Lakefront Brewery has permanently closed Kenosha’s Public Craft Brewing Co., which it acquired less than two years ago.
In an Instagram post on Public Brewing’s site on Tuesday, Lakefront management said “due to an increasing number of industry-related challenges, we were unable to maintain stable profitability and will be closing the brewery and ending production of their brands, effective immediately.”
Lakefront announced the acquisition of Public Craft Brewing in May 2024 after the Kenosha brewer had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a month earlier. It marked the first acquisition for Lakefront, the Milwaukee area’s largest craft brewer and one of its oldest. Lakefront said in Tuesday’s post that it saw great potential at the time of the acquisition. “Lakefront Brewery made a serious investment in the community of Kenosha by attempting to revive a beloved local brewery that was on the brink of closure.”
Lakefront thanked the community – and the employees who “put in an immense effort to bring Public back to life, and it was not without long days and tireless hands that this difficult decision was made.” It noted that affected employees have been encouraged to apply for summer positions at Lakefront’s Milwaukee beer hall.
Lakefront said it is open to serious business proposals for what it described as the turnkey brewing and restaurant operations and lease of the space in the Barden Department Store building, 628 58th St., in the heart of downtown Kenosha. “We hope that someone else will have the vision to revive the brewery and historic downtown space,” it said in the post.
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Lakefront said it is current in payments with all of Public Brewing’s vendors and is reaching out to organizers who booked future events at the brewery, offering full refunds or the option to move the event to Lakefront in Milwaukee. Public Brewing gift cards will be redeemable at Lakefront, too.
“While industries like craft beer continue to see challenges in the trail ahead, we encourage everyone to continue supporting their hometown breweries and small businesses. They need your support now more than ever,” the post concludes.
Matt Geary founded Public Craft Brewing Co. in 2012.
“I came into this as a home brewer,” Geary told Milwaukee Magazine in 2024. “I was so into craft beer and loved the sense of community around the industry and the social aspect of beer. I wanted to do all that in Kenosha, which hadn’t had a new brewery in a while. It had been a pretty dry run for the city.”
Public Craft’s numerous beers included Brain Baster, an English bitter; Public Indecency imperial stout and Bits and Pieces IPA.
