Last year, it was petunias and peppers. Now, it’s pilsners and pale ales. 

Lion’s Tail Brewing of Neenah has completed its renovation of the former Wisconsin Garden & Pet Supply shop at 8524 W. North Ave. in Wauwatosa and will open its doors to the public on Friday. 

It’s not quite a brewery yet – the brewing system is expected to come late next year – but it’s a sharp, functional taproom with a varied and well-executed menu of beer and seltzers. 

Lion’s Tail has sold its beer in metro Milwaukee for a few years, but most of those offerings have followed the mold of Juice Cloud, the brewery’s flagship New England IPA that was at the forefront of that huge trend among Wisconsin brewers. Many other Lion’s Tail four-packs found on Milwaukee shelves have been similarly modern: milkshake IPAs, pastry stouts, fruited sours. 

The taproom menu at a preview Tuesday had plenty of those beers but a nice assortment of the traditional and old-world beer styles crafted by owner and brewmaster Alex Wenzel that built Lion’s Tail’s following in Neenah. The debut menu will include cream ale, pilsner, dunkel, ESB, Vienna lager and a standout Czech dark lager called Threevo Pivo.  

“People are going to get to experience the fundamentals of Lion’s Tail,” says operations manager Nick Leak, who has been working since last year to open the Tosa location. “Alex makes exceptional traditional styles. We make really good beer-beer.” 

In addition to managing the construction project – and operations as well as marketing for the Neenah brewery – Leak has been pounding the pavement of the taproom’s Pasadena/Midtown neighborhood, greeting neighbors at block parties, community events and even lemonade stands. “We’ve been working really hard to make friends with the community,” Leak says.

Some two-thirds of the 15 or so staff live close enough to Lion’s Tail that they can walk to work, Leak says, and he expects that to be a trend among patrons, too. 

It’s hard to imagine they won’t like what they’ll find, too. 

The crown jewel of the taproom is its spacious – and covered – beer garden that just last year offered the flower baskets, garden seedlings and flats of annuals of the previous business. Now, picnic tables with seating for some 75 patrons sit beneath the sturdy timbers and canopy, with Edison lights and electric heaters hanging above. Even on a rainy evening like Tuesday’s, it was comfortable out there, and Leak expects folks out on the patio well into November or later. 

A roomy outdoor space between the once-separate buildings is set up for a food truck, though those arrangements won’t be ready for this weekend’s opening. Carry-in food is welcome.

Just inside through overhead doors is the taproom’s main bar, an island with 24 draft lines at its center and high-top tables surrounding it. Most of the space, inside and out, is finished in a bold navy blue. 

A newly constructed corridor including restrooms connects to the former pet supply store, which now features more seating, a large Instagram-ready wall mural and a small auxiliary bar. A large opening to what will eventually be the brewery in the lower level is surrounded by barstools and a drink rail. Taking shape on the floor is a mural being painted by students from Wauwatosa East High School. 

Leak says the two indoor spaces have two different vibes by design, intended to echo the bifurcation of the brewery’s beverage offerings: Cozy and traditional vs. modern and urbane. 

Come next fall or winter – the brewery was put on hold as costs for the rest of the project ran high, Leak said – fermentation tanks will rise into the public space. Below will be a 15-barrel brew kettle and a canning line to supply southeastern Wisconsin bottle shops with Lion’s Tail four-packs. Capacity at the Neenah brewery was recently increased to make up for the delay in the Tosa Lion’s Tail, so for now the beer flowing here will be made in Neenah. 

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