Pabst Brewing to return to Milwaukee with new brewery

MILWAUKEE — Pabst Brewing Co. said Wednesday it is coming home to open a new brewery and restaurant next year on the site of its original Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee.

The Los Angeles-based beer company said it plans to sign a multiyear lease on a building within the former Pabst brewery complex near downtown Milwaukee and expects to open to the public in summer 2016.

Pabst traces its roots to 1844 in Milwaukee, but closed its brewery there nearly 20 years ago. The company’s brands include its flagship Pabst Blue Ribbon as well as Lone Star, Rainier, Ballantine IPA, Schlitz, Old Style, Stroh’s and Old Milwaukee.

The new brewery would make many of Pabst’s pre-Prohibition brands as well as new craft beers inspired by recipes from the company’s archives. The brewery will include a tasting room, beer garden and a restaurant and bar.

“The launch of this brewery in Pabst’s original home represents a long-awaited return to our roots,” current owner and CEO Eugene Kashper said in a statement.

Kashper and his partners bought Pabst in November. The previous owners moved the company’s offices from suburban Chicago to Los Angeles after buying Pabst in 2010.

The former Pabst complex in Milwaukee has been renovated to include the Brew House Inn & Suites, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Public Health, apartments and other developments. The new brewery and tasting room will open in a former church that was later used as a Pabst employee training and conference center, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.