30-year-old beer brand files Chapter 7 bankruptcy to liquidate

The trade brew manufacture has struggled implicit the past 2 years, with wide U.S. brew accumulation and imports down 1% successful 2024 and trade brewer measurement income declining 4% successful 2024 and astir 5% successful 2025, according to a Brewers Association report.

Domestic brew shipments besides declined 5.9% successful 2025, losing astir 8.68 cardinal barrels of beer, according to the Beer Institute as Beerbound reported.

Shipments successful 2025 reached 139 cardinal barrels, a diminution from 147.7 cardinal barrels successful 2024.

Consumer request and intoxicant depletion rates of younger generations besides declined, the Brewers Association reported.

“Raw worldly costs person emerged arsenic a important constraint successful the North American trade brew market, with important increases successful the prices of indispensable ingredients, specified arsenic malted barley and hops, alongside packaging materials similar aluminum cans,” according to a 2026 North American Craft Beer Market Report by Mordor Intelligence.

“The interaction of these outgo increases has been peculiarly terrible connected accumulation economics, forcing breweries to revise their pricing strategies and operational models,” the study said.

All of that atrocious quality led to businesses shutting down, arsenic brewery closures outpaced openings with 434 shutting down and 268 opening by mid-December, Brewbound reported connected societal media.

The closings were devastating for trade brew fans who were disappointed to larn their favourite brewpubs had unopen down.

Among the closings this twelvemonth has been the owners of a longtime Baltimore trade brewery, The Brewer's Art, which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy to liquidate its assets aft abruptly shutting down its business.

Old Line Brewers LLC filed its petition successful the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland connected Feb. 13, listing $100,000 to $1 cardinal successful assets and $1 cardinal to $10 cardinal successful liabilities, according to Public Access to Court Electronic Records arsenic reported by Bankruptcy Observer.

The Brewers Art abruptly unopen down its brewery and edifice connected Feb. 2, aft 30 years of operating, with a motion posted connected its beforehand window, according to WMAR-TV.

"Dear Friends, Sadly we had to permanently adjacent our doors today, February 2, 2026. Thanks to each of you for each of your enactment implicit the years. Thanks for the memories. Best Wishes. The Brewer's Art," the motion said.

The brewery proprietor did not authorities a crushed for closing its business, but the Comptroller of Maryland had placed an $85,000 lien against The Brewer's Art connected Dec. 12, 2025, WMAR reported.