MILWAUKEE – Pilot Project Brewing, in conjunction with Milwaukee Athletics, is set to introduce a new Panther beer this week.

The "Panther Pale Ale", an American pale ale beer, will make its first appearance this Wednesday to celebrate a multi-part collaboration in time for the holiday season.
 
An officially licensed product, the beer was developed in partnership between Pilot Project Brewing, Craft Beverage Warehouse, Milwaukee Athletics, the UWM Peck School of the Arts, and CLC, the University's trademark licensing company. It will make its debut and be available to the public for the first time at UWM Panther Arena for the men's basketball contest against Longwood on December 13.
 
Director of Athletics Amanda Braun and General Manager for Milwaukee Panther Sports Properties Deb Logan helped move the process along so that the concept was brought to fruition, through the work that current Panther Athletics staff members and University leadership put into this concept to make it a reality.
 
"Milwaukee Athletics is pleased to support this cross-campus collaboration, highlighted by a unique opportunity for UWM students to obtain real-world experience, further enhancing the classroom instruction," Braun said. "This project's success is the result of the work by many including proud Panther alumni and our partners within the business community. We are excited to showcase the Milwaukee Panthers' brand throughout greater-Milwaukee."
 
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the beer will be directed to student scholarships and other student-centered programming at UWM.
 
"Hands-on learning is what we do best at the Peck School of the Arts," Kevin Hartman, Head of School for Peck School of the Arts said. "This collaboration highlights our dedication to providing occasions for our students to engage with the creative community and industry partners. Working with Pilot Project Brewing, Craft Beverage Warehouse, and Milwaukee Athletics gave our students an opportunity to apply their skills to a real-world project, reinforcing the Peck School's role as a key contributor to the cultural landscape of Milwaukee. We're excited about the final product, we're very proud of Gisselle, and we are thrilled that the project will support student scholarships."
 
Gisselle Dominguez, a senior from Waukesha, Wis., and a Design and Visual Communications major at UWM, created the artwork that was selected to appear on the product. Her winning design was one of numerous submissions made by UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts students that worked its way through the approval process.
 
"Designing the UWM Panther Pale Ale can allowed me to express the vision of UWM's thriving community," Dominguez said. "This piece is more than a design; it's a tribute to the vibrant energy that UWM possesses, which has been a significant source of inspiration in my creative journey. It's a celebration, intended to resonate with the diverse and dynamic spirit of UWM. Not only the school, but Milwaukee overall - the city that has fueled my creativity and given me so much opportunity. I am proud to be a UWM Panther."
 
The product will be available at Pilot Project, Panther Arena, and in participating bars, restaurants, and liquor stores across the area. Any retailers interested in carrying Panther Pale should reach out to Sales@PilotProjectBrewing.com.
 
"As a brewery incubator lowering the barriers to entry in an extremely difficult industry, we have always been interested in partnering with a university," Pilot Project Co-Founder and CEO Dan Abel said. "We share a mutual goal of investing in the future and creating opportunities for classes of creative people that may not otherwise exist. As neighbors, partnering with UW-Milwaukee was a no-brainer. Not only do we get to make and design a great beer together, we get to celebrate with the university and alumni surrounding us!"
 
Craft Beverage Warehouse is printing the cans and packaging for the product, one with a design that came directly from students at the UWM Peck School of the Arts, while CLC was involved with officially licensing the product and signing the agreement with Pilot to allow for the brand on the beer.
 
"Craft Beverage Warehouse is excited to be a part of the Panther Pale Ale project," CBW President and Co-Founder Kyle Stephens said. "One of the core tenets of our business is community involvement -- and what better way to be involved than with one of the most impactful educational institutions in the state! We work in a fun business and it's a blast to share our experience and industry opportunities with such talented students. The collaboration among CBW, Pilot Project, UWM Athletics, and the Peck School of the Arts has created a product to bring Panther Nation together. Go Panthers!"
 
Stephens, a UWM graduate, is thrilled to be a part of the collaboration.
 
"As a Lubar College of Business alumni, I've had the opportunity to engage with the university post-graduation in many different ways," he said. "The Panther Pale Ale collaboration is much different than other activities, bringing together my day-to-day business, a current customer (Pilot Project), and UWM administrators and students. It's been fun to get into the classroom and share my livelihood and potential career opportunities with design students ... and on such a fun beverage product. Cheers to the new Panther Pale Ale!"
 
Pilot Project Brewing is a brewery incubator & restaurant located in the Brewery District of Milwaukee, Wis., Pilot Project was launched as a collaborative and artistically curious space to help support talented brewers in an industry with exceptionally high barriers. Modeled after the music industry, Pilot serves as a launch pad for start-up breweries, offering assistance with recipe R&D, production scaling, marketing, distribution and more. 

UPDATE
Panther Pale Ale is now available at the following locations (as of 12/19/23):
-Pilot Project Brewing
-UWM Panther Arena
-UWM Student Union (Gasthaus)
-Discount Liquor
-Go Grocer
-Downer Wine
-Champions Pub
-Tracks
-Parkside Liquor
 
For More Information, Contact:
Chris Zills                                                    Oliver Johnson
Milwaukee Athletics                                    UWM Marketing & Comms Lead
czills@uwm.edu                                          johnsooj@uwm.edu