Closing -- no, staying open!

It's been a whirlwind 12 hours for fans of Tap and Table, The Bookstore, and Fork and Barrel. First came this post on FooBooz saying all three were closing (but the new Farmer's Cabinet) would stay open; then Lehigh Valley fun/food site The ElVee said yes, but The Bookstore would stay open, and then we got a statement from partner Matt Swartz that confirmed that, and added some stuff...

But you know what? Uncle Jack posted the statement, and added some good backstory, so why don't you go read it there? All I have to add is thank God the Bookstore stayed open...and I have to wonder if everyone who works at the places that remain open are now putting their resumes in order...

Porterhouse is just a steak

Heard through the hopvine that Porterhouse, the brewpub in Lahaska, is decommissioning their brewhouse and going full restaurant. The brewery's been down for over a year with a failed boiler.

Too bad, though it's understandable: the partners who bought the place (the former Buckingham Mountain brewpub of unlamented memory) were really looking for a restaurant. The brewpub set-up was on fire sale, so they took it all. There was a connection with River Horse, then Philadelphia Brewing, which led to my friend Dean Browne brewing there for a while (made a good porter, too). And, of course, I included it in the new Pennsylvania Breweries, so that's a word of warning: no brewery there any more! If you're one of the people who like to get signatures of brewers in your book, though, Dean's often available at Philadelphia Brewing, and he's real friendly; he's Canadian, you know.

I don't know if they'll still have a good selection of beer available; they'd be fools not to, in this area.

General Lafayette closed, to change hands; brewing continues

Just got this press release direct from Chris Leonard at the General Lafayette Inn:

The General Lafayette Inn & Brewery in Lafayette Hill, PA is ceasing its restaurant and guest house operations effective immediately. A sale has been pending for close to a year. During the continued sale negotiations, the current brewers will continue to operate the brewing facilities to produce craft beer for wholesale distribution. Once the buyer is able to complete the purchase, the current brewers will retain operating rights to the brewery and resume providing General Lafayette beer for on-site consumption via the Copper Crow Beer Company (Crow). The Crow shall also begin wholesale production at an alternate site in North Wales, sometime in October. (emphases added)

After rumors of the General closing over the past months, rumors that intensified over the past week, it's good to get some kind of resolution, even if only a confirmation of the intentions. I hope things work out the way Chris lays them out here. Never had a problem with his beer at the General at all.

Uncle Jack has more here.

Red Star to close in Greensburg

I've heard from two sources that the Red Star brewpub in Greensburg will be closing at the end of March. I'm sorry to see it go; Red Star was one of the best brewpub spaces I've seen, in the old train station, and Jeff Guidos brewed some simply awesome barleywines. Sigh... They had some real trouble with street construction in the area, and had some problems with identity/menu, too (they had re-styled themselves the "Red Star Agave Grill" recently, a change which appeared to be mostly cosmetic). I do hope Jeff lands on his feet.

Richbrau Closes

Just saw that Richbrau has closed its doors yesterday in the Shockoe Slip area of Richmond. Richbrau had issues, but the Porter was always good, the seasonals were great, and it was good to have a brewpub in this cool section of town. Sad to see you go, Richbrau.

Pittsburgh Postscript

The Pittsburgh trip I'm telling you about -- Red Star, Church, East End, Full Pint, an' 'at -- is, of course, not complete. It's because there are two huge holes in it: Iron City and Penn.

I stopped and stared at the big, silent Iron City brewery Wednesday morning when I was visiting Church Brew Works: the huge graphics coming off the walls, the little sign still saying "Beer Gear Shop." The silence. The cold breeze with none of the huge smell of malt.

When I came off I-279 onto E. Ohio Street Tuesday afternoon, I looked over to Penn, saw the tower, and it hurt to know there was no point in driving over there. No more gleaming brewery, no more schnitzel (no more turkey sandwiches, Sir), no more aromatic glassfuls of Dark. No more gemütlichkeit.

I talked it with a knowledgeable insider who requested anonymity. "You tell me," he said. "How do you kill a successful business, a successful brand, that fast?" Indeed, I said; with Iron City it took repeated cycles of criminal management -- literally (pretty good summation of the whole story, only a couple small errors) -- to do it. We laughed softly, ruefully.

