It was hard not get the sense that Supermoon Beer Co. was just as much about being an integral part of the Bay View community as it was about making good beer. The small taproom at 3145 S. Howell Ave. opened in 2022 and hosted countless events, pop-ups, and community gatherings.
But that’s over now. On Monday, Aug. 17, owner Rob Brennan announced via email and social media that the taproom has closed and Supermoon, which began the long process of making its unusual mixed-fermentation beers in 2019 and postponed its opening during the pandemic, will be headed in a new direction.
“Itβs with profound bittersweetness to report that our taproom is now closed,” Brennan explained in the post. “Please note that Supermoon is still very much in business, but things are going to look a little different going forward as we center our focus on market distribution.”
When reached, Brennan declined further comment: “For now, everything that I’d like to say is in the email/social post.”
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According to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Supermoon voluntarily relinquished its brewer’s permit and was not the subject of any enforcement action.
The closure leaves a void in Milwaukee’s beer scene, especially for those who enjoy well-crafted farmhouse ales, wild ales and beer residing on the funkier side of the spectrum. Brennan excelled at creating what Supermoon referred to as “rustic, funky, barrel fermented and blended, European-inspired, drinkable beers.”
Brennan’s post also thanked customers and employees for their support.
“We got in to this to make beer, but the greatest gift was the people β our staff and customers who rode and sustained the wave with us,” said Brennan. “Our life became entwined with your lives.”
Brennan and his wife, Maria, moved from his native Chicago area to Milwaukee in 2018 for her job in the health care industry. He had been a sales manager at Penrose Brewing in Chicago and then worked in the advertising industry. They bought the 120-year-old storefront that became the Supermoon taproom and lived upstairs as Rob Brennan began what turned out to be nearly three years of work to transform the space.
Rather than utilize the tiny brewery in the back and basement, Supermoon had from its start relied on other breweries to brew the base beers for its specialty wild ales, whose flavor profiles are primarily shaped by barrel-aging, and its higher-volume bottled beers such as Saison Bay View. Taprooms, where beer is sold for high margins, are the lifeblood of small breweries. It’s unclear where Supermoon will make the required to keep the business going, but Brennan promised updates “hopefully in the next month or two.”
Breweries that focus on wild ales are relatively unusual in today’s beer landscape. Last summer, Milwaukee lost 1840 Brewing, which opened in 2017 with a focus on mixed-fermentation beers but later diversified to more contemporary beers. But there are wild reinforcements coming: Radix Fermentation, a onetime side project of former MobCraft Beer brewer Adam Thomas, is aiming to open in a former fire station in Cudahy this fall.
