Brewpub, American Legion post finding they can help each other

Adam Draeger pours himself a freshly brewed hefeweizen, takes a drink and offers it to the room.

Jim Schmidt looks surprised. No one has ever offered Schmidt a beer at 10 a.m.

They are standing at the bar in Inventors Brewpub in Port Washington. There's a one-barrel brewhouse in the back, and a tap line full of craft beers behind the bar. Draeger is the brewpub's owner and operator; he's a seasoned brewer.

They are also standing in American Legion Post 82, with a membership of 178 veterans, mostly from World War II and Korea, along with a few who served in Vietnam or Iraq. Schmidt is the post commander; he's an Air Force veteran.

That combination — brewpub and Legion post — might make a patron pause. But there's been give-and-take all around this relationship. And in some ways, the hall has become emblematic of two cultures finding common ground.

You can order poutine and wash it down with Marmaladeon Toast, a juicy beer made with orange peel. But you also might have been one of the 800 faithful who showed up recently for the post's 67th annual smelt fry.

For Draeger, Inventors Brewpub was a way to bring his family full circle.

He grew up in Spencer, Wis., and met his wife, Erin, of Tomah, when they were students at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. The engineering physicists took jobs in Iowa and then Colorado, where Erin pointed out that Adam would have more free time if he turned his home-brewing obsession into a full-time job.

He brewed at Yak and Yeti and Colorado Plus Brew Pub before the couple moved back to Wisconsin with their daughters, ages 10, 8 and 5.

After signing the lease for the building, with its awe-inspiring view of Lake Michigan and choice spot across from the Veterans Park Bandshell, the brewer and his family did most of the makeover work at the hall. The false ceiling was the first thing to go; Draeger wanted the light from covered glass block windows. He constructed large chandeliers from barrel staves. He set out tables and benches to reflect the Old World German beer hall he envisioned.

The brewpub is purposely kid-friendly, with toys, games, a play carpet and PVC pipe materials that children can use to make their own inventions. Keeping with that theme, Draeger created a ring toss out of a metal circle on a long string that, when tossed correctly, lands on a hook fixed to a piece of wood hanging on the wall.

A couple of great estate-sale furniture finds make up the "conversation area" — maybe the only nod, besides Draeger's impressive beard, to the hipster nature of craft beer. Across the room, Draeger points to the grain art and wood flag that marks the spot as a Legion post. He donated the grain art to the post and gave it 10% of the profits he made from the bar during the smelt fry.

For Schmidt and the post's membership, the brewpub is an attempt to attract new people and keep the place vital after the closure of its old restaurant. "Our intent was to see more of a thriving business and get more people in," Schmidt said.

The new look is exactly what Draeger told the Post 82 membership he had planned, Schmidt said. Still, some in the membership have grumbled about the renovations, which came not long after the American Legion used a grant from Home Depot to the paint the room light green, replace the windows and change the light fixtures. They mutter that Draeger, with his one-barrel brewhouse in the back, is using a lot of space.

"The changes he made, we had to change," Schmidt said. "And older people don't like change."

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While Draeger was waiting the eight months it took to get licensed to brew, he put craft beers on tap — some of them his collaborations produced with nearby breweries like St. Francis Brewing, Brewfinity and The Fermentorium. He also learned that some people don't like it if the bar doesn't have Miller Lite on tap (it doesn't and it won't).

The previous restaurant, Ray's Clubhouse, offered lunches Monday through Friday, and the bar served cocktails like rum and Coke and a long list of the beers that Draeger no longer serves by the glass.

The brewpub features a menu of gourmet hamburgers, sandwiches, sweet potato tots and poutine. Schmidt said they encouraged Draeger to add a fish fry on Fridays, something Ray's had done for decades. It's essentially the only similarity between the two restaurants.

Draeger is making up for lost brewing time by pumping out beer after beer on his small system, made in the brewhouse he created in the back. Long before the Inventors Brewpub site was an American Legion post, it was the bottle washing house of the historic Old Port Brewing Company. Another circle completed.

The brewer takes a seat on a saffron-colored sofa that has spent a lifetime covered in plastic and pours a sample of TLZ, a beer he calls a "no style beer." Other offerings range from S.S. Porter to P.W. Golden Ale.

The brewpub is about the beer, but it's also about the reason for the Draeger family's move to Port Washington — family and community.

"I wanted to be a strong community leader," said Draeger, who hosted the 2018 Port Washington Winter Market once a month through Saturday. "It was the greatest move for us. I knew I could make a difference in a small community like this."

As for Schmidt, he's learned he can appreciate a craft beer — and has even sampled a dozen of Draeger's creations.

"I dragged my feet on this whole deal," said Schmidt, who said the membership talked for months about what would replace the former bar and restaurant. "Now I'm excited for him."