Pilot Project Buys Milwaukee Brewing Company

Chicago-based Pilot Project Brewing has emerged as the buyer of Milwaukee Brewing Company‘s production facility and the attached Bottle House 42 restaurant, 1128 N. 9th St.

Pilot Project co-founders Dan Abel and Jordan Radke and head brewer Glenn Allen used funds from an $8 million seed round to purchase the approximately 60,000-square-foot commercial brewing facility. Chicago-based investment group InvestBev led the round of fundraising, following a 2019 friends and family fundraise of $500,000, according to a news release.

Described as a first-of-its-kind brewery incubator, Pilot Project assists start-up breweries with fine-tuning recipes, production scaling, business development, marketing and distribution. The company said its expansion to the Milwaukee facility would further the growth potential for Pilot Project’s incubated brands and help support their national growth throughout the Midwest and beyond.

“Pilot Project was established to support creativity, diversity and innovation in an industry that often overlooks it or maintains unreasonable barriers to allow it,” Abel said.

Since its 2019 inception, Pilot Project has helped launch more than 13 breweries including nationally recognized brands like women-founded Luna Bay Hard Kombucha and ROVM Hard Kombucha, Black-owned Funkytown Brewery, Brewer’s Kitchen and Azadi Brewing.

Abel called Milwaukee “the birthplace of disruption in brewing,” and said, “The Milwaukee Brewing facility is a former Pabst building, and we are eager to participate and continue the legacy of innovation rooted in this city and support creativity in brewing nationwide.”

Pilot Brewing said it will refresh the former Milwaukee Brewing Company facility, including its beer garden, rooftop, restaurant and tasting room. It also plans to launch between five and 10 new brands annually and would also expand to “key national and international cities” like Los Angeles, Miami and London within the next five years.

The brewery will also continue operations at its Chicago site, 2140 N. Milwaukee Ave., in the Logan Square neighborhood.

Milwaukee Brewing relocated to the 9th Street facility in September 2018, from a former warehouse on S. 2nd St. in Walker’s Point.

The company announced in March that it would sell the production brewery, as well as the Milwaukee Ale House  brewpub, 233 N. Water St., and the Milwaukee Brewing Company brand.

The taproom closed Aug. 30. and the Ale House closed Sept. 11.

No announcements have been made regarding the sale of Milwaukee Brewing Company brands or the Ale House space, though an auction of the contents of the former brewpub is underway. A for lease sign is now in the window.

Although Pilot Project did not acquire the rights to Milwaukee Brewing’s brands, the company could contract the facility to continue producing its beer.