Jeff Bleier of Whitefish Bay shares a beer with Shannon Fuentes of Milwaukee. The two were at the new beer garden in Estabrook Park in Shorewood. Credit: Michael Sears

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It's only fitting that an authentic German beer garden tucked under a canopy of trees in a Milwaukee County park would be christened on the first day of summer with the tapping of a free keg of summer Hofbräu.

Like the season, patrons will enjoy the free beer while it lasts.

The keg tapping, set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, will mark the grand opening of the Estabrook Park Beer Garden, the county's first beer garden in a park since Prohibition, but perhaps not its last.

Milwaukee had a string of beer gardens along the Milwaukee River in the 19th century that thrived until Prohibition in the early 20th century, and county parks officials hope to spark a revival.

On Wednesday, patrons can either bring their own beer steins or pay a $5 deposit to borrow a heavy glass stein imported from Munich for a sample while the free keg lasts. The Brewhaus Polka Kings will make sure summer gets a proper polka welcome. Twinkling lights strung from the trees should add some magic.

Last weekend, the billowy diamond-blue-and-white flag and small "Beer Garden" sign at the park's E. Hampton Ave. entrance in Glendale beckoned Al and Marilyn Kuraitis of suburban Chicago to check it out.

"I recognized the colors immediately in the flag," Al Kuraitis said. "Blue and white are the Munich soccer team's colors."

The couple, visiting Whitefish Bay for their great-niece's christening, have been to Munich several times.

"With the trees overhead, it's very similar to what you see in Germany," Marilyn Kuraitis said. "They picked a really nice spot here."

The brats at the local beer garden are tasty, too, Al added.

"In Milwaukee, if you don't get good beer and brats, you've got something to complain about," he said.

The idea for a beer garden in a park originally was posed to Milwaukee County Parks Director Sue Black by Hans Weisgerber III, owner of the Old German Beer Hall in downtown Milwaukee.

It's a win-win for taxpayers, as Milwaukee County receives a 20% commission on beer and 10% on food sales.

Here, authentic long wooden tables in tight rows like Germany's biergartens quickly transform strangers into friends as they wash down $4 giant soft pretzels (made in Munich with flour from the Royal Bavarian Mill) and $5 bratwursts (made nearby at Usinger's) with cold suds, and listen to live accordion music. The new beer garden, which seats 150 to 200 people, also sells hot dogs, wine, soft drinks and bottled water.

Patrons pay a $5 deposit on each glass stein, returned when the empty stein is surrendered.

Featured beers include $6 half-liter and $11 liter Hofbräu Original Lager, Dunkel Lager and Hefe Weizen served in the heavy glass steins imported from Munich's world-famous Hofbräuhaus, a beer hall that inspired the drinking song " Oans, zwoa, g'suffa" - Bavarian for "one, two, drink." For those with a more local palate, Miller Lite is also available.

For now, Weisgerber's new venture accepts only cash and is run from a trailer beside a Bavarian-style storage building in Estabrook Park. A bar and grill are set up just outside the trailer.

Once the building renovation is finished and the taps move inside, around July 1, the site will begin accepting credit cards, manager Steve Schultz said.

Cyclists on the popular Oak Leaf Trail, which runs along the edge of Estabrook Park, already have discovered the beer garden in the wooded 50-acre park that hugs the Milwaukee River between E. Hampton Ave. and E. Capitol Drive, straddling Shorewood, Milwaukee and Glendale.

Justin Nichols celebrated his 30th birthday over the weekend at the beer garden - a new favorite summer hangout. Not only does the garden have the trees and bike trail going for it, but a picturesque waterfall also is just a few feet away.

"I've done a lot of backpacking in Europe, including Germany, where every park has a biergarten along a hedgerow," Nichols said as he hoisted a half-liter glass stein of Hofbräu with a dozen friends.

Nichols soon will celebrate another milestone, when his pregnant wife, Stephanie, delivers the Glendale couple's first child.

"This beer garden is very authentic," said the father-to-be. "I'd rather be here than anywhere else. It has a nice community feel."

"I don't have to struggle through my order in English," said Jason Coterel, who has visited several biergartens in Munich. He biked north from downtown with girlfriend Danielle Zirkel to help Nichols celebrate.

Next time, Coterel said, he'll bring a Frisbee for the park's disc golf course.

Brian Perz and Kelly Drabowicz brought their wiener dog named Links.

"It's a very nice afternoon to bring a German dog to a beer garden," Perz said.

Weather permitting, the beer garden will be open seven days a week, noon to 9 p.m., from Memorial Day through the end of September, then weekends only through Nov. 24, Schultz said.

Weisgerber celebrated the first day of summer last year by setting up a one-day beer garden at Pere Marquette Park.

At the time, he summed up the beer garden experience like this:

"Beer gardens offer an opportunity for people from all walks of life to relax and enjoy a beer in a beautiful park setting with friends and family."