Flipping Pencils

Milwaukee's Best New Brew Pub is Maschine

By Dan Lorentz 

MILWAUKEE  (IP) – It's a sunny Friday afternoon in September. Johan Macht, wearing a stained apron, is outside buffing chrome with a bar towel.

He steps back. Squints. One last rub.

Now, he can see his mustache on the gleaming surface.

Macht smiles, and in the once grimy and fetid industrial heart of this racially riven Rust Belt city, every part of his new brew pub—Maschine—shines. 

And it's not just the chrome-clad exterior that shines.  Inside, the mechanical décor glistens. The fare, a German cuisine melded with Soul Food and Latino flavors makes stomachs and cheeks glow with satisfaction. The beers are glorious triumphs.

And the atmosphere—well, how to put it? Maschine radiates genuine multiracial Gemütlichkeit. You'll find out what that means, but first let's follow Macht inside.

Writers: Tape This Advice to Your Forehead

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
By Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Random House, 2007

Actions that are both simple and memorable—like accidentally firing a bottle rocket into your neighbor's open bedroom window and igniting their baby's crib on the Fourth of July—are comparatively easy to put into simple and memorable words. Writing about something complicated that involves abstract concepts, however, is another story.