THU AM News: On Tap at the Brewhouse Inn & Suites hosting private RNC delegate parties this week; State GOP leadership urging delegates, others to visit local businesses outside security zone

July 18, 2024

— On Tap at the Brewhouse Inn & Suites is hosting multiple private parties this week for state delegations to the Republican National Convention, featuring custom cheese carvings of Donald Trump as well as the party’s elephant mascot.

Located in the original Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewery building near Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee, the Brewhouse Inn & Suites calls itself the only “historic brewery hotel” in the city. Both the hotel and the in-house bar, called On Tap, are owned and operated by Gorman & Company of Oregon, Wis.

While the hotel isn’t hosting any of the delegations overnight, it is at full capacity for the four-day convention this week, which has drawn tens of thousands of visitors from across the country to Wisconsin’s largest city.

Tara Wurtz, area director of sales and marketing for the businesses, yesterday told WisBusiness.com the Illinois delegation had booked the space from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. the previous night. On Tap offered attendees a charcuterie board with local and artisanal cheeses, cured meats and a bust of Trump carved out of cheese by an unnamed artist.

The stylized image of Trump’s profile was set against the state of Illinois, with the words “RNC 2024” in large block letters below adorned with white and orange cheese stars. The display also incorporated popcorn, the official snack food of Illinois, Wurtz noted.

“Illinois didn’t play it safe; they had fun with it,” she said, adding she suggested using Trump’s face for the cheese carving. “I don’t believe in doing ice sculptures, because they melt. Whereas cheese carving, it’s very indicative of what the Brewhouse stands for. It’s very much Wisconsin.”

She said she works with a private artist who creates the custom cheese sculptures for special events, but declined to share her name.

“It is something that I can say is exclusive to the Brewhouse Inn & Suites … It turned out amazing,” she said. “We did let Illinois take it home with them last night … She nailed it. She absolutely nailed it.”

The bar is hosting another private gathering today for the Minnesota GOP delegation, rolling out another cheese carving depicting an elephant standing in front of an image of Minnesota. Wurtz said she suggested the Trump image for that party as well, but the group went with the elephant instead.

“At the end of the day, we found a way to kind of bring it home, in terms of the full, authentic Wisconsin experience,” she said. “When you’re looking for those unique experiences, and the takeaways that these 50,000 visitors plus the international press are seeing, these takeaways are not something that can be replicated when they go back.”

She added: “That’s what makes Milwaukee very special, especially on the food scene.”

See more about the business and find more RNC stories at the WisPolitics Convention Corridor.

— State GOP leadership is urging delegation members and others to visit restaurants, bars and stores outside the Republican National Convention security zone, former Gov. Scott Walker told a WisPolitics event.

Speaking Tuesday at a luncheon at the Marquette University Law School, Walker referenced the Democratic National Convention, which had a minimal impact in the city due to going virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The one thing I did tell vendors before the DNC … I told all the restaurants and bars and other places like that — it’s all about catering,” he said. “So you’ll occasionally hear this week, as I’ve heard at every other convention … you’ll hear some grumbling from local restaurants or vendors who say, ‘Well I don’t have all the business.’”

He noted since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, convention activities have taken place within highly secure zones that separate them from some local shops and restaurants. As an example, Walker pointed to Major Goolsby’s, a sports bar and grill located just outside of the secure perimeter.

“I’m worried about them, because they’re not in the secure zone,” he said. “If they were in the secure zone, that place would be packed because there’s Convention Fest, there’s delegates walking around.”

He said Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Brian Schimming highlighted this issue at a Tuesday breakfast, and encouraged attendees to spend their money outside of the security zone to benefit more local businesses.

“The bigger benefit is to not only the city, but to the region … The number one thing I’ve found when conferences came to this community, was most people didn’t have a negative impression of Milwaukee, they just didn’t have one,” he said. “So having a convention … is just so remarkably important for this region.”

See more event coverage at WisPolitics.

— Generac has been selected for an up to $200 million grant by the U.S. Department of Energy to install residential solar and battery systems in Puerto Rico to fortify the territory’s energy resources.

The Waukesha-based manufacturer of energy technologies yesterday announced the five-year grant award from the $1 billion Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund. The company says it will work with local partner companies on the island to help support energy access in low-income areas that often experience power outages, as well as for households with energy-dependent disabilities.

“We’ve been providing reliable backup power solutions to the people of Puerto Rico for more than 20 years, including after Hurricane Maria devastated the island’s power grid and left 95% of residents without electricity,” said Aaron Jagdfeld, president and CEO at Generac.

Norm Taffe, president of energy technology at Generac, says working with local partners helps create jobs in the area.

“This collaboration helps ensure that we can deliver high-quality, resilient power solutions while uplifting the local workforce and economy,” Taffe said.

See the release.

— Officials at the Port of Green Bay report “steady volumes” moving through the port in the first three months of this year’s shipping season.

A total of 214,467 tons of cargo moved through the port in June, following May’s total of 213,888 tons and March and April’s combined total of 204,659 tons. On a year-to-date basis, tonnage has declined about 5% from last year’s total, 668,383 to 633,014 tons.

“While we can’t predict what the rest of the season will look like, last year’s mild winter may have an impact this year on our final salt tonnage and overall numbers,” Dean Haen, Port of Green Bay director, said in a statement. “We expect tonnage for other commodities to remain relatively consistent.”

A total of 62 vessels have entered the port so far this year, compared to 59 at this point last year. Top commodities being shipped include salt, petroleum products, limestone, cement and coal.

See the shipping totals here and listen to an earlier podcast with Haen.

— Dem Attorney General Josh Kaul and the Evers administration are seeking to intervene in a lawsuit Planned Parenthood filed with the state Supreme Court arguing the Wisconsin Constitution grants the right to an abortion.

Kaul, the Department of Safety and Professional Services and the Wisconsin Medical Examining Board are already involved in a separate suit the Supreme Court has agreed to hear that seeks to strike down an 1849 law that had been interpreted as a ban on abortion except to save the life of the mother.

The court earlier this month agreed to hear both cases. Kaul argued in his motion the two are so closely related that the justices should grant the request to approve the AG and the agencies are intervenors. That would allow them to be included in oral arguments before the court.

“Put simply, Kaul asks whether Wisconsin ‘does’ have a near-total abortion ban (the answer is no), and Planned Parenthood asks whether Wisconsin ‘could’ have a near-total abortion ban (the answer is no),” the AG argued.

Top headlines from the Health Care Report…

— UW-Madison has named Dr. Muhammed Murtaza as the next director of the Center for Human Genomics and Precision Medicine within the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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