# A very popular brewery in the NW has abruptly shut down **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** beer\ **Created:** [November 15, 2025, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870 "2025-11-15T08:13:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/21 "2025-11-16T01:30:53Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > But Trump absolutely did put them down if exports to Canada represented a significant portion of their revenue. You don’t help businesses in the United States by threatening and mocking our allies and trading partners. I though Cafe Society would be immune to TDS, looks like I was overly optimistic. Rogue didn’t pay their bills, taxes, fees, employees, creditors, etc and pissed their business down the drain. Living Large. And like many other business’, they went broke. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/22 "2025-11-16T01:39:41Z")
There have been two bankruptcies or near-bankruptcies from popular local breweries here in Albuquerque. One was put into near-bankruptcy (bought before it went that far) by the owners using it as a piggy bank to have fun. The other massively over-expanded and kept on taking on debt on debt until they couldn’t handle it anymore. The first seems to be in better shape with the new owners. The other filed Chapter 11 and haven’t actually closed anything, which surprised me, I was expecting them to close at least two locations, but I haven’t been to any of their locations since then. So no idea how they’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/23 "2025-11-16T01:50:51Z")
**Moderating** Everyone drop the politics and Trump stuff from this Cafe thread. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/24 "2025-11-16T01:59:21Z")
Why refer to my thread? I didn’t start it, Spectre did, yet you point to my thread?. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/25 "2025-11-16T11:55:32Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > One of the features of Chapter 11 bankruptcy law is explicitly that suppliers cannot pull this when you declare BK. They have to keep supplying you even though you’re not going to pay them for a long time and maybe only nickels on the dollar. Precisely to prevent the suppliers all pulling out and forcing the shutdown of a company that was trying to keep going through the BK process. But if you’re just closing a business, or doing a Chapter 7 shutdown+BK, there’s no such “status quo” provision. I’d challenge you on that… **legal reasoning:** How would you (and what entity) would legally oblige a company to sell ( **and keep selling** ) their wares to some other company if they are not paying in full **or at all**? That figure would probably be a form of expropiation (vs. freedom to conduct business). **practical reasoning:** Al128 Pub&Bar goes bust and makes a huge $100k order to Diageo to get their premium alcohol for 70% off, b/c hey, thats a good price. I think you confuse the fact that often there might be agreements to keep supplying the bankrupt party, **for commercial reasons** , e.g. Coca-Cola Comp. agreeing to still deliver coughmedicin to McD if they go belly-up, knowing that they will somewhat rebound and it might be beneficial to both. But a random company going bankrupt creating an obligation for MY company to conduct business with that bankrupt company AND giving them huge discounts (and expose my comp. to a hugerer risk of not receiving payment at all) - sorry I don’t see that. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/26 "2025-11-16T12:31:26Z")
**Warning** for @Dallas_Jones for arguing moderation in thread. Also the word you are looking for is “post” not “thread”. Also you did “start it” as you said, First mention of Trump in this thread was your post: > [@A very popular brewery in the NW has abruptly shut down](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/13): > > There are sooo many brew-pubs in Astoria that you couldn’t taste them all in a month. Try to find a place to take your family for breakfast, you can’t. Maybe if you buy Grandma a beer. Plus, Rogue, you have to pay your taxes, your bills, your employees, and your creditors. That is important. Did Trump or ICE put them down? No, they did it all by themselves. You brought up this post, someone flagged you for trying to hijack the thread and I let you off with a general modnote and now you compound it. You are also banned from this thread. Thanks for all the extra work. **If you post in this thread again, you will be suspended.** Moderating ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/27 "2025-11-16T17:30:56Z")
Looks like they bet big on a large portfolio and national distribution and it didn’t pay off. Not that is was a bad idea; staying regional in the PNW with fierce competition isn’t a sure thing either. The beverage industry (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) seems like a very difficult business. There are so many choices they can’t all get stocked. Grocery stores and mini-marts can’t fit all the sodas and teas along with energy drinks, sparkling waters, etc. My local liquor store has coolers stocked with drinks I’m not even interested in (and the same – but opposite for other customers). It’s must be near impossible to make a good product, eek out shelf space, and maintain quality during shipping all while turning a profit. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/28 "2025-11-16T21:20:34Z")
I wonder if the expansion into hard alcohol was their eventual downfall? Bringing out an expansive (and expensive) line from the NW that included gins, vodkas and especially whiskies was a mistake they couldn’t recover from. When people go out to buy these things they are looking for established names backed by years of reputation and frankly brand new Dead Guy Whiskey, at a premium price, just doesn’t cut it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/29 "2025-11-16T22:40:00Z")
