Press Release:
(Milwaukee, WI) – The 2014 year-round and seasonal calendar for MKE Brewing Co. will be the most innovative for the young microbrewery in its’ history. To commemorate the occasion they are launching the first new seasonal in over a year. Litta Bitta White IPA will lead off this exciting calendar year in fine fashion. Available while supplies last over the next 2 months, Litta Bitta’s inviting light pepper and citrus aromas abound up front and blend well with lemon and grapefruit flavors as a result of a lemongrass infusion. This balanced and refreshing White IPA finishes with a touch of wheat that beckons you back for more. Clocking in at 50 IBUs and 6.5% ABV this will be the perfect White IPA to brighten up the winter doldrums and get everyone thinking about spring.
The recipe for Litta Bitta is a result of friendly internal brewery competition in 2013 where the brewers challenged
themselves to create different recipes for the “12 months of IPA’s”. Each IPA was brewed and served at the Milwaukee Ale House, MKE Brewing Co.’s brewpub. This particular recipe for White IPA, created by lead brewer Brian Blazel, was so popular that it was the only IPA recipe to be repeated throughout the year. “I am both honored and excited to have one of my recipes make it into the line-up this year” says Blazel. Owner Jim McCabe added, “Our company culture attracts and fosters passion and creativity. The Litta Bitta release spotlights what our team is up to every day. We all feed off of incredible collaboration and our fans get to enjoy this glimpse of real craft brewing.”
The name Litta Bitta ia a reference to the brutal feud between the two founding fathers of Milwaukee, Solomon Juneau and Byron Kilbourn. In the mid-1800’s, the respective leaders of Juneautown west of the river and Kilbourtown east of the river could not come to a resolution to unite their two settlements with a common bridge. The Bridge War, as it came to be known resulted in a bloody feud lasting more than a year, until the two settlements came together for a unified resolution for the future of Milwaukee in 1846. Interestingly enough, this is why all of the bridges Milwaukee are slightly askew and none run directly east and west.
ABOUT MKE BREWING CO.
MKE Brewing Co. started as a brewpub, the Milwaukee Ale House, in October 1997 in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. Founder Jim McCabe took his love for home brewing and his engineering background to design a functional and robust 15 bbl brewpub when Milwaukee was still a lager town. Fast forward 10 years and over 300 innovative beers later to November 2007 when MKE Brewing Co kegged off their first brew at their 2nd St. Brewery located in the trendy Walkers Point neighborhood. The 50 bbl brewing and packaging facility allowed MKE Brewing Co to meet the demand of their ever-popular Ale House brews and start brewing more styles that they always wanted to. A WDNR Green Tier Certified brewery, MKE Brewing Co. prides themselves on flexible and energy saving efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. With initiatives such as the 28 solar hot water panels on the roof, a bio-diesel boiler fueled by fryer oil from local restaurants, clean wastewater conservation, donating spent grain to local urban farm Growing Power and as the first micro-cannery in Wisconsin, MKE Brewing Co is at the forefront of Green Tier conservation efforts. McCabe along with principal partner Jim Hughes have experienced the most productive year in their brief history producing 8,000 bbls in 2013. MKE Brewing Co. is committed to creating innovative, well-balanced, approachable beers that appeal to the craft beer aficionado and new craft beer drinker alike. Head brewer Robert Morton and his team pride themselves on taking the artisan approach to brewing, using only the finest local ingredients and never making compromises.