New craft brewery, taproom to open in former historic bank

Cheryl Hentz

Contributor

July 28, 2025

APPLETON – History, modern features and ambiance will intertwine in the new Vault 202 Brewery & Taproom, scheduled to open at the end of July on College Avenue in Appleton. 

The investors of Vault 202 Brewery & Taproom – including professional brewmaster Scott Krebsbach and Cindy Stuedemann – said they partnered with Hoffman Planning, Design & Construction, Inc. on the renovation to bring the concept to life.

Stuedemann said he and a third partner, who Krebsbach said wishes to remain anonymous, had been wanting to open a brewpub for a while but weren’t in a position to do so. 

Eventually, Stuedemann said they approached their friend Krebsbach, who had been in the brewery and brewpub/restaurant business for about 25 years.

“I was more than happy and willing to do it,” Krebsbach said. “It’s always been kind of a dream of theirs to [own and operate] a brewery, but [they] never had the right people in place to do it. Now they do, so they were able to take advantage of that.”

The three investors said once the pieces behind the brewery were in place, they began their search for the right property.

“We knew we wanted to be in the Fox Valley region for sure,” Krebsbach said. “We only looked at a few properties [but] when we found the former bank property – we knew there was no need to look any further.”

Krebsbach said “we liked the building,” and some things left over from the bank added character to the space, which made it interesting and appealing.

“Another huge benefit of it is there are 30 dedicated parking spots in the back of our building,” she said. “There’s also metered parking on College Avenue. The parking situation is a huge boon for our business, so that was hard to pass up.”

Located at 202 W. College Ave., at the corner of College Avenue and Appleton Street, in between Chase Bank and Copper Rock Coffee, Krebsbach said the location was once a part of a larger bank. 

“The entire building used to be owned by Chase Bank years ago when they had 100-plus people working in the bank at one time,” he said.

Krebsbach said the old bank vault remains in the portion of the building they’re leasing, which was one of the points of historical character that drew them to this location. 

“It’s just a beautiful showpiece we didn’t want to pass up,” he said. 

Hoffman President Sam Statz said the building was also of great interest to them.

“The vault itself [in the basement] is unbelievable,” he said. “It’s this monstrous door – eight feet in diameter and probably two-and-a-half to three feet thick – with a wheel like a ship’s wheel and a bunch of brass dials and combination locks. I’d personally never seen anything like it before this project. It’s all going to be visible to the patrons who come in.”

Renovation combines history with today’s feel

With 9,000 square feet on the main level and approximately 1,000 square feet downstairs where the vault is, Statz said it is probably one of the largest bars on College Avenue. 

“Vault 202 will feature a main bar with a gas-fired pizza oven and ample seating, along with a private event space with views of the brewery equipment,” Krebsbach said. “A spiral staircase will lead downstairs to a future bar and lounge with seating inside the existing bank vault.”

In addition to the bank vault, Krebsbach said many other original features of the bank building, built in 1962, have been preserved and incorporated into the new design, including terrazzo floors and “12-by-12-inch, very heavy, ornate-looking ceramic wall tiles that originally were behind the long bank teller counter.”

“Obviously, we wanted to keep the tiles because they’re very unique,” he said.

Krebsbach said the tiles will be on the top portion of the west wall with wooden wainscoting on the bottom half.

Statz said the other materials used throughout the space were selected specifically to complement the building’s historic aspects.

“We’ve matched the color and style of the paneling used for the wainscoting with the paneling we put on the brand new bar that was just built,” he said. “We did a couple of things that blended nicely to create and define some spaces, like using some cedar to define the bar area and bringing the ceiling height down a little bit.”

Statz said the space definitely has a modern feel, “but we’ve brought in some of those old styles from the bank decor when it was originally built.”

“They’re having a custom-made Vault 202 sign created that will also be on one of the walls where the mosaic tiles are,” he said. “Behind it, there will be a kind of gold accent color that will complement that money feel and theme we’ve tried to accomplish.”

Krebsbach said their plan for using the vault itself is still to be determined.

“I think we will initially use it for overflow space when the place gets really busy,” he said. “We’ll also rent it out for private events on a semi-regular basis. The ultimate goal is to have the space open and available all the time.”

Even if the vault is not open 100% of the time – at least in the early days of operation – Krebsbach said people can still go down to the basement to see it, again using the aforementioned spiral staircase.

“It’s a beautiful old staircase,” he said. “It didn’t meet all the current Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, so there were some modifications that needed to be done to the railings and such, but we tried to keep it as original as possible and safe for everybody… We also have an elevator, so if people can’t or don’t want to use the stairs, they can use the elevator to get downstairs.” 

Changing palettes

Krebsbach said he credits some of the increased interest in brewpups to consumer palettes having changed over the years. 

“For decades, people were only drinking light, American lagers,” he said. “So, if you start making really dark, heavy, thick stouts or hoppy, bitter IPAs, it would turn off a lot of people. But it would also spur some excitement in a lot of other people.”

Today, Krebsbach said people are more willing to take a chance and at least try something new to decide if they like it or not.

“There’s so much variety in beer that it surprises me when people say, ‘I just don’t like beer,’ because I could make 15 different beers, and none of them would taste the same,” he said. “Some of them don’t even necessarily taste like beer. There are fruited sours that taste nothing like what you would normally consider a beer, but it is a beer, and it’s very good.”

Krebsbach said brewpups have a community feel to them – another reason he credits for their increase in popularity.

“There’s more of a relaxed atmosphere to them, almost like a German beer garden – they’re more subdued and communal rather than something turning into a big ol’ raucous party,” he said. 

As an owner, Krebsbach said there are several reasons he loves brewing beer and the brewpub business. 

“Mainly, it’s because I enjoy the art, creativity and science behind producing beer – and being able to create something from scratch that will be appreciated by the public,” he said. 

Krebsbach said many of his recipes are based on his history and the experience he has gained from brewing beer in other brewpubs over the years.

“There are literally tens of thousands of ways you can brew beer, just because of the ingredients you can put in there,” he said. “There are hundreds of different malts and hundreds of different kinds of hops, and if you put those all in but in different proportions, you can make a different kind of beer every time.”

Even if you gave him the exact recipe for a particular beer he brews in Appleton, Krebsbach said you could take that recipe to New York City and it would taste differently. 

“The water there is different, so the beer is going to taste completely different,” he said. “That’s what makes brewing fun and interesting.”

Krebsbach said Vault 202 Brewery & Taproom’s full production brewery will occupy about 1,500 square feet. 

The taproom, he said, will have 12 taps – some of which may be filled with other local brews.

“Being a small craft brewery, our goal is that if we have other beers on tap that aren’t ours, we’re going to support other local small businesses and small breweries,” Krebsbach said. “We are a full-service bar and restaurant, so people can also get a cocktail if they’d prefer.”

As far as the food menu goes, Krebsbach said they’ll have four or five specialty pizzas and then a build-your-own.

“All pizzas will be 12-inch, Neopolitan-style pizzas,” he said. “We’ll also be offering salads, chicken wings and some dips. There will be about 20-25 items on our menu when we start. From there, we’ll see what sells well and what people like and then adjust if we need to.”

Krebsbach said he is planning for a limited opening in time for Mile of Music, which starts July 31.