1840 Brewing Equipment Up For Auction
Fans can take home a piece of the former brewery — or purchase equipment to launch their own.
Photo courtesy of 1840 Brewing Company.
Hundreds of items from the shuttered 1840 Brewing Company, including business equipment, lawn games and heavy machinery, are available for purchase in an online auction.
Gerlach Companies is overseeing the sale, with bidding set to end May 11. Bidspotter is the hosting platform.
The former Bay View brewery at 342 E. Ward St. closed in June 2025, citing market pressures and a personal health battle. That news came just days after co-owners Kyle and Stephanie Vetter announced plans to cease operations at their West Bend location. Last November, Stephanie died after a battle with cancer.
Items from both sites — 438 in total — are now open for bids. Vehicles, including a 2013 Mercedes cargo van, tap beer trailer and 2013 Toyota forklift, are featured in the online catalog, along with production equipment like stainless steel tanks, bottle fillers and barrel racks. Also listed are business essentials such as cash boxes, point-of-sale materials, storage, furniture, games, decor and cleaning supplies.
Customers can also get their hands on “many types of beers” — presumably leftover stock from 1840. An image for the listing shows more than a dozen bottles and cans in a cooler, but does not identify the types of brews included.
The full catalog is available to view online.
1840 opened its flagship brewery and taproom in a former Bay View warehouse in 2017. Named for the year Wisconsin’s first commercial brewery opened, 1840 began as a self-distributing operation focused on mixed-fermentation and barrel-aged beers. It later expanded with a taproom.
The brewery gained recognition for its innovative beer styles and was a regular participant in Milwaukee beer festivals, also building a following through both limited bottle releases and taproom-only offerings.
After its closure last summer, Illinois-based Solemn Oath Brewery announced plans to take over the taproom and production space, located just off Kinnickinnic Avenue,
Solemn Oath, which has locations in Chicago and Naperville, originally planned to open its Milwaukee taproom in mid-2026.
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