Roses’ Taproom, which has grown a cult following since opening up in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood in 2017, announced Friday it is closing.
“This is brutal,” Roses’ Taproom owners Hillary Huffard and Luke Janson wrote on Instagram. “Though this is written with sadness, it is also with pride and gratitude and we hope you can come raise a pint this weekend to community, gratitude and love.”
Sunday will be the last day to swing by the Temescal establishment, though the owners want to host a farewell party sometime this month.
The impending closure follows on the heels of a hiring spree. Last month, Roses’ was seeking to recruit “folks of all levels of experience to bring their hustle, humor and positive energy to our efforts.” But mounting costs became too heavy for the operation led by married artists to bear.
“Its been a slow burn,” Huffard said. “The last couple of months have been especially slow, and so many businesses that have opened are facing astronomical rent and astronomical overhead costs, and it just became impossible for cash flow to sustain day-to-day operations.”
The taproom became a brewery to watch in 2019 when the Chronicle described it as a bright and colorful space, contrasting with the more utilitarian warehouse vibes of other area breweries. It produced an easy-going lineup of beers before it recently announced maintaining an “in-house brewing model” as “unsustainable,” and pivoted to partnering with craft breweries.
It’s been a difficult few years for breweries amid a national decline in alcohol consumption. In September, San Francisco’s 21st Amendment Brewery shut down, citing declining sales and a “cash bleed.” A month later Temescal Brewing initiated the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.
And in April, HenHouse and Fort Point breweries merged, framing the move as a way to avoid being “one of the many breweries that’s gone out of business in the last few years.”
This article originally published at This Oakland taproom with a cult following is shutting down.