Beer Garden Makes a Splash at Hoyt Park

After one of the colder summer mornings on record, nature seemed to bless the opening of Wauwatosa's new beer garden, The Landing at Hoyt Park.

Overcast skies parted shortly after the 3 p.m. opening, and warm sunshine bathed the new plaza in front of the Tosa Pool bath house. By 5 p.m. the beer garden was near its 280-person seating capacity.

"I was just really impressed by how many people came out, a lot of them on bikes," said Mary Pluta, communications director for Tosa Pool and The Landing. "We had a nice variety of people of all ages, and it was a beautiful day."

Pluta said the favorite brew on the first day of operations was, not too surprisingly, the German Hacker-Pschorr Hefe Weisse.

Many customers brought their own prized beer steins, either for sentimental and celebratory reasons or to bypass having to pay a deposit on glassware provided by The Landing.

Dave Jaekels proudly hoisted a ceramic stein with a lot of meaning for him and the day.

"This is a genuine Hofbrauhaus stein I picked up in Munich in 1979," Jaekels said. "So that's kind of special to be able to fill it here at a genuine beer garden."

One problem was dealt with swiftly. A woman went away unhappy when, finished with her beer and her visit, she went to the counter for a return on her glass deposit and was told she'd have to go to the back of a long line of people waiting for drinks.

Pluta said that Landing staff quickly set up a separate table, front and center, for glass returns.

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