Iron City is being brewed at Latrobe, Penn is being brewed at The Lion. I haven't had any of the 'new' Penn, but I did have a bottle of Latrobe-brewed Iron City. I drink Iron every time I visit Pittsburgh, just something I do, and to me, this tasted just like it always has. But in both cases, it doesn't really matter whether the beers are accurate renditions of what the beers used to be. What matters is what their regular drinkers think, and it's already clear that they are not pre-disposed to think they're the same.

Will something be worked out to return Penn to the brewery, or to a new brewery in Pittsburgh? There was an article in the Tribune while I was out, how Tom Pastorius was trying to round up money and investors to put a deal together...but I don't give it much of a chance. Don't get me wrong: I hope for the best, my fingers are crossed, and if it were to be done -- and done right -- it would have to be with Tom. I cannot imagine his despair in watching the crowning accomplishment of his life crumble and fail, just as I cannot imagine anyone else being able to successfully revive Penn. But there are just too many things against it right now.

If the brewing of Penn does not return to Pittsburgh soon -- and I have no idea how that might happen -- the brand will disappear. Iron City? I'm afraid there is nothing that can save the brand at this point. A terrible waste of heritage -- in both cases -- a terrible waste of years of hard work, a terrible waste of potential.

Hard thoughts on a Saturday morning. I grieve, truly.

Maybe I'm burying Penn too soon. Thanks to a reader for this link to a story in today's Trib; the Urban Redevelopment Authority has authorized a $300,000 loan to Pastorius and his partners. Good news, and while the bottling line is gone, the brewhouse is still intact (I'd thought it was gone, and that's a big plus). But...they still have to buy the business back from Birchmere Capital, and then successfully buy or lease the building again, and that's not going to be easy at all. My fingers are still crossed.

A Little Help with PA Breweries 4?

Pennsylvania Breweries 3rd edition came out in 2005. I'm working on the 4th edition now, writing the sad section I call The Boneyard: what happened to all the breweries that were in the 3rd edition that didn't make it to the 4th: the John Harvard's, Iron City (still can't believe that), Johnstown, Independence and Red Bell, and -- woohoo! -- Gettysbrew!

What I'm looking for some help on are the breweries that opened after the 3rd edition came out, but didn't stay open long enough to make it in, like Destiny, Hereford & Hops...and who else? There HAD to be others. Didn't there?

Anybody think of other Pennsylvania breweries that opened after September 2005 and closed before, well, today?

Penn Brewery closes. Time to start the deathwatch?

Got the news from a Bob Batz story in the Post-Gazette: the Penn Brewery restaurant has closed its doors. The remaining staff were told yesterday (a reader tells me "they showed up to work today only to find the doors locked").

Let's not mince words: this ain't good. The restaurant is closed. The beer's all being made under contract at The Lion (nothing against The Lion, but it's just not the same as when it's made in the Penn Brewery). The principals involved don't have a history of working well together. It's been dragging on for months, almost a year. No clear resolution is in sight.

Don't you just wish you could smack people sometimes?

Tiedhouse closes

Ahh, I hate reporting bad news: The Tiedhouse, Chris Leonard's in-town outpost of the General Lafayette Inn, has closed, apparently due to lack of business. It was a nice space, but a strange location for a 'gastropub.' Leastways, I thought so, although I'm not a citydweller. It's a damned shame to see it close. Chris writes a bitter epitaph here, a rare look at closings from the employer/owner side.

(Chris has taken some beating up for his blogpost, here and on BeerAdvocate, and -- in a move that I'm sure surprises no one who knows Chris -- has added two posts to his blog: one in which he takes full responsibility for the demise of the Tiedhouse, and another in which he retracts his hasty criticism of his employees and praises them. Call that spin control, but the easiest thing for Chris to have done is to have taken down or whitewashed his first post; and he hasn't. Honest, and respectable. Cheers, Chris.)

Still, the General seems to be doing well, the beer's still outstanding, and the Brewer in Residence program is off to a good start with Philadelphia Brewing in the house. Stop in, have a beer, and try to cheer Chris up.

Penn Stays Open!

Good news first: Penn Brewery has signed a five year lease to stay in their current building. As reported in the Post-Gazette today, that much is sure. More details are promised tomorrow. The details I'm sure everyone is interested in? What about the actual brewery, which is currently listed for sale? (The bottling line's already been sold.)

Until I know about that, I'm reserving judgment.

