I don't think so - a couple of my local stores greatly expanded their beer sections during and after that period. (One, once an "5" rated store here on BA, now has a Seltzer/FMB dominated (former) Beer Section. But I notice rating off-premise places isn't done a lot anymore 'round here.) I will say that there's probably a greater percentage of beers on the shelves these days that I reject automatically - "age" and "flavored" the 2 most common reasons.
You should check out the Mountain forum. There are TONS of breweries going under. We're averaging one a week.
If I won the lottery, I'd open up a little boutique brewery that only produced Bretted ales. Mainly saisons or things along those lines, but we'd also do some porters, English old ales, and IPAs. Small production so I could still enjoy not having to really work, priced just enough to cover costs.
Reminds me of how the Meijer I went to in Lexington, KY sold beer and wine in the store itself, but the liquor required you to go into a separate entrance next to the main one, with no way into the store itself. The Wegman's in Columbia, MD has a similar set up for all alcohol. The Wegman's in Cherry Hill, NJ has their alcohol store in an entirely different building a little ways away in the same parking lot.
Yeah, some of the Wegman's in Upstate NY would have a liquor store on an outpad in the plaza, so that wouldn't have to switch parking spaces to get the hooch.
I believe the correct title was supposed to be "Wot Happen" but, the answer seems to have been "Accidents" --- as the other Elvis, sang: (We gonna get delete )
For the point of the conversation, let's assume that's correct. There's five states in that forum. An average of one per week is 52 closures in the year for 5 states. That's 10.4 closures per state. Extrapolate that out to all 50 states, that's 520 breweries closed for the year. There's 9796 breweries according to 2024 numbers in the US. That's a 5.5% closure rate assuming no new breweries opened in 2025 (which is not true). For completeness, 515 breweries closed in the US last year.
I've seen lately there is a LOT more choices if you like West Coast IPAs. Seems like breweries are coming out with NEW WCIPAs ALL the time. Ck em out!!!
Some new WCIPAs you might want to try? Half Acre Daisy Cutter Union IPA Troegs Leaf Seeker IPA Rogue Pacific Northwest IPA Rogue was good. Haven't found the other two yet.
Apparently, closures are always big news, while new openings are less exciting. In Oregon for example, I think there's been a few recent years where there was a slight decrease in the number of breweries, but over all there's been a steady, modest uptick (the past 10 years). At least that's what I've read. I get it that it's annoying when a favorite brewery closes, but at least where I live, there are so many really good breweries around, I typically barely even notice when one closes.
Out here it has been more than just louder voices for the closings vs. openings. Here's the list of closings for the Denver area alone for 2024-25: https://denverite.com/2025/07/18/denver-breweries-closing/ Maybe it's a strange anomaly or maybe it's the tip of the spear. Per the local reports, CO likely passed the saturation point quite a few years ago and places are finally giving up after realizing that business isn't coming back.
Yep... Veil in particular (near me) has been spitting them out. Was wondering if this was just going to be a summertime thing.
Not on that list, which dates from around 1975, so... ...but the above was a factor in my paying closer attention.
In San Diego, California in the early 70s we would go out for a drink and maybe to see bluegrass at the Sombrero, blues at the Zebra Club, or have tacitos at Tug's Tavern. My old drinking partner/roommate said the bartenders would invariably offer these choices: "We have Bud, Coors, and Oly".
