‘It’s burger time in Milwaukee’: Brewers win 12th game in a row, triggering special giveaway

Victory has never tasted so sweet. Or, if you live in Wisconsin, so juicy. 

The Milwaukee Brewers have won 12 games in a row for the first time since 2018, triggering a burger giveaway from the restaurant chain George Webb. 

The promotion dates back to the 1940s.

“It was then formalized in 1965 when the owner painted the prediction on restaurant walls and advertised in local papers,” according to a statement from the restaurant chain. “As legend has it, George Webb boldly stated that once the hometown team won 12 games in a row, free burgers would be served.” 

The chain served up nearly 170,000 free burgers in 1987 after the team won a franchise record 13 games in a row that year, according to the statement. Another 90,000 burgers and 100,000 vouchers were handed out in 2018 when the Brewers won 12 consecutive games in the regular season and postseason.

Menomonee Falls resident Courtney Verville has been keeping an eye on the team’s recent success. She said she was nervous and excited while watching Wednesday’s game, which triggered the giveaway when the Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 12-5.

“My daughter (age 12) was watching it after and she’s like, ‘Mom, we got it,’” Verville said outside of American Family Field on Thursday. “I was like, oh, my God, we got 12. And then all of the sudden she just starts screaming, ‘We get free burgers!’” 

“And it’s burger time in Milwaukee,” the TV announcer declared with the Brewers’ final strikeout.

Verville said she waited in line for around an hour in 2018 to get a free George Webb burger after that streak.

“It was worth it. It was worth it,” she said. 

The current winning streak started on Aug. 1 in Washington D.C. when the team took on the Washington Nationals. Four series sweeps and 103 runs later, the club is now one win away from tying the franchise record of 13 wins in a row. 

Dawn Bontempo lives in Pembine but grew up in the Milwaukee area and still remembers the run of wins in 1987.

“It’s very nostalgic,” Bontempo said about the promotion. 

Bontempo went to a George Webb restaurant in South Milwaukee and waited in a line that wrapped around the corner to get her hands on a free burger nearly four decades ago.

“It didn’t seem long at the time, but it was probably like 20 or 30 minutes, which isn’t horrible,” she said. “You’re just kind of assembly line in and out.” 

This year, the giveaway will be held on Aug. 20 from 2 to 6 p.m. at all 23 George Webb locations in Wisconsin.

“We couldn’t be happier for Milwaukee. We look forward to grilling up some tasty victory burgers for the best fans in baseball,” said Ryan Stamm, vice president of the restaurant chain. 

Fans have flocked to American Family Field to watch the team during the recent homestand, even as a historic rainfall led to widespread flooding and damage across southeast Wisconsin over the weekend. Some parking lots and roads around the stadium were flooded before Sunday’s game.

“After the week we’ve had a little good news goes a long way,” Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson wrote in a post on X about the giveaway. 

Wednesday’s game was a sellout. Pitcher Brandon Woodruff said he was nervous about starting the game.

“You could tell … the energy around today, on a day game, was a little bit more than usual,” Woodruff told reporters after the game. 

“I wanted to win those burgers bad, for sure,” he added.

The Brewers currently have the best record in baseball and are 27-4 in their last 31 games. The team will attempt to tie the franchise record of 13 wins in a row on Friday night when they play the Cincinnati Reds.

Chuck Freimund, host of the Brewers podcast “Locked on Brewers,” has been covering the club for over four decades. He said it’s the best team he’s ever watched play during the regular season. 

“It’s just been an amazing summer. Amazing turnaround from mid-June until now,” Freimund said. 

“I have not seen anything like this ever covering professional sports here in the state of Wisconsin,” he added.