If any of their products had developed a cult following or gone viral they’d have been hard pressed to scale production to meet the exploding demand. I suspect that was the expectation / hope. When it didn’t happen they were just one more nobody with a big debt to service. Everybody would love to be Tito’s of vodka fame. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/30 "2025-11-16T23:28:40Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > There are sooo many brew-pubs in Astoria that you couldn’t taste them all in a month. Try to find a place to take your family for breakfast, you can’t. Maybe if you buy Grandma a beer. Is the [Pig 'N Pancake](https://www.pignpancake.com/) closed down? The [Riverwalk Breakfast](https://www.facebook.com/pages/Riverwalk%20Breakfast/102464421915168/)? Maybe try the [Blue Scorcher Bakery & Cafe](https://www.bluescorcher.coop/menu)? I’m pretty sure you’re allowed to crash the Clatsop campus and eat at the [Bandit Cafe](https://www.clatsopcc.edu/bandit-cafe/). If none of those suit your fancy, maybe the [Astoria Coffee House & Bistro](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1763721561224094&set=pb.100027588027200.-2207520000&type=3)? I’m not sure how many breakfast options you’d expect for a town of 10K people, but that seems like a decent start. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/31 "2025-11-16T23:30:25Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > The craft brewing boom has ended Agree. And I was shocked to see someone building a microbrewery near me, from the ground up, in a village of 2400 residents. ([FB link](https://www.facebook.com/newenonbrewing).) Looking at the construction photos, it’s apparent he’s putting a _lot_ of money into it. Kudos to him, but I have to wonder if he’ll ever turn a profit. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/32 "2025-11-16T23:31:11Z")
Tiptoeing around the politics, Canadian boycotts of US alcoholic beverages has made things harder for the entire industry. An expanding brewer in the Northwest would have counted on Canadian business in such an expansion. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/33 "2025-11-17T03:04:11Z")
I’m gonna miss Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown and Shakespeare Stout–here’s hoping some enterprising employee copied down some recipes. I’ll also miss stopping off in Newport for a big basket o’fried, beer battered this ‘n thats. That being said, consensus amongst the local subreddits is that they were execrably managed and it was simply a matter of time. Oh well. Enshittification of everything continues apace. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/34 "2025-11-17T03:25:21Z")
I’m nowhere near the PNW, but a few years ago, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant opened in my fair multi-city, and proved to be way more popular than anyone ever predicted. I never ate there, although I know people who did, and they all said it was great. It was quite small, seating maybe 40 or 50 at the most, and a year or so ago, the owners said that they were in over their heads and were closing the restaurant as it was because they just couldn’t handle it. They did say that they would continue to do catering, rent out the kitchen to other people who needed it for single uses, and open the facility for private parties. AFAIK, they’re still doing this. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/35 "2025-11-17T05:24:17Z")
I loved _most_ of their pink bottle collaborations with Voodoo Donuts, Shakespeare Stout, Double Dead Guy, and of course their barleywine, XS Old Crustacean. ---
**Author:** ![dimike333](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dimike333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dimike333)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/36 "2025-11-17T06:32:42Z")
Surprises like this usually mean money trouble behind the scenes. Big production runs, high costs, and a tough market can push even long running breweries over the edge. It’s a loss for people who enjoyed their lineup, but it also shows how unstable the craft scene has become. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/37 "2025-11-17T08:35:13Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > But a lot of businesses in trouble do their damnedest to keep it an absolute secret until one day the next shift shows up to locked doors and a hand-made sign on the outside. True - I’ve seen this a few times with businesses that folded. Management strenuously assures everyone that everything is fine and continues to say everything is fine, right up to the point where it’s suddenly obvious to everyone that it was _not_ fine. I suppose even if they know the ship is going down, they don’t want the additional disruption of people jumping off early. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870/38 "2025-11-26T22:39:36Z")
Here’s a follow-up story on Rogue’s closing. They’ve filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with $16.7 million in liabilities. There’s also a $10 million dram shop suit where someone apparently was served too many drinks at one of their brewpubs and went out and killed a 74-year-old woman in 2022. > **[10 days after shutting down, Rogue's parent company files for bankruptcy with...](https://lincolnchronicle.org/10-days-after-shutting-down-rogues-parent-company-files-for-bankruptcy-with-nearly-17-million-in-liabilities/)** > > 10 days after shutting down, Rogue's parent company files for bankruptcy with nearly $17 million in liabilities [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-popular-brewery-in-the-nw-has-abruptly-shut-down/1024870.md?page=1)