Karben4 Brewing to relaunch Ale Asylum brand

Madison, Wisconsin’s largest craft brewery, Ale Asylum, closed in July 2022 after 16 years in business. The pandemic shutdown years were tough on the brewery, and when a planned sale fell through, that was it. Luckily (for Ale Asylum fans at least), the Ale Asylum recipes will be making a comeback thanks to Karben4 Brewing Co-Owners Ryan and Zak Koga.

The Koga brothers are reviving the Ale Asylum brand and will bring it back to the market with a renewed focus on its flagship beer, Hopalicious.

“We are excited to bring Ale Asylum back to where it all began,” said Zak Koga, co-owner of Wisconsin’s Karben4 Brewing. “All the classic Ale Asylum beers will be brewed again at the Karben4 facility in Madison, which is where they were first brewed when Ale Asylum was founded in 2006. It feels like a natural fit to have these iconic beers back in their original home.”

Founded in 2012, Karben4 is a growing, independently owned craft brewery with a reputation for quality and consistency. This revitalization of a staple Wisconsin brand comes in the middle of a significant expansion in Karben4’s back of house operations. The brewery recently doubled the capacity of their canning line and plans to double their brewhouse capacity in mid 2023.

“As Karben4 enters our 10th year in business, we’re excited for the opportunity to brew some classic, Wisconsin craft beers that so many of us know and love,” said Ryan Koga. “As we’re growing, we’re looking back and reflecting, too. We’re also planning to bring back a handful of well-known and crowd favorite K4 beers this year. “

Hopalicious will be the first Ale Asylum brand to re-launch from the Karben4 taproom during a “Hopalicious Comes Home” event on March 22 where Ale Asylum fans can celebrate the return and enter a raffle to win free Hopalicious for a year.

Distribution of Hopalicious will begin immediately in the Madison area. Fans can expect to find Hopalicious and other iconic Ale Asylum beers throughout the state of Wisconsin in 2023, with the ultimate goal of being available everywhere Karben4 is currently sold.