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Chicago Beer Tasting this Friday at Western Exhibitions 5-8PM 
Please join Brenner Brewing Co. this Friday from 5-8pm, at my favorite art gallery in Chicago, Western Exhibitions, 119 N Peoria St #2a,
Chicago, IL. Gallery owner, Scott Speh, has always had a tie to Milwaukee and its artists, now we are working out a tie to the city's beer. The show opening Friday features the works of:David Leggett's new mixed-media paintings wrestle with complicated feelings towards his two obsessions, painting and hip-hop, as he confronts race, sexuality, fame and class in humorous and ambiguous situations. Melissa Steckbauer's new photo-based collages are the visual remainder following a personal study in communication and intimate contact, a deviation from the overt sexuality seen in her paintings. Weaved, fringed, puckered, and diced Steckbauer diffuses the status and familiarity of her pictures by manipulating them with naive decoration. Pictures become images and objects; they leave the scope of family albums and are updated within a loose semiotics. What Brenner Brewing Has Been Up To Lately 
As many of you know, I returned from Munich, Master Brewer Diploma in hand, at the beginning of August. Since then, I've been totally preoccupied with rewriting my business plan. I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours building incredibly detailed financial projections, production schedule scenarios, calculating monthly diesel fuel costs based on optimized delivery routes, and an insane excel spreadsheet that can predict labor, packaging, and raw material costs out for five years related to annual sales goals. I guess my MBA is finally starting to be good for something.Now that everything is tightened up, I've entered my business plan into a couple competitions. One is for all current and former students at UWM. The other is the Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest. I'm hoping they lead to some great networking opportunities and more importantly, cash prizes. I was also accepted into the Merlin Mentors program in Madison this month. Merlin is set up to put together emerging entrepreneurs with a "corp of volunteers who have masterfully started and managed new ventures." The idea is that these ultra experienced and successful business owners help you launch, sustain, and grow your business. It's an incredible program. Their help has already been invaluable. The past few weeks, I've finally begun meeting with potential investors, and my excitement is hard to contain. Everyone I meet with is so excited about Brenner Brewing, and the people interested in investing are really great people who really GET what I'm trying to accomplish. A lot of people have been asking how they can help, and whether or not I'll be doing a Kickstarter campaign or offering some sort of "stock." Right now I'm considering a quick and dirty Kickstarter campaign to pre-sell some Brenner Brewing merch like pint glasses, hats, t-shirts, and bottle openers. I'm waiting for quotes back from a few companies, but I'll let you all know as soon as I pull it together. Other than that... there is still a long road ahead before this dream becomes a reality. I have a lot of money to raise, and then months of prep work. I can't tell you all how much I truly appreciate your moral support. I look forward to pouring you all a Brenner Beer soon. 
Waxwing Gallery's Grand Opening MAR16Brenner Brewing will also be serving beer at the grand opening of The Waxwing on March 16 from 6-9PM. The Waxwing is a storefront gallery opening up on Oakland Ave in Shorewood. Artist/Owner, Steph Davies, is hoping to provide a space for artists to sell & display their work and to provide the community with a place to shop locally and find unique one of a kind products made by artists in their town. This work includes paintings, prints, jewelry, pottery, fashion accessories and much more. Work is sold on consignment & artists set their own prices to insure that they're paid fairly for their work. The Waxwing will also be hosting workshops and all ages figure drawing in an effort to feed more creativity into the community.
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