New Barons Brewing works to renovate a forever home

Wisconsin’s first brewery cooperative has found its forever home. New Barons Brewing Cooperative will open at 2018 S. First St. in late summer.

It’s the same brewhouse where New Barons has been producing Hopped By Ziggy juicy India Pale Ale, Sunny Crank Cream Ale and other beers since 2017. The cooperative had an agreement with Enlightened Brewing, which ran the taproom and brewhouse at the same spot in the Lincoln Warehouse from 2016 until it moved to a bigger space nearby in 2019.

With the exception of the threebarrel brewing equipment up a short set of stairs at the brewery, the tiny taproom has been wiped clean of its previous tenant. There’s a fresh coat of primer on the walls. The bar has been removed and will find a new home on a different wall.

Those are cosmetic issues. After a full year of hunting for a permanent spot, New Barons’ owners are just happy to be there, said John Degroote, head brewer for the cooperative and one of the group’s founding members.

The cooperative works like this: Member-owners pay $200, which allows them monthly votes on events, designs and beer names. They can pour at

festivals, get taproom discounts and often exclusive access to special releases. There are currently 250 member-owners.

And if this all works as Degroote expects, they’ll earn dividends.

Degroote said the brewery cooperative has been introducing itself at beer festivals for the last few years but during the coronavirus, Degroote gathered other members of the beer community to host Beer DriveThru, a way for a handful of breweries including New Barons to sell beer curbside in one place.

The new taproom will have seating for 50, said Heidi Dalibor, a founding member. A local artist will provide a mural for one wall of the room. Up a short staircase are the tanks they use, but Dalibor said they expect to move the equipment back (and add some seven-barrel tanks) to put in seating.

The look in the taproom will be “edgier manufacturing look,” she said. She called the aesthetic “scrappy, resourceful,” like New Barons.

New Barons won’t serve food but will support local businesses like Milwaukee Jerky and sell memberowner goods. The brewery also wants to be home to brewing education and will include a brewer resource library.

The taproom will be family- and dog-friendly. For now, New Barons is expecting a crowler machine in soon and hopes to start taking kegs back to bars when taverns are again able to open in Milwaukee. In the meantime, New Barons beers are available at some local retail outlets.

The founding team for New Barons Brewing Cooperative begins renovations on a permanent home. They include, from left, Mike Mack, John Degroote, Heidi Dalibor, Sarah Hand and Matt Witterschein, in front.