GRAFTON — A small but mighty taproom is giving Ozaukee County residents plenty to yell, “Cheers!” about.
Sahale Ale Works in Grafton celebrates five years of business this month, a triumphant milestone that owner Matt Hofmann credits his loyal patrons for making possible.
“We are a gathering place for our community,” Hofmann said. “Providing a place where people can do that and have a good time and enrich their lives, beer is always a conduit for a nice thing.”
Sahale will host an anniversary party across two days, Saturday and Sunday, featuring live music from local bands Wonderful Bluffer, Tangled Lines, Brewtown Brewgrass and bluegrass duo Luke and JB. Food trucks will also be present with Fridas Cocina MKE, Greek Street Eats and Rose Mob Grill.
On Sunday from noon to 3 p.m., attendees can earn raffle tickets for prizes including beer for a year and a yearlong membership in Sahale’s sought after Social Club, which is their version of a mug club.
It’s been an adventure to get all the logistics in order, but Hofmann is eager for the festivities to begin.
“All the pieces are pretty much in place,” he said. “The big thing on my end is to just make sure our anniversary beer is ready to go. It’s a wild ale that I’ve aged in kegs for several months to force some funky flavors from the yeast I use. On top of that I’ve got the five collab beers that need to get done by then. Barring any crazy disaster, we’ve got things pretty well set for that.”
The five aforementioned collaboration beers are with breweries that have been significant to Hofmann’s crew: Lakefront Brewery, where Hofmann began his professional brewing career; 3 Sheeps, where he first held the position of Head Brewer; Working Draftfir, the first brewery Sahale Ale Works made a collaboration beer with; Pabst Brewing Co., the makers of Hofmann’s favorite beer; and an Ozaukee County Collab with all six breweries in the county.
Sahale offers a dozen beers on tap, eight of which are consistently rotated to keep the menu fresh. The four mainstays are its golden ale, amber ale, American stout, and hazy IPA, which has safely been its best-selling brew.
Hofmann also crafted the wine-inspired Graped Crusader, which provides a gentle entry point for wine lovers who may not feel as strongly about beer. Hofmann knows innovation is crucial to keep his thirsty customers satisfied.
“I like exploring new flavors and having the challenge of coming up with a new idea,” he said. “It’s about making sure we have something on tap for everyone. I try to be pretty careful about what I curate. The market always wants something new and in different varieties.”
Hofmann makes everything himself from start to finish. He of course has plenty of help in the taproom with two full-time managers on staff, plus up to 10 part-timers who lend a hand behind the bar who all combine to create a relaxing and welcoming atmosphere.
“We have a really great staff,” Hofmann said. “We hear all the time how awesome our customer service is. That’s always been a big emphasis of mine. You can have the best beer in the world, but if you have crappy customer service, no one is coming back.”
Hofmann, a home brewer turned business owner, was on the path to attend graduate school to become a dietitian. After deciding it wasn’t the future he imagined, friends urged him to convert his home brewing hobby into a career. Internships and other helpful positions with multiple breweries eventually led Hofmann to pursue what is now Sahale.
“It was always in the back of my mind to try doing my own thing,” Hofmann said. “You would like to have a place where you can implement some of your own ideas. After several fits and starts trying to get a business plan together, we finally got enough capital to get it off the ground.”
Hofmann and his wife are the sole investors in Sahale. The 2,750 square feet they own may be small in the brewing world, but it is just enough to accomplish what they set out to do in 2019.
“There are certainly some challenges with our space, but we make it work,” Hofmann said. “I’ve worked for a number of big breweries, and sometimes bigger setups means bigger problems. The goal is to always keep it small. We’ve toyed with distribution to see how that would go, and that just isn’t something we were looking for. The work wasn’t really worth the payoff, so we went back to our original vision of going back to the taproom and giving the customer a good experience.”
One of Sahale’s pillars has centered around its community engagement. Hofmann is always seeking ways to collaborate and give back to local organizations.
In June, Sahale hosted a fundraiser for Grafton Education Foundation. It also recently held its annual fundraiser for Family Sharing, who gives Sahale bread it can no longer offer to their clientele and then make a beer with it. Sahale donates $1 per beer back to Family Sharing, one of numerous similar efforts Hofmann is proud to sponsor.
“We do a lot of work with nonprofits and try to create as much of a symbiotic relationship as we can,” he said “One of our founding missions was to be a good community business citizen and give back as much as we can despite our limited size and resources.”
Stop by Sahale Ale Works for its fifth anniversary celebration on Saturday, July 20 from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, July 21 from noon to 7 p.m. The taproom is located at 1505 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 170 in Grafton.