Kathy Bailey
Madison Craft Beer Week -- always too large to be contained in a single week -- has now also outgrown its founders. To that end, Isthmus has acquired and will coordinate the annual spring festival.
“We started Madison Craft Beer Week as a hobby and now it’s grown beyond the support we can provide,” says co-founder Robyn Klinge, who works full time as a software consultant in healthcare.
Madison Craft Beer Week has featured more than 400 separate events that include special beer tappings, food pairings and dinners, educational programs and brewer appearances. Isthmus will now coordinate participating businesses, publicity and marketing, and produce a centralized listing of activities.
“This fits well with our expanded coverage of food and drink in our paper and on our website,” says Isthmus co-owner Craig Bartlett. “We’ve stepped up more in the beer world and this is a natural fit,” adds co-owner Jeff Haupt.
Madison Craft Beer Week will create a trifecta, of sorts, of Isthmus-run special beer-related events. The seventh annual Isthmus Beer and Cheese Fest will take place January 16. This coming weekend, Isthmus will launch its OktoBEERfest (an expansion of last year’s inaugural “Wurst Oktoberfest”), which brings local brewers with their seasonal brews, along with cheese, sausage and food carts, to Madison’s Central Park.
Madison Craft Beer Week began in 2010. In addition to Klinge, co-founders include Jeff Glazer, an attorney and beer enthusiast; and Bill Rogers, owner of the Malt House.
Klinge and Glazer approached Isthmus, which has been a media sponsor of the event from the beginning, to take over the festival. They felt it had become more than what they could manage while also holding down full-time jobs. “In order for it to continue to grow, it needs additional support beyond what Jeff and I can provide,” says Klinge, who is also founder of the local group Females Enjoying Microbrews. “We think Isthmus is the best steward for that.”
Klinge also cites Isthmus’ long-standing commitment to local food and music, a benefit when reaching out to venues as Madison Craft Beer Week continues to expand. Klinge emailed a letter today to former vendor participants to share the news with them personally.
Bartlett says he’ll be doing a lot of listening to craft beer week fans about how to grow the event: “We intend to talk to a lot of people about why they love Madison Craft Beer Week and what is important to them, and to stay true to those things.”
Bartlett and Haupt say not to expect major changes in 2016 for the sixth annual Madison Craft Beer Week. The date is not yet set, but will likely remain in early May, and run over a 10-day time frame. “We want to keep it about the beer and the people who are in the industry,” says Haupt. “We want to help it grow.”