Pittsburgh Hofbräuhaus: or, maybe not

The Pittsburgh Hofbräuhaus has pushed back their opening date again, now calling for a soft opening on March 10. This is from the WPXI website (thanks to a reader for the link):

A German-style beer hall set to open on Tuesday will once again delay its opening. The Hofbrauhaus at the South Side Works was originally scheduled to open a month ago. However, beer lovers will have to continue to be patient. A soft opening for the new $4 million beer hall is scheduled for March 10.
The beer hall is just one of three locations throughout the United States. It will seat 450 people indoors, and another 600 outside. A grand opening for the Hofbrauhaus has not yet been set.

You weren't holding your breath, were you?

Meantime, Penn Brewery will probably -- almost certainly -- shut down at the end of the week (the actual brewery operation; the beer will continue to be made under contract at The Lion). Dammit. Thank God for the Church.

Steve Nordahl... Anyone recognize that name?

I opened the Brewers Association Forum e-mail this afternoon, and a name caught my eye: Steve Nordahl. Not a common name, Nordahl, and I knew I'd seen it before. He was writing from a new brewery, Lone Peak, in Big Sky, Montana, asking for advice on pulling the trigger on a small canning machine. Hmmm.... Steve Nordahl....

Then it hit me, and Google confirmed it. Steve Nordahl was the head brewer -- and original brewer -- at Frederick Brewing (and that's a wildly incomplete entry, even for Wikipedia), the Maryland brewery that did a really spectacular expansion (one of the first beer stories I ever wrote about) and similarly spectacular IPO, built a huge, beautiful brewery outside of Frederick, Maryland...and then crashed, hard, when they apparently staked their future on the success of Hempen Ale, a beer made with sterilized marijuana seeds (which was good enough, but not amazing).

I talked about Steve and Hempen in a story I did later.

"It was an odd moment. I was in the Frederick Brewing tasting room, idly sifting through a bowl of marijuana – er, hemp seeds and talking to brewer Steve Nordahl about Hempen Ale. I had just realized that Nordahl and his partners were staking the future of the brewery on the success of Hempen Ale, brewed with those seeds. "You’re betting the brewery on a gimmick?" I asked. "No!" said Nordahl, eyes gleaming. "It’s not a gimmick, it’s a novelty!"

It turned out, as I said in the story, to be a distinction without a difference. Hempen generated a lot of first time sales on the dope imagery, but not many repeat sales. It may have been ahead of its time, a beer with "too much flavor" for the people who were interested by its promise. Nowadays, it might have a better chance.

The last I heard, and it was strictly a rumor, Steve Nordahl was day-trading stocks out of an RV. That was about ten years ago, and it was a sad loss, because Steve made some damned good beers. (Funny thing: the brewery managed to stay open, one way or another, through some incredibly hard times, and has now been bought by Flying Dog...who actually closed their brewery in Colorado and landed completely in Maryland.)

Anyway, it was a weird moment. I e-mailed him, and hope to hear what he's been doing, and what the Lone Peak story is. No one ever truly leaves brewing, eh?

Things That Make Me Say Bad Words, Part I

"Heineken N.V. today announced that it is to close its Beamish & Crawford brewery in Cork in March 2009."

Dammit. Beamish & Crawford was the first foreign brewery I got excited about, way back in the 1980s, and we dropped by on our honeymoon in 1989. The brewery had a history, and a place, and a well. And Heineken got hold of it, and closed it, and 120 Irish jobs are lost. There are other breweries closing, of course, and pubs continue to close in the UK at a stunning rate (with surprisingly little blogger reaction that I've seen, which is puzzling...maybe), but this one hit home.

I say many bad words.

Photo of the Beamish & Crawford Brewery by kman999 on flickr.

Holy Crap II: Old Dominion to be shut down

In a move that's probably not so shocking, Coastal Brewing has announced that they will be closing the Old Dominion brewery in Ashburn, VA, not that long after closing the pub there (while assuring us that the Virginia brewery would remain open). From the press release (which Mid-Atlantic Brewing News guy (and friend) Gregg Wiggins was good enough to forward to me):

COASTAL BREWING CO. TO CONSOLIDATE BREWING OPERATIONS

DOVER, Del. (October 21, 2008) – Coastal Brewing Company announced today that it will consolidate its operations by moving all brewing to the company's state-of-the-art facility in Dover, Del. The decision means that the company's brewery in Ashburn, Va., will be closed in 2009.

Employees of the company's Ashburn brewery will be offered continuing employment at Coastal's main brewery in Dover. Those who elect not to transfer will be offered competitive severance packages upon the brewery's closure.

