Third Space Brewing Partners with Camp Minikani to Celebrate 6th Anniversary September 24th

MILWAUKEE, Wisc. – September 12, 2022 – Third Space Brewing will throw another grand anniversary party on Saturday September 24th to celebrate six years brewing beer in Milwaukee. This year, Third Space Brewing is launching a partnership with YMCA Camp Minikani, the summer camp where co-founders, Kevin Wright and Andy Gehl, first met over twenty years ago.

The party runs from 12:00 noon to 10:00 pm with live music from local bands and DJs at the brewery’s tap room and massive beer garden at 1505 W. St. Paul Ave. in Milwaukee’s Menomonee River Valley. The event is highlighted by several special beer releases including the second iteration in the brewery’s barrel-aged solera project.

Local Music & Food

Live music kicks off at 12:00p.m. when the party opens with 91.7 WMSE’s Boogie Bang Gang, who will live DJ their on-air show from the Third Space beer garden stage. The first live band will start at 4:00 p.m. when indie rock band Horace Greene conclude with headliner De La Buena, an Afro-Cuban and Latin Jazz ensemble, who delighted the crowd at Third Space Brewing’s 5th Anniversary in 2021 with an energetic daytime performance.

The event also welcomes local food vendors Riley’s Good Dogs, Ian’s Pizza, and Third Space Brewing’s daily food truck, Triciclo Peru.

Special Anniversary Beers

Of course, the highlight of the 6th Anniversary Party will be the beer, as Third Space will tap several special beers for the occasion the night prior to the Anniversary Party, Friday September 23 at a 6th Anniversary Eve Beer Release Event. The beer headliner is SIX, a barrel-aged solera ale, which is part of a new tradition Third Space started in 2021 with the release of FIVE, the first iteration in the solera series.

SIX is 16% ABV and has aged in bourbon, brandy, and PX Sherry barrels in a solera process used most notably in the production of Sherry. According to Brewmaster and Co-Founder, Kevin Wright “The beer moves through three layers of different spirit barrels over time, each time leaving some beer behind to add age and complexity to the next year’s blend. The beer itself is modeled after the flavors in Sherry, brewed with raisin juice and honey.”

SIX began its barrel journey almost four years ago when Third Space launched the  anniversary solera tradition that it hopes to continue for many years to come. In fact, the beers that will ultimately become SEVEN, EIGHT, and NINE are already aging in various layers of the solera right now, each one combining with portions of all prior year’s blends.

According to Wright, “it is a complicated process and a unique beer recipe that will be fun to compare year-after-year as the blends build upon one another.” The first opportunity to try the annual blends side-by-side will be Friday September 23, at the 6th Anniversary Eve Beer Release Event when both beers will be tapped at the brewery. Guests can also pre-order 16oz cans of SIX and a limited quantity of archived 500ml bottles of FIVE to take home. Visit the 6th Anniversary website to pre-order and for further details on the beer and the event.

In addition to SIX, Third Space has brewed a 6th Anniversary Citrus Wheat Ale with grapefruit and orange that has already started to hit store shelves and was tapped at the brewery September 9th. Additionally, to mark the 6th Anniversary, Third Space will bring back two of its founding year beer releases for the Anniversary weekend. Happy Happy is a double dry hopped Double IPA version of Happy Place that Third Space first brewed for its grand opening party in November 2016. Happy Happy will be on tap and in a limited quantity of 16oz 4-packs starting September 23rd.

Also, on the 23rd, Third Space will tap one of its original 4 beers, Acres Edge Toasted Oatmeal Stout on nitro. Fittingly, Acres Edge was named by the co-founders for one of their favorite campsites at Camp Minikani, the new Anniversary Party charity partner. Finally, Third Space will tap a few special barrel-aged beers from the archives at the Anniversary Party Eve Beer Release Event September 23rd.

Nonprofit Partnership

Each year, Third Space Brewing has selected a different non-profit organization to support with its Anniversary Party. The brewery is shifting that approach this year to launch an annual partnership with YMCA Camp Minikani. According to CoFounder and President, Andy Gehl, “this ongoing partnership with Minikani fits better with Third Space Brewing’s overall community outreach strategy which we have shifted recently with initiatives like our quarterly Pints With a Purpose Program to make a bigger direct impact on a smaller group of local nonprofits.” Gehl adds “our goal is to make the largest impact we can on organizations our team cares the most about. For the Anniversary Party, our strongest fundraising opportunity, we chose Camp Minikani because Kevin and I know firsthand the impact the camp experience can have on the lives of young people.”

Indeed, Gehl and Wright, first met in the early 2000’s as camp counselors at Camp Minikani, a branch of the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee, in Hubertus, Wisconsin. The pair has often described Minikani as their first “third space” and an inspiration for the approachable and fun experience they are trying to create with Third Space Brewing.

Wright reports “for this year’s Anniversary Party we are focusing on raising funds for the campership program at Minikani which means all dollars raised will go towards giving children a camp experience who could not otherwise afford it. As the partnership grows, we hope to continue supporting the campership program but also to help raise funds for other initiatives and projects at Minikani to keep the thriving for years to come.”

Camp Minikani’s Executive Director, Eli Fyksen, shared the importance of providing the camp experience to all children: “I have seen Camp Minikani positively change the trajectory of thousands of kids’ lives. Camp is a place where children build confidence and self-esteem while learning to work together with people that are different from themselves. Camp is a human-powered, technology-free adventure that allows space for positive risk and reward. Our goal at Camp Minikani is to give all children these experiences no matter their economic situation and the funds raised via Third Space Brewing’s Anniversary will go a long way to help families in need send their kids to camp.”

How To Attend or Donate

The Third Space Brewing 6th Anniversary Party and Anniversary Eve Beer Release Event are both free to attend. However, for the Anniversary Party, there will be a suggested but not required donation to Camp Minikani. For those looking to have a VIP experience at the event or to make a greater impact on the cause, Third Space is pre-selling VIP Tickets for $40. Third Space will donate the entire $40 to Camp Minikani while the VIP guests will receive 3 beer tickets, a private VIP room indoors with additional seating, and back-stage viewing access to the live music outside. Guests may purchase VIP Tickets or donate to the Minikani campership fund on the 6th Anniversary website.

About Third Space Brewing
Third Space Brewing prides itself on brewing high-quality, flavorful, and supremely balanced craft beer in Milwaukee’s historic Menomonee River Valley. Co-founders Kevin Wright and Andy Gehl are long-time friends who have reunited in their hometown to create a craft brewery that welcomes everyone into the craft beer world – you have your home, you have your work, but everyone needs a Third Space.

Third Space Brewing opened in September 2016 and has already won several awards. Third Space has won 4 Great American Beer Festival medals, was named Best New Brewer in Wisconsin by Rate Beer in 2017 and was voted Best Microbrewery in Milwaukee three years in a row in the Shepherd Express Best of Milwaukee competition (2017-2019).

In 2018 Third Space was named one of the 50 fastest growing craft breweries in the country by the Brewers Association. In 2021 Third Space Brewing expanded its distribution to cover the entire state of Wisconsin and was listed as the 4th largest craft beer brand in the state by the Milwaukee Business Journal. In 2022, Third Space Brewing completed numerous upgrades to its tap room and massive beer garden at 1505 W. St. Paul including the building of a covered outdoor stage and the addition of private outdoor beer garden spaces for rent.

For more information about Third Space Brewing, please visit thirdspacebrewing.com or reach out to Andy Gehl at 414-909-2337, Ext. 60 or 773-837-6332 (cell).

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.