USA, WI: Pals Brewing Company plans to open a location in Wisconsin

A Nebraska-based brewery plans to open a location in Wisconsin at the end of 2024 as part of a joint venture, the Lincoln Journal Star reported on January 7.

Pals Brewing Company, which is located in North Platte, is opening an indoor-outdoor facility on the west side of Wisconsin Dells in a partnership with the Kaminski family, which owns Chula Vista Resort. The future brewpub and family restaurant, which will also be called Pals Brewing Company, is set to have seating for more than 500 people between its indoor and outdoor facilities, and will serve a wide array of foods, deliver pizza and feature a large assortment of beers and related drinks, nearly all of which are company brews

“It literally is like your friend,” said Pete Oettinger, a co-owner of Pals. “The tagline is ‘Come as strangers, leave as pals.’”

Mike Kaminski and his family, along with the Oettinger family, which owns Pals, teamed up to begin the venture roughly three years ago. The Wisconsin Dells Common Council approved plans for the family restaurant, which is slated to open in December 2024, and will feature three bar areas, roughly 20 beer taps, a dog-friendly outdoor area, and a live entertainment stage. A large indoor dining area will be available for private gathering reservations and additional guests.

Pals Brewing Company will be open year-round. Despite the bar space, Kaminski emphasized that Pals will be a brewpub and family restaurant. The facility will be built on a land plot owned by Kaminski, which currently has an abandoned former Travel Mart gas station that will be expanded as part of the brewpub project.

The entire outdoor area will be between 6,000 and 7,000 square feet, and the entire facility will be considerably larger than the North Platte brewpub, Pete Oettinger said.

“About three years ago, Pete (Oettinger) said, ‘Come on, I want to take you out to North Platte,’” Kaminski said. “I told Pete that I had this piece of property down next to the AmericInn on Exit 87, and over the course of a year or two, we got the group interested and thought it might be kind of fun to build a second (Pals Brewing Company location). The stars kind of aligned, and the Dells became the second opportunity.”

Paul Oettinger is the family’s brewmaster, Pete said, and began the Pals trademark along with concocting the beer recipes. The upcoming Wisconsin Dells location may feature one different beer each month from another area brewery, which Pete said is a way of supporting local breweries. Rebecca Oettinger said Pals also works with other breweries to get ciders and other gluten-free beer products. Pals also sells beer growler cans to go in North Platte and plans to continue that in Wisconsin Dells, Kaminski said.

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