USA, OR: Rock Bottom Brewery closes downtown Portland location

Rock Bottom Brewery, a Denver-based chain of brewpubs, has closed its downtown Portland location, the latest brewpub in the city to close, OregonLive.com reported on October 28.

A sign on the door says the restaurant officially closed on October 27. An employee at the restaurant, who said he was a manager but would only identify himself as Efron, said the location would not be re-opening.

He declined to answer any questions about why Rock Bottom is locking the doors or provide any other details about the closure, first reported by Jeff Alworth in Beervana: The Blog.

The chain, which began in 1991 in Denver, is owned by CraftWorks Holdings, which is based in Broomfield, Colorado, and also owns the Old Chicago chain of restaurants as well as the Gordon Biersch chain of brewpubs. A phone message left at CraftWorks was not immediately returned.

The sign thanked Portland for years of patronage and also said: “We have enjoyed being part of your neighborhood and we appreciate your business.”

Last week, longtime Portland brewery Lompoc Brewing announced Tuesday, October 29 would be its last day.

The closures are the latest in a string of setbacks for longtime Portland breweries. In the past year, Portland’s once-beloved BridgePort Brewing closed, Portland Brewing and Widmer Brothers Brewing closed once-packed restaurants, and brewpubs Alameda Brewhouse, Columbia River Brewing and Burnside Brewing shut their doors. In addition, Laurelwood Brewing closed its Westmoreland pub and sold off its production side.

Rock Bottom, whose website shows it has 25 other locations throughout the U.S., opened the Portland pub in 1995. It also had a Seattle location, but it closed nearly three years ago.

27 October, 2019