Dead Bird Brewing, Wisconsin's Only Vegan Arcade Craft Brewery

Nick Kocis built the operation up from a small, Madison-based wholesale beer company to a vibrant, family-friendly taproom that transformed what was previously an industrial warehouse into a public venue.

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Eat/Drink

“We Care, And Love Good Beer.” As Wisconsin’s only arcade craft brewery, Dead Bird Brewing, 1726 Dr. William Finlayson St., emphasizes sustainability by way of a fully vegan menu and environmentally efficient business practices. Owner Nick Kocis built the operation up from a small, Madison-based wholesale beer company to a vibrant, family-friendly taproom that transformed what was previously an industrial warehouse into a public venue. Dead Bird Brewing is open Wednesday through Thursday from 3 to 9 p.m., Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. while closed Monday and Tuesday.

“Somebody said that we have a cool basement vibe,” Kocis says. At Dead Bird Brewing, one may play dozens of classic arcade games, relax on the patio with their dog, browse the VHS library, face their friends off in air hockey or bring a group to play a number of board games. “All of that makes us very kid-friendly, and not every brewery is pushing for that,” Kocis adds.

Having received green infrastructure grants from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD), Dead Bird Brewing is fitted with rooftop solar panels as well as a permeable-based parking lot and bioswale planted with native pollinators. The taproom uses compostable beer can labels, straws, cups and silverware. “Breweries tend to be very bad for the environment,” Kocis explains. “They use heavy amounts of water and chemicals and power, and lots of breweries have a ratio of per-gallon of beer to gallons of water they use of like 10 or 15 to 1. We’re closer to 4 to 1.”

Working with Community

He notes that breweries often contribute to neighborhood gentrification, so in order to minimize this, Dead Bird Brewing has worked with community organizations like Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) and True Skool as well as a group offering property tax assistance to residents. “I like to think of us as a do-least-harm business. Whatever we’re doing, we’re attempting to have as low-negative impact as possible.”

Dead Bird Brewing’s beer menu has something for everyone. Its Vienna lager Zuschlagen is an especially popular lawnmower beer, and its Heavy Metal Throwback, a collaboration with Inventors Brewpub, is a Black IPA—a rarity these days. “Our French Saison Ooh La La is a super classic, all French-grown Pilsen with strisselspalt hops and some nectarine thrown in,” Kocis describes. “Our Irish stout Shillelagh is really classically earthy and feels very robust without being overly filling.” The brewery’s Bow Wow Brau is a collaboration with Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission (MADACC) where a portion of proceeds go to the rescue. Past collabs have included Brewcity Bruisers and Tiny Hooves Sanctuary. Dead Bird Brewing is currently working with Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library on a beer, the Bücherwurm, which debuts this Saturday, August 22. 

Besides beer, Dead Bird Brewing offers a myriad of pre-batched, Rishi tea-infused and wine-based cocktails. The brewery’s house cider will be returning soon for fall. Non-alcoholic options include the sweet foam-crowned Butterbeer Soda, the sugar-free Hibiscus Refresher and the winter warmer Ginger Snap. Kocis mentions, “We’ve been messing around with things that are super flavorful but don’t have a lot of sugar.”

Mock Sausage Pizza

As far as food goes, Dead Bird Brewing is known for its pizzas, which Kocis says they make on average 120 a week. Available in five varieties, the pizzas are made with Cedar Teeth crust and house-made mock sausage. Appetizers include the well-dressed, gluten-free Sexy Chips and Pub Nachos, 10 Oz. Soft Pretzel served with queso and mustard aioli, and Garlic Cheese Stix made from the pizza crust. The brewery also hosts occasional vegan food popups for specialties like ramen, smash burgers and sandwiches.

Free monthly Sunday book swaps at Dead Bird Brewing regularly draw out crowds, rolling several tables of used books a few times over each month. Bingo, trivia and LEGO nights have also taken place in the taproom. Coming up, Dead Bird Brewing’s sixth anniversary party is September 26, its fall book fair in partnership with MKE Books & Beers is October 11 and its annual outdoor winter festival Snow Pants or No Pants takes place every February. The taproom can be reserved for private parties as well.

Kocis first began brewing beer with roommate Jeremy Hach while in college at UW-Madison, where he earned his degree in chemistry. Having this background lent itself well to Kocic’s interest in homebrewing. “Beer is science, beer is food, and beer is also art,” he attests. “Especially in large-scale production brewing, you work with a lot of chemicals and things that can be very dangerous, so standard lab safety is very helpful. One of the main things that really helps is an understanding of yeast and keeping it happy in a beer. I don’t really make beer; yeast makes beer. Stuck fermentations are easily avoided if you’re aware of exactly what it needs.”

House of Brews

After college, Kocis worked in hard science for a time but was quickly burnt out. He eventually landed a job at House of Brews in Madison doing grunt work, then worked at a couple other breweries in the area before returning to House of Brews as head brewer. “My brewing career has taken me to large and small breweries, and I’ve been doing it professionally for about 15 years now,” Kocis affirms.

He and Hach continued to homebrew on the side, which ultimately morphed into Dead Bird Brewing in 2015. The name is a reference to when the two found a dead sparrow in a kettle they grabbed from the attic in college. After running it as a wholesale company for several years, Kocis moved Dead Bird Brewing into its current Milwaukee taproom in September 2019—right before Covid.

“We had about five or six months before the world fell apart,” he remembers. “We were not set up as a brewery at all yet because we had just come from Madison and had a whole bunch of beer, so we just brought that before we started brewing more. That started running out about six months in, when we were getting ready to buy some equipment. I’m really glad we didn’t because there’s no way we would’ve been able to keep up on the payments for that going into Covid. Around the end of 2023 was when we got everything fully running and are now the brewery people see, but between 2019 and 2023, it was a crapshoot (laughs).”