21st Amendment Brewery in San Leandro, CA closing after 25 years

[y_p_w]

They started off in San Francisco but moved to a large facility in San Leandro, just south of Oakland. Apparently they had excess capacity and were contracting that out for various beverages, including beer and mixed drinks. It’s reported that their lender cut them off and they can’t continue without credit.

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/sf-brewery-oracle-park-shutting-down-21031443.php​

The brewery’s lender “essentially came to the conclusion that this is just too much pressure in this industry, too many headwinds and they’re not going to fund this anymore,” co-founder Freccia told SFGATE by phone.​

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21st Amendment’s San Francisco brewpub near Oracle Park, its San Leandro taproom and its large San Leandro production facility are all slated to close by early November, although the SF brewpub may close even sooner — as early as in a few weeks, due to an anticipated drop in business after baseball season ends, Freccia said.​

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The news comes as a surprise, especially since co-founder O’Sullivan announced on Instagram only a week ago that he and Freccia were stepping back from 21st Amendment’s daily operations and bringing on a new CEO.​

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https://www.brewbound.com/news/21st...-close-taprooms-founders-seek-buyer-for-brand​

Their best known beer is probably Hell or High Watermelon, which is a watermelon wheat beer. It’s really easy drinking and especially nice on a hot day.

 

[fantastic]

There have been a ton of small "craft" beer startups over the last decade or so but if you're building upon debt in today's climate it may be harder for banks to lend money. That watermelon beer looks interesting. What you can do is get a can & then stuff some toilet paper inside to hang on top of some shelves or something if that's your thing. That's what I do on top of my kitchen cabinets.

 

[y_p_w]

There have been a ton of small "craft" beer startups over the last decade or so but if you're building upon debt in today's climate it may be harder for banks to lend money. That watermelon beer looks interesting. What you can do is get a can & then stuff some toilet paper inside to hang on top of some shelves or something if that's your thing. That's what I do on top of my kitchen cabinets.

Many hope for a deep pockets buyer to weather cash flow, but that’s no guarantee. Sapporo bought Anchor Brewing but closed it anyways. Lagunitas was bought by Heineken, but I think they’re doing OK.

 

[Nessism1]

Watermelon beer doesn't sound good to me

 

[fantastic]

Many hope for a deep pockets buyer to weather cash flow, but that’s no guarantee. Sapporo bought Anchor Brewing but closed it anyways. Lagunitas was bought by Heineken, but I think they’re doing OK.

That Anchor closing was disappointing as I bought some N/A (non-alcoholic) that was great.

 

[SC Maintenance]

A lot of companies levered up, expanded, bought out competitors, whatever in an era of very low interest rates. You saw the same thing in the oil filter world.

A lot of these places have been trying to hang on to wait for lower rates, but the wait is long, and contrary to what many believe likely isn't coming - at least not as low as it used to be.

These companies are known as "zombies" - basically they don't throw off enough cash flow to even repay their interest, they have to borrow money just to stay in operation. Unfortunately a lot of people work for zombie companies.