Hi-Wire to Add Taproom in Birmingham, AL
Hi-Wire Brewing’s third new taproom planned for 2022 will open “late this summer” in Birmingham, Alabama, the company announced this week.
Asheville, North Carolina-headquartered Hi-Wire’s Birmingham location “is going in as the anchor retail tenant at Lakeview Green – a brand new, sustainably built mixed-use development in the city’s Lakeview Entertainment District,” the company wrote in an Instagram post.
The new taproom will feature 24 draft lines in a 300-person capacity, 8,887-sq. ft. space.
In addition to the Birmingham taproom, which will be the company’s tenth, Hi-Wire will open taprooms in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2022. In the last 14 months, Hi-Wire has also added new taprooms in Louisville, Kentucky, and Wilmington, North Carolina, and a distribution center and beer garden in its hometown of Asheville, North Carolina.
Co-owner Chris Frosaker told Brewbound that Hi-Wire’s strategy is to open taproom locations in markets where its distributed sales are strong, and Alabama is no exception.
“Alabama is already a high-growth market for us, so we see a lot of potential to really keep it going,” Frosaker said in a press release.
Alabaster-based Alabama Crown Distributing Co. sells Hi-Wire products in the state, which is home to 52 craft breweries and ranks 37th in breweries per capita, according to the Brewers Association (BA).
Woods to Open 2 New Taprooms
San Francisco-based Woods Beer & Wine Co. plans to open two new taprooms in Treasure Island and San Anselmo, as well as being distilling, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Treasure Island location could open as soon as the end of the month, with the San Anselmo location slated to open by the end of the year.
Woods operates taprooms in San Francisco’s Mission, Outer Sunset, Lower Haight and Russian Hill neighborhoods.
Ska Street Brewstillery Shutters
Ska Street Brewstillery – the co-branded experiential location shared by Durango, Colorado-headquartered sister companies Ska Brewing and Peach Street Distillers in Boulder – has gone into hibernation “until further notice,” the company shared on Instagram last month.
“There’s no way around the fact that our community has been through challenging times,” the company wrote.
The taproom-distillery hybrid opened its doors in March 2020, just before the pandemic forced the closure of on-premise establishments nationwide. It was Ska and Peach Street’s first location in Boulder, Ska’s largest market outside of its home territory in the southwest corner of the state. When it opened, Ska Street featured a 10-barrel brewhouse and 30 draft lines.
“I feel like we never really got a chance,” Ska co-founder Dave Thibodeau told Denver-area alt-weekly newspaper WestWord.
The location was formerly home to Fate Brewing, which closed in 2019 after filing for bankruptcy.
Rivertown Brewery & Barrel House Ceases Operations
Monroe, Ohio-based Rivertown Brewery & Barrel House closed its doors for good earlier this month, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier.
“Given the economic climate (pandemic, staffing issues, and daily rising food costs) we had to make the unfortunate decision to close our doors permanently,” the brewery wrote in a sign on its front door in a photo shared on Facebook. “We appreciate all of your patronage through the years.”
Rivertown produced 5,000 barrels of beer in 2020, the most recent year for which data is available from the BA.
Chicago’s Hop Butcher to Acquire 5 Rabbit Cerveceria Location
Chicago-based Hop Butcher for the World acquired a production facility that was once home to 5 Rabbit Cerveceria in the city’s Bedford Park neighborhood, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The deal, which closed in October 2021, came as 5 Rabbit announced plans to auction off its equipment and move into a smaller location in September 2021. 5 Rabbit co-founder Andres Araya told the Tribune the brand is working on opening a brewpub and community space in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.
In December, Hop Butcher acquired Half Acre Beer Company’s original taproom in the city’s North Side. Before these two deals, 7-year-old Hop Butcher was a contract brewed brand, according to the Tribune.
In 2020, Hop Butcher produced 500 barrels of beer, according to the BA.
Shebeen Brewing Shutters Taproom, Focuses on Packaged Distro
Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based Shebeen Brewing Company has shuttered its nine-year-old taproom in Wolcott, Connecticut, in order to focus on packaging beer for distribution, the company announced in a late January Facebook post.
The company wrote on its website that its beer would still be distributed in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Florida.
“Remember, it’s not goodbye – it’s see you in distribution!” the company wrote on Facebook. “You can still find Shebeen on the shelves of your local package and grocery stores.”
According to Connecticut Insider, a handful of other Connecticut breweries have closed over the last two months, including Better Half Brewing in Bristol and 30 Mile Brewing in Old Saybrook.