Brewing giant Molson Coors, the parent company of Miller Brewing Company, confirmed Wednesday it will shutter its 10th Street Brewery near downtown Milwaukee and the historic Leinenkugel’s brewery in Chippewa Falls.
The closures are a cost-cutting move for the publicly-traded company, which reported a quarterly net sales decrease of 7.8% and a 39.1% drop in quarterly income to $331 million.
They also come as the brewing giant is about to end a long-time brewing agreement with Pabst.
“Following the end of a large contract brewing agreement and amid an ongoing canning line investment project at our Milwaukee brewery, we’ve made the decision to close two of our smaller brewing operations in Wisconsin and centralize statewide production at our main site in Milwaukee,” said Chief Supply Chain Officer Brian Erhardt in a statement. “While never easy, these choices are made with much thought and consideration to position Molson Coors for continued success in Wisconsin and beyond.”
Molson Coors will continue to make the beers produced in each brewery at its State Street Brewery, the large Milwaukee brewery in the Miller Valley, and other breweries across the country. In a state-subsidized move, Molson Coors made several investments and job relocations to support the brewing and administrative functions at Miller’s historic headquarters. The brewing conglomerate, legally created in 2016, is headquartered in Chicago, but has more than 1,100 employees in the Miller Valley.