Bieser says the family has the 1886 death certificate to prove it. Bieser and McCabe were homebrewers. Pleasure trips to microbrewery centers such as Denver and Portland made them want to move away to a land where there's a brewpub on every corner. Until Rock Bottom Brewery opened early this year at 233 N. Water St., Milwaukee had for years just one brewpub, Water Street Brewery. Everywhere we went, when we told someone we were from Milwaukee, they'd say oh, the beer capital.
People think of Milwaukee as one of America's great beer cities.
If, in the time it took to launch the business, two more brewpubs opened, McCabe says, they would call the whole thing off. Amazingly, with the explosion during that time of brewpubs across the country, the business plan held up, he says. The fellas knew beer, but they say they are learning the food business day to day. Their restaurant will offer pub fare, with an emphasis on Cajun entrees. The bar also will serve Miller beers, but only in bottles, a concession to the dominance of the second-biggest brewery in America, brewmaster Jim Olen says.