By the mid-1980s many of Milwaukee’s industrial and manufacturing businesses had moved their productions to Mexico or China. Dozens of factories along the Beer Line fell silent, and the railroad gradually retrenched. Today, less than a mile of the route remains in service. Vacant lots, new buildings, and even a bike trail occupy parts of the former right-of-way.

Though few physical traces of the Beer Line remain, at least one tradition linking Milwaukee and beer endures: railroads. MillerCoors, the one large brewer remaining in Milwaukee, still receives grain by the Milwaukee Road’s successor, Canadian Pacific Railway. These days, trucks typically deliver the final shipments of beer to retailers, but rail still brings in some of the raw materials—as it has for well more than a century.