Closings: Lagunitas to Close Seattle Taproom in January; Bear Republic Shutters Rohnert Park Taproom for Winter; Sasquatch Brewery Ceases Production

Lagunitas to Close Seattle Taproom

Lagunitas will close its Seattle taproom next month, which was “not a decision we took lightly,” the Heineken-owned craft brewery said.

Lagunitas opened the taproom in 2017, once one of several in craft-centric markets beyond the brewery’s “home markets” of Petaluma, California, where it is headquartered, and Chicago, where it operates a production facility. The Seattle taproom’s last day in operation will be January 9.

“We are working on providing employees with resources to assist them post-closure. It has been a privilege to serve this community since 2017,” a Lagunitas spokesperson said in a statement provided to Brewbound. “We encourage our TapRoom patrons to visit nearby bars and restaurants that continue to sell delicious Lagunitas brews on draft or take a trip to our thriving Petaluma, California TapRoom and soon to re-open Chicago, Illinois TapRoom.”

The company informed its roughly 12 taproom hospitality employees one month before the closing. The taproom’s head brewer has the option to continue at another location.

Lagunitas chief marketing officer Paige Guzman told Brewbound the Seattle taproom’s generous outdoor space kept it afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic-driven restrictions to on-premise operations.

“We knew given the ramifications on our Petaluma business and just the global restaurant industry impact that it was going to be even more challenging in Seattle,” she said. “At that point, even in 2020, the volume of guests wasn’t where we wanted it to be prior to the shutdown, and we wanted to give it the old college try after the shutdown.

“Once we gave that a good year’s go, we just realized that it was going to be a losing proposition,” Guzman continued.

With expensive rent on a large facility and consumers increasingly turning to takeout and delivery rather than dining in, “we just couldn’t get the economics to work,” she said.

Lagunitas’ closing of its Seattle taproom follows a pattern of several other large craft brewers shuttering satellite locations in recent years, including Boston Beer closing Dogfish Head’s Miami taproom in September 2022; Sierra Nevada shutting down its Torpedo Room in Berkeley, California, in June 2022; Stone Brewing closing its taproom in Napa, California, in October 2021; and Deschutes Brewery shuttering its taproom in Roanoke, Virginia, in October 2021.

Lagunitas shuttered its Portland, Oregon, taproom in 2019.

With the closure of the Seattle location, Lagunitas has decided to delay the reopening of the taproom at its Chicago brewery, originally slated for the fourth quarter of 2022, so that its director of retail operations can “close Seattle down with grace,” Guzman said. The company is recruiting a general manager for its Chicago location and plans to reopen by March 2023.

Own-premise taprooms have become fertile ground for consumer testing of Lagunitas’ innovation products, such as the company’s Disorderly TeaHouse and Hoppy Refresher brand families, Guzman said.

“We use it as a testing ground for sure to understand where consumer sentiment is,” she said. “Instead of just asking the bartenders ‘did it sell well?,’ we now have tied it to empirical data through QR codes and questionnaires and formal surveys so that we can get a larger N of consumers.”

Year-to-date through November 27, dollar sales of the Lagunitas portfolio have declined -9.7% and case volume sales have declined -12.7% at multi-outlet grocery and convenience stores compared to the same period last year, according to market research firm IRI.

Last year, Lagunitas’ volume declined -5%, to 900,000 barrels of beer, according to the Brewers Association’s (BA) May/June edition of the New Brewer.

Bear Republic Temporarily Shutters Rohnert Park Taproom for Winter

Cloverdale, California-headquartered Bear Republic brewing shuttered its remaining taproom for the winter on December 11, and plans to reopen in the spring, CEO Richard G. Norgrove told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

“I just don’t know how survivable it is under its current format,” he told the newspaper. “That’s where we needed to make some changes. I mean we’re just not making money.”

The temporary shutdown has resulted in the furloughing of about 40 workers, according to the Press Democrat.

Because the area’s economy is so closely tied to tourism, which dies down in the winter, Bear Republic’s taproom will hibernate until spring, when visitors begin to return to Northern California.

In the decision to shutter for the winter, “profitability is only one fact,” Norgrove told Brewbound through a spokesperson.

“We’re looking at this as an opportunity to refresh our business model, update the way a taproom is enjoyed, and offer the community something new,” he said.

One potential change on the menu is shifting away from full kitchen operations to focus on food trucks.

“There are many possibilities on the table and we’re exploring them all but yes, rotating food trucks have been really successful for other tap rooms in Sonoma County,” Norgrove said. “It’s a proven business model.”

