Brew City MKE Beer Museum will permanently close at its current location in the Shops of Grand Avenue on March 3.
The Brew City MKE Beer Museum, a site of the Milwaukee County Historical Society, opened in October 2017 as a pilot museum with the hope of understanding the public’s interest in a permanent beer museum in Milwaukee. The museum and Milwaukee beer bar served thousands of people in this time and was a success. It confirmed that Milwaukee, and visitors to Milwaukee, enjoy a place dedicated to telling the story of Brew City.
In 2016, the Society’s feature exhibit, “Brew City MKE: Craft, Culture, Community,” focused on the beer and brewing history of Milwaukee. It was an immediate success and brought people in from near and far. From this, the idea was born to pilot a museum focused entirely on the subject and a year later, Brew City MKE Beer Museum, a pilot project, opened along Wisconsin Avenue in the Grand Avenue space.
“Our hope was to try out the exhibit and our brewing collections on their own to see if people had enough interest to support a museum solely focused on telling the story of Brew City,” said Mame McCully, executive director of the Milwaukee County Historical Society. She continued, “locals and visitors came to enjoy the exhibit, the only Milwaukee Beer Bar in the city, located inside, and the many programs and events that were held in the space.”
The demand for this type of museum concept has now been proven and the Historical Society has been working with community partners to identify a new location. The hope is to make decisions soon. The museum was a success due to the brewing community, including the many breweries and brew masters around Milwaukee, and the Society is grateful for their support.
The Milwaukee County Historical Society was founded in 1935 to collect, preserve and make available materials relating to the history of the Milwaukee community.
