Dave Kuske Memorial Fund & Collaboration Stout

In November of 2020, the Proximity Malt team lost a good friend and a very special colleague when Dave Kuske passed away following a short battle with cancer. Dave was a thirty-year veteran of the global brewing industry, who took great pride in being a Wisconsinite. He was born in Green Bay on October 4^th, 1962 and deceased on November 19, 2020 in Waukesha.

Dave graduated from Washington Park High School “Class of 1980” and went on to earn a bachelor’s of science from the University of Wisconsin Parkside. In 1989, he married the love of his life, Terry R. Olson. Dave was a Wisconsin sports fan who loved the Packers and Badgers. He enjoyed golf, darts, playing the guitar and anything beer or grain spirits.

Dave was employed by Briess Malt & Ingredients Co. for 19 years as Director of Operations. He joined Proximity Malt as Vice President of Operations and Malting in 2017. His contributions to sensory and flavor development in malt products were considerable over his long career, and his commitment to quality from our company’s inception put Proximity Malt on its successful path as a reliable, full-portfolio supplier of brewing and distilling grains, from base to black.

The Dave Kuske Memorial Fund

To honor Dave’s career and contributions he made to the malting industry over three decades, Proximity has launched a Collaboration Brew Memorial Project – and we are inviting brewers and breweries with whom he worked closely, to participate.

Steve Dresler, retired Brewmaster at Sierra Nevada Brewing designed a very malty Stout beer for brewers to brew in Dave’s memory.  Proceeds from the collaboration brews will be given to the Dave Kuske Memorial Fund (DKMF). The fund will benefit Virginia Tech’s Winter Barley Breeding Program. This was an endeavor which Dave was deeply involved in and committed to in recent years in particular. The American Malting Barley Association (AMBA) will administer the Fund.

You, and/or your brewery can participate in two ways:

1) Collaboration Brew – Dave Kuske Memorial Stout: We invite you to brew this stout (recipe below), designed by our friend and colleague Steve Dresler. Proximity Malt will donate 10% of the cost of malts purchased and used for this purpose to the DKMF. We ask that you also donate proceeds from this beer to the Fund through March 31, 2022.

2) Simple Donation: We invite you to make a one-time donation to the DKMF, in your or your brewery’s name.

How to donate:

Please make checks for your donation out to AMBA – The Dave Kuske Memorial Fund, and send it to attention of Amy Germershausen, Proximity Malt (644 S 5th St. Milwaukee, WI 53204). Proximity Malt will:

• Publicly announce the Dave Kuske Memorial Fund at the December, 2021 AMBA meeting
• Collect donations through March 31st, 2022
• Publicly announce the fund proceeds to AMBA, for disbursement as a one time grant to Virginia Tech for its Winter Barley Breeding Program at the June 2022 AMBA meeting.

How to order malt for the Dave Kuske Memorial Stout:

Please refer to the Dave Kuske Memorial Stout when placing your order for the specified malts. Also, please notify your sales rep that you are participating in the Memorial Fund. We will include your brewery in our list of donors.