E-Malt.com News article: USA, TX: Big Bend Brewing Co.’s comeback fall through

Big Bend Brewing Co.’s hoped-for comeback fell through, the San Antonio Express-News reported on July 25.

Trans Pecos Beverage LLC, which does business as Big Bend Brewing, filed for bankruptcy liquidation on July 24 in San Antonio.

Big Bend was building a $3 million production facility in San Antonio at 1310 Cornerway Blvd., near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Loop 410 on the East Side, when it halted operations at the end of last year.

Brewery officials were hopeful the business would reopen at some point but the Chapter 7 filing dashes those ambitions.

The bankruptcy petition listed the San Antonio address as Big Bend’s principal place of business, though its original brewery and taproom are in the West Texas town of Alpine.

The filing contained minimal information, reporting assets and liabilities each in the range of $1 million to $10 million. Creditors number less than 50.

The company made beers with names inspired by the region where they were brewed. They included Tejas Lager, Terlingua Gold Ale, Frontera IPA, and Big Bend Hefeweizen.

In a social media post last year, company officials blamed the brewer’s shutdown on “a combination of unforeseen hurdles in building our San Antonio location and the challenging macroeconomic conditions affecting investment in the craft brew sector.”

They added, “We remain hopeful and are working hard to make the stoppage temporary. The goal is to come back better than ever. We are no stranger to adversity — forging a craft beer brand in the rugged frontier of West Texas is no easy task.”

Fourteen employees were terminated when it ceased operations.

Big Bend was one of hundreds of North American beer companies that was left in the lurch when a Canadian brewing equipment manufacturer defaulted on $13.5 million in loans and landed in receivership last year, according to a December report on Brewbound.com, a website that follows the craft brew industry.

In April, the machine maker was acquired by a Chinese company.

Big Ben had never generated positive cash flow since its opening in 2012, but it hoped to reverse that trend by building a San Antonio facility, Mahala Guevara, vice president of operations, told the Rivard Report in January. Those plans were dealt a setback when the brewer lost the backing of a major investor.

Justin Yarborough, managing member of Trans Pecos Beverage, and Natalie Wilson, the company’s bankruptcy lawyer, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Many top craft brewers have struggled. Last year, production at 28 of the top 50 small and independent brewers either declined or stayed flat, according to New Brewer magazine, a publication of the Brewers Association.

Big Bend isn’t the first local brewer to enter bankruptcy. Two years ago, San Antonio’s Branchline Brewing Co. filed for bankruptcy protection. The entire brewery was later dismantled and shipped to a new home in Burleson.



28 July, 2019