Robin Shepard
Next Door Brewing will become Starkweather Brewing this fall.
After eight years in business on Atwood Avenue, Next Door Brewing Company will be closing on Aug. 15. However, it won’t be closed for good. This fall it will become Starkweather Brewing Company, named after the creek that wends its way in several branches through the city’s east side.
Peter Schroder, former brewer at One Barrel Brewing, and three other investors are purchasing the brewpub. The group plans to do some minor remodeling of the building, mostly painting and rebranding fixtures as part of the name change. The brewpub will remain closed while local, state and federal permits are approved, a process that could take a few months. The new owners hope to reopen by mid-fall on a four-days-a-week schedule of Thursday-Sunday.
Schroder will take over the brewhouse, while his partners will each fill roles of bartending, managing the business, marketing and merchandising. Schroder is well versed on the local beer scene, having collaboratively brewed with other Madison-area brewers in the past decade, including Ale Asylum, House of Brews, MobCraft, Dead Bird and Rockhound. Schroder even brewed at Next Door in 2014 with then-brewer Keith Symonds.
The Starkweather beer list is expected to reflect Schroder’s wide range of interests in diverse styles. “We’re not the young hipsters just doing sours,” Schroder says. “We’re looking to be the mom-and-pop neighborhood brewery.”
Other Starkweather Brewing partners include Tom McVary, Michael Chronister and Tom Gosse. McVary and Schroder have been talking about jointly owning a brewery for nearly a year. They met at Next Door last October and discovered they both had the dream of owning such a place. “That was the first step at getting us to this point,” says McVary. “Next Door is where all this started.”
The group tried to buy One Barrel Brewing on Atwood Avenue last November, but One Barrel owner Peter Gentry ultimately decided to remodel, and that brewpub just reopened.
Local breweries and brewpubs have been struggling. Rockhound Brewing closed in November and its equipment is up for sale or rent. The Union Corners Brewery closed its doors in July, and the owners are evaluating options for reopening at some point or selling. Many small brewers who are weathering the pandemic continue to face difficulties in finding enough staff and adjusting prices to compensate for the higher costs of brewing supplies and food.
The Starkweather partners say they have considered these challenges, but taking over an established brewpub lowers some of the risk, says Chronister. “Purchasing a turnkey brewery has its benefits. It would be really fun to build our own place from the ground up, but it’s a lot easier when there’s already a bar, tables and chairs, and brewery equipment that’s working.”
Schroder says that “people know there’s a brewery in their neighborhood; it didn’t go out of business; it was successful even during COVID; and it has a good reputation,” which he feels bodes well for future success and a smooth transition.
McVary is even more confident: “I think this is actually a good time to do this; the economy is turning around.”
Next Door Brewing opened in 2013 in a building that had once been an appliance repair store. Originally, the brewpub’s partnership included husband and wife Crystal and Aric Dieter, Aric’s brother Phil Dieter, Keith Symonds and Pepper Stebbins. The Dieters became primary owners in 2014 and wanted to make the brewpub a neighborhood gathering place with communal tables for conversation: “Our goal has been to build something that was small and intimate, based around a neighborhood where good conversations occur and people care about one another,” says Crystal Dieter.
The brewpub survived and was even profitable during the COVID-19 health restrictions, says Dieter. The brewpub changed its hours of operation, emphasized pick-up and take-out orders, reduced staff, and expanded outside seating through Madison’s Streatery program.
Adding to brewpub’s bottom line has been its packaged beer sold in Madison and Milwaukee. It has contract-brewed with Potosi Brewery since 2015. Dieter says Next Door beers will not go away and the company plans to continue offering cans and bottles through contract brewing.
Before COVID the brewpub employed almost 30 persons; since the lifting of health orders to allow full capacity, Next Door, like other restaurants and brewpubs, has struggled to hire new staff. The Dieters, who have full-time jobs outside of the industry, have seen the day-to-day demands of running the brewpub take more time away from family life and their young children. While that didn’t immediately force them to sell, it did influence their decision to entertain offers, says Dieter. “When Starkweather Brewing came to us we were very happy to see that they have the same kind of vision and understanding of what being a neighborhood destination means.”
