Mike and Megan Dorneker want to stay in Lake Bluff.

The owners of Lake Bluff Brewing Company, which closed its downtown taproom Sept. 12 after more than 15 years, are actively searching for a new space in the village. The couple said their landlord declined to renew the brewery's lease at 16 East Scranton Ave. and rented the space to someone else.

The Lake and McHenry County Scanner first reported the closure Sept. 22.

"This was not our choice," the Dornekers told the Scanner. "We were not even given a chance to counter. We were completely blindsided."

The brewery opened at 16 East Scranton Ave. in March 2011. Its 15-year lease expired earlier in 2026. The Dornekers said the decision stung in part because a neighboring business, Maevery, had been renting month-to-month for about two years.

Lake Bluff Brewing's final day was its annual Oktoberfest Block Party on Saturday, Sept. 12. The band Käsekrainer played the farewell event. The band's lead singer, Brett Kreiner, met his wife Kristen while both were bartending at the brewery; they were among its original employees.

The morning after the party, the brewery posted a statement calling the business a labor of love and describing the closure as a goodbye to 15 years at that location, not the end of the story.

Over the years the taproom hosted weddings, graduations, baby showers and after-work gatherings. The Lake Bluff Public Library called the brewery an incredible community partner, citing its hosting of the library's Trivia Nights, summer block parties and support of its Totally Booked beer series. The library said it hopes the closure is not a goodbye but the beginning of a new chapter for Lake Bluff Brewing.

The brewery's closure forced the library to move its Wednesday, Sept. 30 Trivia Night to the Grotto at the Gorton Center, 400 E. Illinois Rd. in Lake Forest.

No new location or reopening timeline has been announced. The Dornekers asked anyone who knows of available space in Lake Bluff to email [email protected].