The first solar-powered brewery in Kentucky, known for its ciders featuring apples pressed on-site, will close at the end of the month.
Theresa Stanely
Pivot Brewing Co. - Kevin Compton - 1
Kevin Compton
Pivot Brewing, 1400 Delaware Ave, was put up for sale in July by founder and owner Kevin Compton after considering a transition to a worker-owned co-op. Despite initial interest in an online auction with a minimum bid of $430,000 for the entire operation, a sale ultimately failed to materialize. This has led Compton to decide to shut down the brewery’s retail operations on August 31.
To say goodbye, the brewery will host a final “last call” at its Lexington and Louisville taprooms on that date, featuring food trucks, live music, beer and merchandise specials and more.
Compton’s decision to shutter the brewery, which first opened in 2016 and expanded with a Louisville taproom in 2023, and sell the property comes as he looks to return to the environmental engineering work he was doing before launching the venture. He says the change was spurred by a moment of clarity that led him to contemplate the legacy he wants to leave behind.
“You reach a point when you start asking yourself if this is what you’re going to do until the end, and if you don’t like the answer, you have to go another way,” Compton said. “And that’s where I am.”
For over a year, Compton worked behind the scenes to find an ownership solution so he wouldn’t have to shut everything down. This began with a crowdfunding campaign and the intention of partially handing off the company to the employees who planned to stay in his absence. However, that plan fell through earlier this summer after his head and assistant brewers announced their intentions to move on from the brewery as well.
“The plan was for them to take over the reins,” Compton said. “But as a small-business owner, I fully respect their decision because I know just how difficult the work can be.”
Theresa Stanley
Pivot Brewing Co. - interior - 1
During his nearly eight years at the helm, Pivot Brewing created some of Central Kentucky’s most captivating beers, including Kentucky Sunrise (cherry cider), Kentucky Mule (barrel-aged cider), Bad Penny (IPA), and Black Is Beautiful (coffee imperial stout). It also cultivated a vibrant community with events like night markets, book clubs, trivia nights, bingo and burlesque shows.
It’s those memories of bringing people together that stand out to Compton — a Louisville native who moved to Lexington in the ’90s — as he reflects on everything the brewery has accomplished.
“I was never the biggest beer aficionado,” Compton said. “But there was a big culinary interest that drew me to brewing, along with a sense of pride in crafting something that people enjoy, especially when you’re able to get it into cans and onto store shelves like we were.”
Before launching Pivot, Compton got his first taste of the industry through homebrewing. The process was one that the scientist in him loved tinkering with to create an ideal mix of ingredients, even though he was never a huge consumer of the final product himself.
In the same vein, it’s that care and attention to detail that have driven the brewery’s success since its inception, both in the drinks they crafted and the community they curated around them.
That sentiment is reciprocated by the community, which is expected to be out in full force for
Pivot’s final “last call” on August 31.
“I have made some of the most memorable, most cherish-able memories at Pivot,” Sarah Elizabeth commented on a social media post from the brewery announcing its closure. “ I’ve met so many wonderful people and made so many new friends. Thank you for being my and many others’ ‘third place’ over the years. I’ll miss the Pivot community dearly.”