BrewDog CEO Teases Las Vegas Location
James Watt, CEO of Scottish craft beer maker BrewDog, is teasing several new outposts, including a location in Las Vegas.
“Very excited about this new potential Las Vegas location!” Watt wrote in a Twitter post. “We are also close to agreeing deals for amazing new locations in London, Cleveland, Amsterdam, Delhi, Sydney & Milan.”
Watt had previously teased the Cleveland location. Over the last two months, BrewDog has temporarily closed its locations in the Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those locations are expected to reopen when conditions improve.
BrewDog’s bars in the Short North neighborhood of Columbus and its Canal Winchester DogTap restaurant, along with its hotel are still open.
Mike Hess, Pacifica Brewery Protest California Outdoor Dining Ban
San Diego’s Mike Hess Brewing Company is defying California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ban on dining, according to KUSI News.
The craft brewery is part of what KUSI termed “a peaceful protest” against the state’s regional stay-at-home order.
“We’re going to continue to operate because what we’ve seen is that, for instance, the governor and the mayor are assigning to themselves all of these powers, which are unconstitutional,” owner Mike Hess told the outlet. “And they for some reason think that they have this duty to keep everybody safe. When they raise their hand like I did when I became a commissioned officer in the Navy, we said we are going to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. And their duty is not to keep us safe but to protect our rights. And that’s what we are here peacefully protesting.”
Meanwhile, Bay Area craft brewery Pacifica Brewery launched its own protest in late December against the statewide stay-at-home order and ban on outdoor dining, according to SFGate.com. She added that Pacifica’s sales have declined about 90% since San Mateo County issued a stay-at-home order and the brewery was generating about $600 a day on takeout orders.
“We’re begging [the government] to reconsider and immediately and effectively remove the ban on outdoor dining,” co-owner Helen Nasser-Elddin told the outlet.
To that point, SFGate recently ran a story positing that the ban on outdoor dining led to a spike in COVID-19 cases in California as people instead decided to gather in their homes. Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, argued that ceasing outdoor dining “did not help and likely hindered efforts to avoid a surge.”
“It shut down in early December, and things did not get better from there; things actually got worse,” Gandhi told the outlet. “Restrictions should be about understanding the human condition and keeping places that are safe open. Those of us who argue for a harm reduction approach have the same goal as the lockdownists: We want to reduce transmission, but we understand the human condition and the need to be with people.”
GoFundMe For Denver’s Falling Rock Up to $17K
A GoFundMe campaign for noted Denver craft beer bar Falling Rock Tap House has raised $17,708 of its $30,000 goal so far.
Chris, Steve and Al Black wrote in a note on the raise that the craft beer bar “needs your help.”
“This year has been tough on everybody, and we are no exception; with no offices, no baseball, no Great American Beer Festival, very limited on-premise seating during the summer months, and now patio and to-go orders only during the winter, business has been challenging to say the least,” they wrote. “In order to make ends meet, we have been selling Crowlers of draught beer to-go as well as offering weekly food specials prepared by our bartender Fush.
“Many thanks to a core group of regulars who show up nearly every week to buy food and beer,” they continued. “Our landlords have been excellent (we are very lucky in that regard), and we have been selling off our extensive Cellar to those people that are able to come to the Falling Rock and pick up the bottles.”
Nevertheless, the Blacks said “more help is needed.”
“For all of you out there that wish to help us survive the winter and have a chance to thrive once things get more back to normal so we can all have another GABF Week again, here is your chance,” they wrote. “Please donate whatever you can, every little bit counts and will definitely add up.”
Quick Hits:
Pinthouse Brewing has opened its fourth location, a 30,000 sq. ft. tasting room, with a more than 5,000 sq. ft. patio, in Austin, according to the Austin Business Journal. The location is able to produce up to 10,000 barrels of beer annually. Pinthouse recently added distribution in San Antonio with Silver Eagle Beverages.
Dewey Beach, Delaware-based Dewey Beer Co. plans to open a 10,000 sq. ft. location in Milton that will allow the 5-year-old company to increase production five fold, according to the Delaware News Journal.
Oakland’s Ghost Town Brewing has signed a 10-year lease in the city’s Laurel District for a second taproom with a full kitchen and a beer garden, Berkeleyside.com reported. The new location could open as soon as the end of February.
Milwaukee’s Good City Brewing Co. will open an 8,000 sq. ft. taproom in a former sports bar and restaurant in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, BizTimes reported. The location could open in the spring.
Eugene, Oregon’s Falling Sky Brewing has a new owner, according to The Register-Guard. Stephen Such acquired the brewery from Falling Sky co-founder Rob Cohen in late November.
Hawaii’s Aloha Beer Co. has opened a grab-and-go food and draft beer counter inside the lobby of the Central Pacific Bank in downtown Honolulu, according to Pacific Business News.