SPJ Madison, Next Door Brewing collaborate on American wheat beer to honor the First Amendment, open government and Wisconsin journalism

MADISON – The Madison chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and Next Door Brewing invite journalists and advocates of open government to celebrate Sunshine Week with the tapping of Sunshine Wheat, an American wheat beer featuring local hops and malts, on Monday, March 16.

The celebration takes place from 6-9 p.m. at Next Door Brewing, 2439 Atwood Avenue, Madison. The first 50 attendees will receive a souvenir beer glass thanks to the generous lead sponsorship of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. WKOW-TV, the Wisconsin State Journal, Schott, Bublitz and Engel, and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism are supporting sponsors. Two tickets to upcoming Isthmus events – Isthmus Food Cart Fest, Paddle & Portage, Beer & Cheese Fest — will be awarded in a drawing, courtesy of Isthmus. With Gusto is making a poster for the event, prints of which will be available for $15 each.

Next Door head brewer Bryan Kreiter will speak about creating the beer and his use of local ingredients at 7 p.m. He will be followed with remarks by WNA executive director Beth Bennett about Sunshine Week.

Invited special guests include Wisconsin food and beer writers Chris “Beer Baron” Drosner, Robin Shepard, Laurel White, Linda Falkenstein, Barry Adams, Kathy Flanigan and George Zens.

March 16 is the 264^th anniversary of the birth of James Madison, father of the First Amendment and the man for whom the City of Madison is named. Sunshine Week, a national event in support of open government, runs March 15-21.

The event is free, and all area journalists are welcome to attend. There will be a cash bar; appetizers will be provided. RSVPs are appreciated to [email protected].

Based in Indianapolis, SPJ is a national membership organization that promotes high professional and ethical standards among journalists, First Amendment principles and the belief that a free and vigorous press is vital in a representative democracy. The Madison professional chapter was formed around 1990. Membership costs $75 annually, and it is open to journalists who spend at least half of their professional life writing or editing work for publication.

Contact: Mark Pitsch, [email protected]; 608-252-6145

Robin Shepard shared his knowledge of local brewing history on a walking tour in downtown Madison.

Robin Shepard obsessed about beer, then started to write about it.

Chris Drosner kind of fell into it.

The two Madison-based beer columnists described how they started their work at a beer-tasting event sponsored by the Madison pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The beer-tasting took place at the Great Dane restaurant and was led by Great Dane head brewer Eric Brusewitz. It was preceeded by a walking tour of downtown Madison led by Shepard, who shared details of Madison’s brewing history.

Shepard, a UW-Madison Associate Professor of Life Sciences Communication and Cooperative Extension natural resource specialist, is also a contributing beer columnist to the Madison weekly Isthmus. Shepard said beer became his hobby before he ever started writing about it. Enjoying it led to researching how to make it, which led to learning more of the history of it. After years of study, and after listening to friends urge him to write, Shepard began writing about breweries in Wisconsin. One book led to another, as well as freelance writing at Isthmus. He also speaks frequently on beer and the history of beer.

Drosner, an assistant city editor at the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison and the paper’s “Beer Baron,” said he was the nightlife reporter at the Green Bay Press-Gazette when that paper’s anonymous beer writer chose to retire. Drosner was chosen as the replacement, but had to write in the anonymous columnist’s voice. He continued the column on a sporadic basis even while working at the State Journal. Then a State Journal editor asked him to write his own, bylined column for the Madison paper, and the Beer Baron was born.