Milwaukee Ale House Auction Underway

If you’ve been looking for a souvenir to remember Milwaukee Brewing Company, now’s the time to act.

The company, which was sold earlier this year to an unnamed buyer, is holding an online auction for the contents of the Milwaukee Ale House, 233 N. Water St., which closed permanently on Sept. 11.

The online auction began Sept. 1 and features nearly 800 items including commercial brewing equipment and restaurant wares, plus a large, decorative shark and what may likely be a lifetime supply of Heinz ketchup.

Several weeks into the auction, dozens of items still have no bids placed.

Bidding will end Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 10:30 a.m. The auction checkout dates are Sept. 28 through 30 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Badger Corporation is hosting the auction on the online platform Proxibid. Participants are required to create an account before making a bid or electing to watch an item.

After more than 25 years in business, MKE Brewing was publicly listed for sale with New Mill Capital in March. A last call for prospective buyers was issued in May.

The company announced in August that it would close the Milwaukee Ale House because it wasn’t able to reach an agreement on renewing the lease. The former Ale House space in the Historic Third Ward is now for lease.

The company’s brewery and taproom, which closed Aug. 30, was included in the sale, but its contents will remain in place for future owners’ use. The brewery is located inside The Forty Two, 1128 N. 9th St.

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. The brewery includes a catwalk system used as part of brewery tours.

The unnamed buyer is acquiring the physical brewery, not the brand, co-founder Jim McCabe told Chris Drosner. The buyer is expected to brew MKE Brewing’s beers on a contract basis, Urban Milwaukee previously reported.

Another auction will soon be underway on the same platform for Polonez, a Polish restaurant in St. Francis. The restaurant is set to close Sept. 25 after nearly 40 years in business.

George Burzynski founded the restaurant in 1983, a few years after he arrived in the U.S. from Poland. The restaurant moved to St. Francis from its original location at 2318 S. 6th St. in Milwaukee, which now houses El Salvador Restaurant.

A full catalogue of auction items can be found on the Proxibid website.