Both Sierra Nevada and New Glarus will keep their taprooms and tour operations shuttered until the end of the year at the earliest.
“It is currently impossible for us to welcome visitors while maintaining the appropriate social distancing necessary to ensure that you and our team remain safe,” New Glarus wrote on social media Friday afternoon.
The decision affects all public areas of the New Glarus, Wisconsin-based craft brewery, including its beer depot, tasting room, gift shop, beer garden, museum and tour center. In a normal year, New Glarus hosts “thousands” of visitors. New Glarus initially closed for tours and on-premise service on March 16, and announced it would remain closed to visitors for the summer on May 15.
In a statement to Brewbound, Sierra Nevada communications director Robin Gregory said that the company’s breweries in Chico, California and Mills River, North Carolina, will remain closed until at least January 2021.
“We brew beer to share it, but our first priority is the health and safety of our employees and guests,” Gregory wrote. “We have thus made the difficult decision to remain closed to the public through at least the end of the year. We’re not setting a new target date, as we do not know what the future holds.”
Both breweries have continued producing and distributing beer since the pandemic began. Off-premise dollar sales of Sierra Nevada’s portfolio of offerings are up 22.1% year-to-date through August 9 in multi-outlet food, mass retail and convenience stores, according to market research firm IRI.
Flagship Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is up 8.1%, to $67.9 million, year-to-date. Sales of Hazy Little Thing IPA have increased 94.1% year-to-date, to $54.6 million. Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA’s dollar sales are up 5%, to $29,5 million year-to-date. Sierra Nevada’s Wild Little Thing sour ale is also helping drive growth in the sour beer segment.
Sierra Nevada is the country’s fourth largest craft brewer by volume, according to national trade group the Brewers Association (BA). Last year, its volume increased 4%, to 886,500 barrels.
New Glarus only sells beer in its home state of Wisconsin.
“Our brewery operates because of the hard work of 120 full-time employees who are responsible for our brew halls, cellars, packaging lines, labs, warehouses and administration,” New Glarus wrote. “All hands are needed to ensure our world-class brews keep flowing.”
All of the company’s employees “have remained paid in full and retained full healthcare coverage and other benefits,” New Glarus wrote.
Dollar sales of New Glarus products, which IRI tracks as a single brand, are mostly flat year-to-date through early August, down 0.3%, to $15.8 million, according to the most recent IRI report. It was the 25th best selling product on IRI’s top 30 craft brands.
For the four weeks ending August 9, New Glarus’ dollar sales declined 10% compared to the same time last year, a steep drop from the latest 12-week period in which dollar sales increased 1% compared to 2019.
New Glarus is the country’s 15th largest craft brewery by volume, according to the BA. In 2019, its volume increased 2%, to 236,161 barrels.
New Glarus and Sierra Nevada are not the only regional craft breweries to keep their consumer-facing spaces closed due to concerns about COVID-19.
Boston Beer Company announced in July that its new Samuel Adams taproom next to Boston’s Faneuil Hall would close for on-site service, after having been reopened for just a few weeks, due to what the company said was an “influx of out-of-state visitors from COVID-19 hotspots to our taproom.”
The taproom, which opened in late January, sells beer to-go. Meanwhile, Samuel Adams’ taproom at its brewery in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood remains open for on-site service.
Minneapolis’ Surly Brewing announced this week plans to close its beer hall and consumer-facing spaces on November 2. Frederick, Maryland-based Flying Dog Brewery announced in June it would close its taproom until at least June 2021. Two weeks prior to that announcement, Indiana-based Three Floyds announced it had indefinitely closed its brewpub in Munster, citing safety concerns about the pandemic.