Washington Heights’ Vennture Brew Co. is expanding its blend of coffee and brewing west – to Biloba Brewing in Brookfield.
Biloba owners Gordon and Jean Lane are retiring by selling the brewery and business (2970 N. Brookfield Rd.) to Vennture owners Simon McConico and Rob Gustafson, McConico announced Friday night on the Badger Beer Hour livestream. “It’s absolutely terrifying and wonderful all at the same time,” McConico said.
Biloba will close for good on Saturday, Feb. 17, and McConico said the transition from Biloba to Vennture will take place in the coming weeks. The goal is to have Vennture beer pouring by St. Patrick’s Day, though details on when earlier hours and the addition of coffee-related equipment remain uncertain at this point. Vennture brewing at the Biloba location will follow later, depending on approval of federal and state permitting.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Debuting in spring 2014, Biloba was among the early wave of brewery openings in metro Milwaukee, which was at that point dramatically underserved by craft breweries. Vennture came into a much more crowded market in summer 2018 but stood out with a dual model of roasting coffee and brewing beer. It has built a loyal following from its comfortable, bright cafe-taproom in Washington Heights (5519 W. North Ave.), and its co-owners are pretty much maxed out at the 225 or so barrels they produced last year.
McConico said the deal has been in the works for some 2½ years – with partners in the Lanes that he and Gustafson leaned on heavily for advice and support when they were launching Vennture. Biloba was really the only location McConico and Gustafson considered for their expansion.
“It’s a good spot. There is nothing [beer-wise] around, and there are people who are thirsty,” McConico said. They want to “create community in a space where people want that and need that.”
Vennture will use the 10-barrel Biloba brewhouse to make some of its higher-volume beers, including North Avenue pale ale, as well as high-gravity beers like Night Crew and Doughnut Don imperial stouts. McConico said they hope the additional capacity will allow Vennture to add a year-round lager to their house standards of The Heights saison and North Avenue.
Vennture’s coffee roasting, however, will remain at its original location, because there’s plenty of capacity there, McConico said.
One challenge that they’re eager to tackle, McConico said, is bringing the strong community component that is a pillar of Vennture’s model to a new and different community. (Vennture’s logo is a Venn diagram with three triangles – coffee, beer and community.)
The Lanes “did a great job with creating community with the regular people who are in their taproom,” McConico said. “Having the coffee aspect, it gives us kind of a broader spectrum of connection. We’ll be open the majority of the day vs. a handful of hours later in the day. It gives more opportunity to touch people.”
They’ll be working hard to retain Biloba’s built-in customer base, McConico said, including moving the roughly 80 members of the Biloba membership “mug club” into the Vennture mug club.
McConico addressed questions from the Badger Beer Hour co-hosts and guests on topics ranging from building that community, continuity of Biloba’s beer offerings, and more, in the interview available here.
