Wisconsin breweries no longer chugging along

This post originally appeared at https://www.badgerinstitute.org/wisconsin-breweries-no-longer-chugging-along/

Canadian boycott a small factor

Beer production in a state that prides itself on its brewing heritage is down more than 15 percent in just the last four years, a victim of a confluence of local and national drinking trends.

There has been very little to toast locally with 11 craft breweries in Wisconsin closing over the past year, nearly half of those in metro Milwaukee. The closings reflect a nationwide saturation in an industry experts say has matured.

The drinking public has turned to trendy alternatives like alcoholic seltzers and teas and drinks made with THC, the high-inducing compound in marijuana. A record percentage of that public has stopped drinking altogether, according to a recent Gallup poll.

And although no one seems to be able to quantify it, state brewers have taken a hit over the past six months after the Canadian government ordered a boycott of American beer, wine and liquor.

The lone bright spot for alcohol enthusiasts is the rise of liquor production, much of that due to the proliferation of distilleries alongside changes in state law. Liquor production statewide is up to 21.2 million gallons for the fiscal year ending in June, up more than 50 percent from the 14.1 million gallons produced in fiscal 2015, according to state Department of Revenue records reviewed by the Badger Institute.

Liquor production was equal to 16.8 percent of beer production by volume in fiscal 2025.

Wine and cider production is off in 2025 compared to 2021, the year coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. But beer production has been punished the hardest, off more than 23.5 million gallons, or 15.7 percent, from a recent high of 149.8 million gallons in fiscal 2021, to 126.3 million gallons in fiscal 2025.

Russell Klisch, co-founder and president of Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, told the Badger Institute the recent downturn is the result of a glut of breweries, fueled by widespread success of craft brewing in the 2010s.

“A lot of places opened with an emphasis on the place, with the fashionable styles and materials, not the beer,” Klisch said. “The market just got saturated. Some people moved on to drinks that taste like soda pop and look like James Bond.”

Part of the story in Wisconsin is a correction from years of rapid growth.

There are currently 262 companies that produce beer in Wisconsin, according to Brewers Association data. A decade ago, there were 121. Among the 11 that closed in the last year were City Lights Brewing Co., Company Brewing, Enlightened Brewing and MobCraft in Milwaukee.

Last November, Molson Coors announced it would close the historic Leinenkugel brewery in Chippewa Falls and the 10th Street Brewery in Milwaukee that was once the site of experimental brewing for G. Heileman and Miller. 

Overall beer production is down considerably over the last 10 years, even taking into account an upward spike during the pandemic.

Klisch said he has ridden out at least three periods of rapid growth and shakeout in craft brewing since he and his brother, Jim, opened Lakefront in 1987. Two of those spikes were in the 1990s.

Much of the last decade’s growth and the current retrenchment involved breweries that were riding a very popular wave. Many were built on the premise of an inevitable increase in sales that didn’t always happen.

“Places that close,” Klisch told the Badger Institute, “always close because of a lack of cash flow. That’s it.”

 And like all things in the American economy, trends change, Klisch said.

Klisch considers the trend away from alcoholic beverages of all kinds to be a significant challenge. A Gallup poll last week revealed the lowest percentage of American adults consuming alcohol in the 90-year history of the poll.

Young adults had already become less likely to report drinking alcohol by a decade ago, and that trend has only accelerated. The percent who drink fell from 59% in 2023 to 50% today.

The reason? Gallup’s polling indicates that more people than ever, young and old, are coming to think that drinking alcohol is bad for your health.

At the same time, the Brewers Association reported that in 2023 an adult averaged drinking 25 gallons of beer a year. In 2008 that average was over 30 gallons.

And as if there isn’t enough woe, brewers are negotiating a kind of crazy quilt of boycotting by provincial Canadian governments in response to President Trump’s tariffs.

American beer exports to Canada are down 1.8 million gallons through the first six months of 2025 in comparison to the first half of last year, according to the Brewers Association. Brewers could see a reduction of more than 50 percent in gallons exported to Canada in 2024 versus 2023, according to the Brewers Association. But that has to be put in perspective.

“Export represents a minor share of sales for most small and independent brewers,” Rachel Weiss, with the Brewers Association, told the Badger Institute in an email. “Losing access to a single market like Canada is not ideal, but the impact on day-to-day operations for most small breweries is limited.”

Mark Lisheron is the Managing Editor of the Badger Institute.

Any use or reproduction of Badger Institute articles or photographs requires prior written permission. To request permission to post articles on a website or print copies for distribution, contact Badger Institute Marketing Director Matt Erdman at matt@badgerinstitute.org.

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