The planets aligned for Supermoon Beer Company
What started as a home for owner, Rob Brennan, turned out to be an old brewery that was zoned for brewing when the house was built over 100 years ago. Rob found his passion for beer at a Friday night fish fry in Milwaukee and began to learn more about the brewing process and the business side.
As renovations to the brewery progressed, so did the beer sales. Supermoon held a bottle release each month where customers would preorder their beers and pick them up at the front door. The city began to hear about the new brewery in town and sales increased as word spread. If this sounds challenging, it’s because this was all happening while navigating a pandemic.
Rob Brennan
Owner and Head Brewer
Supermoon Beer Company is a small neighborhood brewery in the Bay View community on Milwaukee’s South Side. Supermoon is owned by Rob Brennan and his wife Maria Keegan – who met almost two decades back during undergrad at Marquette University. It was around that time Rob began homebrewing and repeatedly taking the tour at Lakefront Brewery that began his pursuit learning everything he could about beer making.
In 2014, Rob helped open Penrose Brewing Company in Geneva, IL where he spent four years on the wholesale and distribution management side of the business. Rob and Maria returned to Milwaukee in 2017 and purchased a small 120 year old general store style building in Bay View, and discovered after closing, the building was zoned to potentially house a brewery. The couple spent more than a year living in the brewery building during renovation and spent close to three years working toward opening the Supermoon taproom, which opened in October of 2022.
Meant to Be
When Rob and his wife moved back to Wisconsin, they chose one of their favorite Milwaukee suburbs, Bayview, to settle down. They found a house they loved in the city and later learned that the house was a former convenience store and also a brewery. The house is over 100 years old and had been conveniently zoned as a brewery before Rob purchased the home. This was their first sign to open a brewery.
Rob and his wife decided to become brewery owners! While starting a business can be challenging enough, now add in a global pandemic. The renovations began inside their home, which would later become their taproom and brewery, Rob had to find a way to sell his beer during the pandemic. He started to promote his business and word travelled fast in ‘Brew City’ about a new brewery in town. People would travel across town and jump at the opportunity to try this new beer every month during Supermoon’s bottle releases. What started as a home has now become a brewery with a beautiful taproom where everyone is able to enjoy the their beers after hearing the history of this space.
More Than Just a Brewery Tour
The beers at Supermoon Beer Company can be described as rustic, funky and barrel-fermented beers and can be challenging to brew. The tours at Supermoon will not only take you through the brewery but the brewing process as well. Rob enjoys teaching other home brewers and brewery owners about the brewing process and what he has found to work well when brewing barrel-fermented beers. Teaching others about the brewing process in his own brewery reminds him of the days when he started to learn about brewing through other brewers.
Sample various beers while learning about the brewing process during a brewery tour. Stop in to learn more about Supermoon Beer Company and how they brew their beers!
Brewery contact info:
Web:
http://www.supermoonbeer.com
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/supermoonbeerco/
X (formerly Twitter):
https://twitter.com/supermoonbeerco
