As the hospitality industry grapples with the impact of mandated closures of restaurants, bars, brewery taprooms and tasting rooms, craft breweries and brewpubs are beginning to announce staff layoffs and furloughs.

With mandated shutdowns of bars, restaurants and taprooms in more than 20 states and voluntary closures in many others, the novel coronavirus has forced craft brewers to get creative in getting their beer to consumers.

As the coronavirus disease known as COVID-19 spreads across the U.S., beer companies are adjusting their businesses for a reality in which being social is discouraged. Many companies are bracing for a downturn in on-premise business, including brewery taprooms.

The craft brewery where the brut IPA trend started in 2018 shuttered with little warning over the weekend. San Francisco brewpub Social Kitchen and Brewery announced it would close its doors last weekend, citing lease issues.

Connecticut-based craft non-alcoholic beer maker Athletic Brewing Company announced today the acquisition of the assets of the former Ballast Point “Trade Street” facility, as well as the close of a $17.5 million Series B funding round.

Stone Brewing has shuttered its taproom in Shanghai, China, citing pressures from tariffs and COVID-19, the coronavirus disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. Rogue Ales & Spirits plans to close its nearly two-decade old brewpub in Issaquah, Washington, on Friday. Mikkeller’s Los Angeles taproom has closed its doors after three years, according to Eater LA.

After closing 37 restaurants over the last few weeks, Craftworks Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

Craftworks Holdings has shuttered a number of Gordon Biersch and Rock Bottom Brewery locations in recent weeks.

Stoudts Brewing Company will cease operations at the end of the winter, as founder Carol Stoudt retires after 33 years, according to a press release. The California Bureau of Alcoholic Beverage Control has suspended San Francisco-based Seven Stills Brewery and Distillery’s operating license for 90 days for violating the state’s tied house laws, according to a report from SFGate.com.

The 14,000 sq. ft. Samuel Adams Taproom has been a couple of years in the offing, located about 20 yards from the statue of the beer brand’s namesake, a Founding Father and revolutionary. Historic ground, indeed, but also a bit of a cursed location for previous tenants.

After posting a 6% decline in volume in 2019, Durango, Colorado-based Ska Brewing has refreshed its packaging and launched a hard seltzer line, with plans to to release a low-calorie IPA and open a brewery and distillery in Boulder, in an effort to find new avenues to grow the business.

Dixie Beer Company will officially open its 85,000 sq. ft. production facility to the public on Saturday, marking the return of locally produced Dixie Beer to the market for the first time in about 15 years. And the goals for Dixie are lofty, with the brand taking aim at a domestic premium market long dominated by Anheuser-Busch and Molson Coors.

In this week’s Last Call: Schlafly acquires Trailhead Brewing; German keg company Blefa invests in American Keg; and Heineken and Bud Light launch non-alc and hard seltzer ad campaigns.