Coastal Brewing Company's full line of beers, including brands under both the Old Dominion and Fordham names, will continue to be brewed with the same care and ingredients, and will continue to be marketed and distributed throughout the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S.

And may God have mercy on your soul...

What's it mean? At this point, outside of the loyal folks who still went to the improptu events still being held at the brewery, not much. Old Dominion's on the shelf, so's Fordham, and they will sink or swim on their merits and marketing support...because it won't be on their heart or soul. I liked these brands, these beers, five years ago. But Jerry Bailey's gone, the brewery in Annapolis is gone... It's Baltimore Brewing all over again. Who's going to give enough of a damn to hit the street and really sell these beers when the people who make them apparently aren't all that fired up themselves? The only hint of life I see from these guys is the Ram's Head outlets, while on the beer side, they've tried to make hay on a campaign about making real beers (the implication being that "other breweries," like Dogfish Head, made weird beers); great success with that one.

It really does look like Baltimore Brewing. OD had a heyday, when you could find it everywhere in the area. That slipped, and now, as it slips completely out of state to Delaware, it seems likely that Old Dominion will become a memory. The worst may be yet to come: speculation is that InBev will rapidly divest itself of the partial investments A-B made in companies like Coastal. And that may take the wind right out of these sails.

John Harvard's Monroeville/Pittsburgh closes

Saw in the Pittsburgh Business Times that the John Harvard's brewpub in Monroeville/Wilkins Twp. has closed. Unfortunately, this can't come as a surprise to anyone; the JHBH pubs have been closing for the past few years. Too bad that this comes as the third western PA brewpub to close in a year: Hereford & Hops and Johnstown also closed. High materials prices? Sure. Tough economy? Uh-huh. But you gotta figure a corporate trend in there too.

Holy crap: Old Dominion's brewpub closes

It's true: just lookie here.

"The closing of the brewpub will allow Old Dominion Brewing Company to focus on its primary objective - producing authentic, high-quality craft beers and sodas.

This decision will have no impact on other operations of Coastal Brewing Company. Brands under both the Old Dominion and Fordham names will continue to be distributed and marketed along the east coast of the U.S.

We apologize for any convenience this may cause."

Yeah. It really does say "We apologize for any convenience this may cause." A sad tale, and one which could lead to all kinds of bootless speculation. Here's my take. The pub is in an inconvenient spot, it always was; and it does not fall into Coastal's plan or desires. A-B doesn't do pubs; Ram's Head does their own. This thing was a thorn in their sides. It took them a while to realize that...and then they closed it. Too bad for all the regulars, guess they'll just have to go somewhere else. "We apologize for any convenience this may cause."

(Update: it's been changed, and now says "inconvenience." Typo? Or snarky in-joke?)

Website updates I

I've completed updates for Pennsylvania Breweries on my main site. Please take a look, and if you see anything I'm missing, or think I got something wrong, comment here or send me an e-mail. Thanks!

New York Breweries updates are next.

Changes, gradual in nature

As you can see, I've changed the picture at the top of the blog for the first time since I started it up 18 months ago. Not really significant of any great change in direction, just felt like changing the picture.

That's just a small change here, though; the big changes are taking place over at my long-dormant website as I start to crank up for the release of New Jersey Breweries. I've been doing some housecleaning over there this morning, and I'll be doing long-overdue guidebook updates this week.

If you have any updates that I need to get done on the PA, NY, or mid-Atlantic books, please send me an e-mail, and thanks!

Johnstown Brewing Closes

Crap. Just saw on Uncle Jack's blog that Johnstown Brewing has closed; there's more here. Sounds like they had business issues when the road they're located on closed for an extended period due to rockslides. Tough thing to deal with, and I don't know what to say.

Johnstown Brewing had become a good place, a real outpost. We had some good times there, and some excellent food and beer. This is just bad news.

September 30 to be Doubly Significant in Baltimore

September 30, as you know, is the date for the Michael Jackson toast at 9:00 PM. It is also, sadly, the last day for Capital City Baltimore; the brewpub is calling it quits after ten years. The landlord in Inner Harbor hit them with a substantial rent increase, and they can't make the nut. A shame; that was a beautiful location, even if it was close to Hooters. If you get a chance, get in before then and help them drink up what's left. (Mid-Atlantic Brewing News scoop artiste Sandy Mitchell sez they're retaining their license, and holds out the hope that they may re-locate; be good to see some kind of move out of Cap City.)