Gathering Place Brewing taps Bay View food hall for second location

Gathering Place Brewing Co. in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood is expanding into Bay View.

The local microbrewer announced Thursday that it will open a second brewing site and taproom at Flour & Feed, a food hall and market being developed on the ground floor of the new Kinetik Apartments development at 2160 S. Kinnickinnic Avenue. 

Gathering Place has been around since 2017, operating from a 4,100-square-foot warehouse and taproom at 811 E. Vienna Ave. The brewery says it focused on creating “vibrant and unique” beers that reflect the community it is based in.

Its new satellite location in Bay View will have its own brewing system, allowing Gathering Place to experiment with new recipes. The taproom will serve craft beer made both onsite and at the Riverwest location, said founder Joe Yeado, a former senior researcher at the Public Policy Forum. 

“We started Gathering Place Brewing with the idea of using beer and a taproom to bring the community together,” said Yeado in a news release. “We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished in three years in Riverwest and we’re excited about expanding that idea in Bay View.”

Gathering Place’s Riverwest taproom reopened for in-person service on June 12 with a number of new health and safety protocols in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Capacity is still limited to 25%, allowing six feet of distance between tables. Canned beer and beer to-go is available for order through the brewery’s website.

New Land Enterprises‘ 140-unit Kinetik development opened in May at the former Hamburger Mary’s restaurant site. Flour & Feed was originally supposed to open in tandem, but is now slated to open next year.

Taking over the southern portion of the building’s 16,500-square-foot ground-floor retail space, the food and retail hall is expected to be about 50% larger than Crossroads Collective, an eight-tenant food hall that New Land opened in 2018 on Milwaukee’s East Side.

“One of our main goals with Flour & Feed was to bring a feeling of energy and community to a forgotten and underutilized corner of Bay View,” said Tim Gokhman, managing director at New Land Enterprises. “Gathering Place Brewing has strong ties to the neighborhood, and Joe really understands the community space we’re creating with the plaza and the adjacent Zillman Park. We are thrilled to have them as a partner in this exciting project.”

Yeado said he’s looking forward to collaborating with other small business vendors joining the food hall. Himself a resident of Bay View, Yeado also said he wants the neighborhood to be known for its beer as much as it’s known for its dining scene.

“There is excellent beer being made in the neighborhood and we believe our European-inspired, sessionable beers will fit in nicely,” he said. 

The new Gathering Place location will be the sixth microbrewery in the Bay View area, more than any other Milwaukee neighborhood, according to the release. Enlightened Brewing Co. opened in 2013, followed by 1840 Brewing Co. in 2017, Component Brewing Co. in 2018, and the New Barons Brewing Cooperative taproom last month. Supermoon Beer Co. is gearing up to open on Bay View’s south side.