In 2019, Bear Republic closed its Healdsburg brewpub, the company’s oldest own-premise establishment. At the time, Norgrove explained that the town’s shift in population from mostly families to second-home owners with a “very wine-centric tourist trade” could no longer sustain what had been a family-friendly brewpub.

Bear Republic, formerly a top 50 craft brewery by volume, has recorded double-digit declines since 2017, according to the BA. Last year, its volume declined -15%, to 36,827 barrels.

The brewery distributes to 23 states and seven countries.

Sasquatch Brewery Ceases Production

Portland, Oregon-based Sasquatch Brewery announced last month it will halt beer- and cider-making operations, but its pub will remain in business.

“All good things must come to an end. We’ve made the decision to shut down the brewery and cidery,” co-founders Alex Beard and Tom Sims wrote on Instagram. “While we’ll certainly miss all our friends and customers, we think it’s the right time to move on to other ventures.”

Sims told The Oregonian the company’s taproom in Portland’s Northwest industrial district “was doing half the business from before” the COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered both consumer behavior and operating protocol for on-premise establishments. He also cited rising input costs’ infringement on profitability as a driving factor in the decision to close.

Sasquatch’s pub in Portland’s Hillsdale neighborhood on the city’s southwest area will continue and will serve the brewery’s remaining draft inventory of beer and cider. Whether its small brewhouse – Sasquatch’s original facility – will be tapped into service to brew beer for the pub remains unclear.

“We have so much going on closing this palace, so that’s at the bottom of the list,” Sims told the Oregonian. “It’s all there ready to go, it’s just a matter of jumping in and maybe doing it at some point.”

Sasquatch opened in 2012 and expanded to its Northwest Portland production facility in 2017. The brewery produced 3,000 barrels of beer in 2021, a +58% increase over its 2020 output, according to the BA.

Illinois’ Shadow View Brewing to Close

Woodstock, Illinois-based Shadow View Brewing will begin “phasing down the business over the next couple of months,” co-founders and brothers Mark and John Koziol wrote in an Instagram post.

“It’s been a great ride that is unfortunately coming to an end,” they wrote. “We have thoroughly enjoyed sharing our craft beer and food with you over the last four years. Unfortunately the current economic environment makes it impossible for us to sustain the profitability of the business.”

The brewpub, located about 60 miles northwest of Chicago, opened in December 2018 and began serving beers produced on-site in the summer of 2019, according to the Shaw Local News Network.

Shadow View will cease full kitchen operations after December 18, but will continue offering a limited menu after that, in addition to full beer service. The pub’s brewing and restaurant equipment will be available for sale, the Koziols noted.

The brewery produced 165 barrels in 2021, according to the BA.

Virginia’s Rocket Frog Brewing Shuts Down

Sterling, Virginia-based Rocket Frog Brewing closed on December 11, co-founder Richard Hartogs wrote on Instagram.

“We’ve had an epic ride and could not have done it without the support of our fans, staff and family,” he wrote. “Through Rocket Frog, we have gained an extended family, which makes closing that much more difficult.”

Rocket Frog opened in 2018, according to ARLnow. Its Wallops Island American brown ale won silver and bronze medals at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in 2020 and 2018, respectively.

Last year, the brewery produced 326 barrels, according to the BA.

MacLeod Ale Brewing ‘Exploring Every Option’ After Scaling Down Operations

Weeks after announcing it had “shut down operations except for selling beer across the bar,” Van Nuys, California-based MacLeod Ale Brewing is trying to keep the business afloat.

“Just as we had to pivot drastically at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are finding that we have to do the same right now, to survive a very sudden downturn in sales, combined with a depleted bank account due to our recent expansion,” co-founders Jennifer and Alastair MacLeod wrote in an Instagram post.

That pivot includes limiting can sales to prioritize draft beer, simplifying food offerings so the kitchen only require one two employees at a time, folding its offshoot brand Van Nuys Beer Co. under the MacLeod umbrella, and limiting service at its Highland Park taproom to beer only.

In a note to Los Angeles Brewers Guild members obtained by the Drinks Business on November 16, the brewery’s owners said sales declined -15% in October and -21% in November, in addition to debt incurred to open its second taproom in Highland Park, which opened in mid-September and was “too late.”

“We have determined that there is no cavalry on the way to save us, but rather we have to try to dig out of this hole one shovel at a time,” the MacLeods wrote on Instagram.

Last year, the brewery produced 1,230 barrels of beer, according to the BA. MacLeod was founded in 2012 and opened its Van Nuys taproom in 2014, according to the company’s website.