Milwaukee Ale House Will Close
Last day is September 11. Third Ward brewpub to feature special releases and throwback pricing in final weeks.
Milwaukee Ale House. Photo by Annie Mattea.
Milwaukee Ale House will close in September after 25 years at its Historic Third Ward location, according to a Facebook post from the company.
Jim McCabe opened the brewpub in 1997. Known for its craft beer and elevated pub fare, Milwaukee Ale house is located along the Milwaukee River, at 233 N. Water St.
News of the Milwaukee Ale House closing comes as a sale is pending for its parent company, Milwaukee Brewing Company. The asset disposition firm New Mill Capital is handling the sale of the production brewery at 1128 N. 9th St. inside The Forty Two complex, Urban Milwaukee previously reported.
The approximately 60,000-square-foot 9th Street brewery opened in 2018 in a former Pabst distribution facility. The brewery is capable of producing 75,000 barrels per year and licensed for up to 200,000 barrels, New Mill reports.
McCabe launched Milwaukee Brewing Company in conjunction with Milwaukee Ale House in 1997, later adding a brewery in Walker’s Point in 2007, which sold in 2019. The same year, he was replaced as CEO of the company by David Hock.
Milwaukee Ale House is located in The Saddlery building alongside a series of other tenants including Blue Bat Kitchen & Tequileria. The location, sandwiched between heavily-trafficked Water Street and the Milwaukee RiverWalk, is highly desirable. (Milwaukee Brewing Co. does not own The Milwaukee Ale House in Grafton.)
“And hopefully, it’s not goodbye forever, it’s just goodbye for now…to be continued,” the post said.
The brewpub will continue serving until Sept. 11 and plans to feature special releases and throwback pricing (a pint of beer went for $2.50 in 1997), according to the post.
Milwaukee Ale House is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m., Friday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Jeramey Jannene contributed to this article.
I remember when it opened. It was such an exciting development for the Third Ward back in the day. We were all like, “Wow, how cool!” The Ale House was definitely pioneering.
In 1997, few if any businesses stayed open after 5;00pm (except for what I remember was an adult bookstore on the same block), the Ward’s portion of the riverwalk was years from completion, and any housing was lower-end rehabs for artists or craftspeople—definitely not new construction. 1997 was the year that the HTWA *started* a feasibility study for what was to become the Public Market.
The end of an era.