This summer, Central Standard Craft Distillery will break ground on an effort to recast 73,000 square feet of former production space at the Harley-Davidson headquarters complex – aka the Juneau Avenue plant – into its new distillery.
The site is on the north side of Highland Boulevard at 39th Street.
Currently, Central Standard – which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024 – distills at a facility at 2330 W. Clybourn St. and has two warehouses: one on Mill Road that houses finished product and one in Jackson that stores raw materials, empty bottles, etc.
“We are getting rid of the two warehouses and consolidating,” says co-owner Evan Hughes. “We are really excited.”
The new space, which will have a public-facing tasting room – unlike the current facility – will allow Central Standard to up its capacity by a whopping 20 times. It will also offer tours of the stillhouse, barrel aging, R&D and other production areas, have private event space, and create at least 10 new jobs.
The craft distiller’s Crafthouse Kitchen, 320 E. Clybourn St., will remain as it is.
“Crafthouse will not change at all,” Hughes reassures.
“With the success of our Crafthouse & Kitchen, as well as the regional growth of our spirits and RTD products, this expansion presents the perfect timing and opportunity for continued strategic growth,” Hughes says.
“We’re well-positioned to exponentially grow our production capacity, to continue to meet consumer demand for our offerings, and to engage with the Milwaukee community in new and exciting ways.”
The new space is in a sprawling single-story red brick building that is west of the new Davidson Park, facing Harley Park, directly across the street from the entrance to the Molson Coors headquarters entrance.
It has sawtooth roofs and skylights.
Central Standard has purchased the building and has tapped HGA Architects – which did design work on the Crafthouse and Davidson Park – to do the design work on a renovation, which is expected to open to the public in late spring 2026.
Central Standard plans to sell its current production facility, purchased in 2017, via Colliers International.
“We started Central Standard Craft Distillery to be a part of Milwaukee and grow with it,” says Hughes' co-founder, Pat McQuillan. “This partnership and expansion continue to affirm that mission. With this purchase, we’re excited to deepen our roots in the city we love, and to show our commitment and investment in the Milwaukee community.”
Harley-Davidson continues to occupy part of the Juneau Avenue headquarters.
“Building on the great work spearheaded by the Harley-Davidson Foundation to rejuvenate the Juneau campus, we’re looking forward to it entering its next chapter,” says Tori Termaat, Chief Human Resources Officer of Harley-Davidson and President of the Harley-Davidson Foundation.
“And as we enter our next phase of investment at Juneau Avenue, we’re excited to be welcoming Central Standard to the campus.”
Earlier this year, Central Standard announced that it will open a tasting bar at Mitchell International Airport in September.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
