About
Gathering Place Brewing Company presents Lager & Friends: an invitational beer festival highlighting lager focused breweries. First started in 2019, the festival features some of the best lager brewers all around the country - not just Wisconsin. Celebrating the men and women whose passion, skill, and technique go into creating these well crafted brews.
7th Annual Lager & Friends - 2025
This is Lager & Friends as we always imagined it: a bright, sunny day at our Riverwest brewery with good friends! It was the largest festival yet with beer from 30 breweries. We also welcomed international friends with some excellent lagers from Germany and Austria.
6th Annual Lager & Friends - 2024
A change in state law finally allowed us to bring the festival home to Gathering Place’s Riverwest brewery and taproom. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate, but that didn’t stop the die hard lager lovers who turned out! We quickly set up 18 breweries inside and the festival was under way. A little rain doesn’t matter when you have a lager in hand!
5th Annual Lager & Friends - 2023
Lager & Friends returned to the Heidelberg Park festival grounds at The Bavarian Bierhaus. We had 26 breweries from around the Midwest pouring some gorgeous lagers to match the beautiful weather. It was the largest attended Lager & Friends to date!
4th Annual Lager & Friends - 2022
The in-person festival returned with 30 breweries at a great new venue: The Bavarian Bierhaus.
3rd Annual Lager & Friends - 2021
We stayed virtual in 2021 and had really awesome conversations about lager featuring brewers from Oregon and Connecticut as well as a German brewing professor from Weihenstephaner and an American beer author living in Prague.
2nd Annual Lager & Friends - 2020
The in-person festival was canceled due to Covid, but we made the best of it with a pretty awesome virtual festival featuring interviews with brewers and a virtual brewery tour!
1st Annual Lager & Friends - 2019
Our first ever Lager & Friends Beer Festival was held at Turner Hall Ballroom and featured 20 breweries from across the country.
