USA, CO: McClellan's Brewing Company serves up its last ale

A Fort Collins brewery has served up its last ale, The Coloradoan reported on December 9.

McClellan's Brewing Company, which opened in 2015 and brought cask ales to Campus West, closed its small brewery and restaurant at 1035 S. Taft Hill Road on Nov. 27, according to McClellan's financial backer Tom Landi.

While it was able to weather much of the COVID-19 pandemic, McClellan's once again saw business drop off after COVID-19 cases increased late this summer and fall, prompting another countywide mask mandate in October, according to Landi, whose son was one of the brewery's co-owners.

The latest COVID-19 surge, paired with rising inflation costs, was the final straw for the brewery.

"With inflation issues, a lot of disposable income people had to go out to restaurants, they just don't have it anymore," Landi said.

The closure comes after what Landi said were some good first few years for the brewery. Nearly two years after its 2015 opening, McClellan's hired Scottish brewer Graeme Hirstwood to man the ship of its cask ales, a European-style ale that uses natural carbonation.

It also found success with weekly events, like its popular Geeks Who Drink trivia night and an open mic night.

"We were doing pretty well, then COVID hit," Landi explained, adding that while the brewery pivoted into canning for liquor store sales, the pandemic-born aluminum shortage presented challenges.

And even after business briefly bounced back this summer, participation in McClellan's weekly events never really did.

"It was like one hurdle after another," Landi said.

McClellan's is the second Fort Collins brewery to shutter during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the first to cite the effects of COVID-19 as its ultimate reason for closing.

After closing its taproom and pivoting to quietly brewing behind the scenes at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Red Truck Beer Co. shuttered this summer after being acquired by Atlanta's SweetWater Brewing Co.

10 December, 2021