Supermoon Beer Company has closed the taproom doors at its longtime home on South Howell Avenue in Bay View, though the brewery says it has no plans to stop making beer. The company confirmed the taproom closure but did not elaborate on the reasons behind it, saying only that it plans to continue bringing customers high-quality, unique beers and will provide more information as it becomes available.
The closure was first reported by OnMilwaukee, which noted that Supermoon began in 2019 as the pandemic upended nearly every aspect of daily life around the world, and matured its first barrels of mixed-culture beer in 2020. Founder Rob Brennan, who owns Supermoon Beer, did not respond to an email OnMilwaukee sent Sunday seeking further comment on the closure. The brewery has said it will center its focus on market distribution going forward, according to the same report.
Supermoon is still in business, and the beer is still being made — the taproom itself is what's gone quiet. The space at 3145 S. Howell Ave. sits inside a general store-style building that's roughly 120 years old, a structure co-owners Rob and Maria Brennan purchased in September 2018 after learning it was historically zoned for brewery use, according to Urban Milwaukee. The couple converted the building into a basement microbrewery with a front taproom, which officially opened to the public on October 30, 2022, after pandemic-related construction delays pushed back the original indoor-service timeline.
A Niche Brewer Built On Wild Yeast And Patience
Before the taproom existed at all, Supermoon relied on outdoor patio pours and monthly bottled-beer release days starting in 2020, per Urban Milwaukee's reporting. The brewery specializes in small-batch, farmhouse-style saisons and rustic ales fermented with wild yeast strains and aged in oak barrels, a process that requires far longer fermentation timelines than standard ales. Brennan's path into brewing wasn't a straight line — he worked in advertising and studied nursing before spending four years as sales manager for Penrose Brewing Company in Geneva, Illinois, according to the Milwaukee Record. He reportedly developed his interest in the craft after taking tours at Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery, and eventually returned home to start his own operation.
Supermoon's pivot toward distribution isn't a brand-new idea. In late 2025, the brewery secured self-distribution permissions in Illinois, allowing it to market directly to out-of-state retailers without a third-party wholesaler, and it hosted a Chicago launch party at The Beer Temple in January to mark the expansion. That same December, Supermoon hosted Illinois-based Solemn Oath Brewery for a taproom preview pop-up, as Solemn Oath prepared a new Bay View location targeting a mid-2026 launch — fittingly, at the former home of 1840 Brewing Company.
Bay View's Taproom Scene Keeps Shifting
1840 Brewing's Ward Street location permanently closed in June 2025 after nearly eight years in business, citing market pressures, and the brewery followed up with a full online equipment auction in May 2026. The back-to-back exits underscore how tough the retail side of craft beer has become in one of Milwaukee's most brewery-dense neighborhoods, even as new operators continue eyeing the corridor.
The pattern extends well beyond Bay View. Nationally, craft brewery closures have outpaced openings for two straight years, with 481 closures against just 300 openings in 2025 alone, according to the Brewers Association. The total number of operating U.S. craft breweries fell to 9,578 last year as the industry underwent what the trade group called a market correction. Wisconsin, for its part, still counted 247 craft breweries in 2025, ranking 14th nationally and generating an estimated $2.148 billion in economic impact, with roughly 5.5 breweries per 100,000 adult residents statewide.
State regulations have also shifted under brewers' feet in recent years. Wisconsin lawmakers passed 2023 Act 73, which took effect in May 2024 and updated rules governing two-year permits, cross-tier ownership, and brewpub operations as part of a broader modernization of the state's three-tier alcohol enforcement system, per the Wisconsin Legislative Council. For a small operation like Supermoon, built on wild fermentation and years-long barrel aging rather than high-volume pours, leaning into distribution rather than a storefront may be less a retreat than a bet on where its beer can travel next.
