by the Miller High Life Theatre, Riverside Theater, Pabst Theater and Turner Hall Ballroom:

• Bull Moose (inspired by the Miller High Life Theatre)
  Inspired by the 1912 assassination attempt of Theodore Roosevelt by saloon keeper John Schrank across the street at the former Gilpatrick Hotel. Roosevelt gave a campaign speech at the Miller High Life Theatre for 90 minutes with blood soaking through his shirt before accepting medical attention.
• Kirchhoff & Rose (inspired by the Riverside Theater)
  Co-inspired by the Riverside’s architects, Charles Kirchhoff and Thomas Rose, and the famed 1966 incident in which a patron tossed a lit cigarette onto the stage, igniting the curtains and setting the ceiling ablaze.
• 1895 (inspired by the Pabst Theater)
  Inspired by the 1895 fire which led to the total loss of the building. Frederick Pabst, who had purchased the building as the Nunnemacher Grand Opera House just five years before, ordered it rebuilt immediately, completing the construction in just six months.
• Turning Point (inspired by Turner Hall Ballroom)
  The Turners are a legendary German organization who played a large role in the formation of Milwaukee’s political environment. This drink pays tribute to traditional flavors of Germany in the format of one of their most infamous coffee drinkers, Rudescheimer Kaffee.

Additionally, Discourse Coffee and the Pabst Theater Group is offering the public the chance to enter and win a free Pabst Theater Group drink tasting experience at the Discourse Coffee – Radio Milwaukee location plus a pair of tickets to a show at their favorite drink’s corresponding theater. The contest runs now through July 31.

“Discourse is absolutely thrilled to be working with the Pabst Theater Group to run backstage barista services for visiting artists and their tours,” said Ryan Castelaz, Partner and CEO of Discourse Coffee. “Since our first days in Milwaukee, we saw the potential of this collaboration, as two organizations dedicated to creating cultural experiences through indelible storytelling. It’s an honor and a privilege to serve as a touchstone to the magic of our city to hundreds of visiting acts each year.”

This partnership reflects both organizations’ fervent belief in the power of experience to shape Milwaukee’s identity and future. Discourse Coffee joins a growing network of local partnerships that help the Pabst Theater Group strengthen community ties, nurture local and national talent, and drive a $250 million annual economic impact for the city of Milwaukee.

About Discourse Coffee
Discourse Coffee is a motley crew of baristas, bartenders, artists, bakers, scientists, music nerds, and renegades out to forge the future of coffee. We pen liquid stories that celebrate the people, places, and things that occupy our hearts. We’re driven by a fervent desire to explore the unknown, with a focus on sustainability and seasonality.

Founded in 2017 in Sister Bay, Wisconsin, Discourse has grown to a team of over a dozen career drink makers, with genre-defining fourth wave cafes in the Milwaukee Art Museum and the heart of Downtown Milwaukee. In April 2023, Discourse Creative Director Ryan Castelaz published “The New Art of Coffee: From Morning Cup to Caffeine Cocktail” with Rizzoli, distributed internationally through Penguin Random House. Our work has been featured twice on the Emmy-Nominated program “Wisconsin Foodie”, and in print in Barista Magazine, Food & Wine, Daily Coffee News, Perfect Daily Grind, Plate, Punch Mag, and Growler Magazine amongst others.
www.discourse.coffee

About Pabst Theater Group
Now in its 23rd year, the Pabst Theater Group hosts over 700 live events annually at its six core venues, the Pabst Theater, the Riverside Theater, Miller High Life Theatre, Turner Hall Ballroom, The Fitzgerald, Vivarium and other locations around the city. The Pabst Theater Group employs 350 full and part-time staff, contributing over a quarter of a billion dollars to Milwaukee’s economy annually while also helping to define the city’s soul and identity via its extensive marketing and large developed community. www.pabsttheatergroup.com.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.