UPDATE: Due to the closing of all bars and eat-in restaurants, to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, PetSkull Brewing is currently taking online orders for “Curbside Crowlers to Go!”. Visit their online store petskull.myshopify.com. Hours: Thursdays from 4 – 6, Fridays from 4 – 6, or Saturdays from 11 – 1.
For nearly 3 years, Paul and Kathi Hoffman have been serving up some of the most unique and interesting beers to the city of Manitowoc out of their small taproom at 220 North 9th Street.
SeehaferNews.com sat down with the owners of PetSkull Brewing, and they told us how they got started. Paul explained that he had been homebrewing for over a decade prior to opening, and the couple would travel to different cities and find other craft breweries. Paul recalled coming back one day and saying to Kathi, “I can’t believe Manitowoc, a city of 30,000 people, doesn’t have a taproom.” And finally, after a couple of years of thinking about it, they decided to take the leap.
For a while, the Hoffman’s searched for a location to begin this new exciting venture, and eventually struck gold. They found the location they currently operate out of and Paul said, “Terry Welnicke, our landlord is a fantastic guy, bent over backward to make sure we could get started here, and lo and behold, I go from home brewer to commercial brewery owner, and we opened in August of 2017.”
While owning a brewery is a huge undertaking, Paul still has a fulltime job, where he teaches IT at Lakeshore Technical College, a job he loves with a passion. He has been doing that job for nearly two decades, after graduating from college. “I’m very fortunate. There are a lot of people that would love to do what I do there.”
His experience in IT has made the digital marketing aspect of owning PetSkull much easier for Paul, but also his connections at LTC helped as well. He purchased some large stainless-steel pots on eBay, gave them to the welding students, and had them transform them into brewing tanks. He also utilized the graphic design student’s talents to create his now-iconic logo. He says he hopes those students are proud of their work and point it out to their friends and family.
Despite the love he has for his teaching job, he felt he had to try his hand at brewing because “If I die not doing it, I’ll never know if I could’ve.”
The Pet Skull
The name “PetSkull” is not just a name that came to the Hoffman’s one day. As a matter of fact, the story begins 25 years ago when he used to visit his friend Joe in Milwaukee. “On his coffee table he had this goat skull, the only decoration he had in his entire place,” Paul explained. “One of my friends said to him, I will never forget this because it was so funny (probably because I had a few beers). He said ‘Joe, is that your pet skull?’ I just cracked up…I’m gonna use that someday for something.”
When Paul began home brewing he started using the PetSkull name, and when Joe came to visit from Houston Texas, they relived the story of the pet skull. A few weeks later a package arrived at Paul’s door, and inside was the pet skull, which is proudly hung behind the bar for all to see.
On top of being a unique name with a great story, Kathi explained that it goes along well with how other micro-breweries are named as they tend to use edgy names as well. “We wanted to be remembered. Paul, as anyone can probably tell you, is not someone you are gonna forget. I don’t think anyone knows who I am, but everyone knows who he is, and that works for him because that’s his personality.”
At PetSkull they have a policy called B-Y-O-F. or bring your own food. This allows people to bring in food from the many locally-owned restaurants nearby including Ryan’s on York, Pizza Garden, and even Shooter Malone’s, which is another aspect of his business that he loves. “I love the fact that we can promote great restaurants and bars in the area…and be a partner,” Paul stated. “I never saw us as competition down here…We are complementary to all the businesses down here.”
Not only does PetSkull Brewing support local restaurants, but they also support one of the biggest companies in the city, Briess Malting. Kathi told us “We are really proud of the fact that..not only is our beer made here, it is made with products that are also made here.”
PetSkull Brewing is open from 4:00-9:00 PM on Thursdays and Fridays, from 3:00-9:00 PM on Saturday, and recently began opening on Sundays from Noon-5:00 PM. They have 10 beers on tap every single day which range from the simple signature beer the Schnitzky, to their more off-the-wall creations like their Northside Chocolate Oatmeal Porter.
