After spending the past 18 months building its reputation in the Milwaukee community, brewery incubator
Pilot Project now has its sights on launching more innovative products.
First opened in
the fall of 2022, Pilot Project, originally from Chicago, aims to foster experimental and small-batch brewing.
The brewery took over Milwaukee Brewing Company’s former production facility at 1128 N. 9
th St. Pilot Project also acquired the attached Bottle House 42 space. The company flipped both spaces in just two months.
Pilot Project offers breweries assistance in fine-tuning recipes, production, scaling, business development, marketing, distribution and more. In return, Pilot Project takes a small stake in each business.
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Jordan Radke and Dan Abel, co-founders of Pilot Project.[/caption]
"In 2023, we started feeling more confident with how we are positioning Pilot Project within America's birthplace of beer," said
Dan Abel, chief executive officer and co-founder of Pilot Project. "We could start to be ourselves in 2024. We're a fun brand and we also like to push the envelope."
Since 2023, Pilot Project has experienced sales growth of about 400%. The incubator will launch five brands this year and plans to release three more in 2025.
Among this year’s brands are Donna’s Pickle Beer and a non-alcoholic brand called Mash Gang that’s based in the United Kingdom. Pilot Project also launched its first Milwaukee brand, called Standard Goods, earlier this year. A ready-to-drink cocktail brand called DV8 will launch in the coming weeks. An international brand, Mexican brewery Cerveceria Paracaidista, is currently partnering with Pilot Project as well.
"What I love about our business model is we're kind of product agnostic," said Abel. “If a really cool idea comes our way, we have all of the expertise in house to help bring a really unique concept to life."
New this year, Pilot Project is shifting its annual Pilot Project Fest to the Milwaukee facility. The event gives all of Pilot Project’s collaborators and partnering brands an opportunity to showcase their work, with more than 20 local breweries being showcased. More than 50 brands in total will attend the Sept. 7 event.
“Bringing Pilot Project Fest up to Milwaukee is a natural evolution for the business,” said Abel. “We fancy Milwaukee as our headquarters. We started in Chicago because legally, that was the only state we could launch the business in.”
Next year, Pilot Project will look to expand its production capabilities to ensure the business can manufacture the “entire spectrum” of adult beverages, Abel said. The business plans to invest another $2 million into its Milwaukee facility to make equipment upgrades.
Pilot Project will also focus on increasing distribution of its brands in the coming months. The company began distributing in Madison at the start of August and hopes to have products in the Green Bay and Eau Claire areas soon.
"We learned by walking, and then we started to jog," said Abel. "Now we're running in anticipation of a full-blown sprint going into 2025."
