Today, Council Brewing Company with locations in Kerney Mesa and Santee, announced that it will be closing its doors on December 15th for good. After being in business for about 6 and a half years, the San Diego brewery known for its fine Sours like House White and House Red and their Pirate’s Breakfast Day has made the decision to throw in the towel.
In an email sent out to their loyal following today, Council stated their primary reason for shutting down is “due to over-saturation of the brewery market” and struggling with “much lower tasting room/distribution sales”.
Their newest location in Santee will actually close first on December 14th at 8pm. This location had previously housed Butcher’s Brewing Company and Finest Made Ales and was operated by Council for only 6 months.
Their original location in Kerney Mesa is scheduled to be open until December 15th from 11am-8pm before closing its door for good.
Starting today, they will be selling off most of their inventory at a discount.
The closing of Council Brewing Company follows a trend of closing Sour House such as Toolbox Brewing which closed only a couple of months ago in early October 2018. It leaves us wondering if in fact, San Diego might be starting to become oversaturated with breweries or if this is just a way for the market to weed out the weaker links in this industry.
One thing is for sure, the closing of Council Brewing once again reminds us of the importance of supporting your independently owned local craft breweries if you want them to stick around for long.
So next time you’re in your local bottle shop looking for craft beer, be sure to not buy “fake craft beer” but rather pick up a beer from an independently owned local craft brewery which might need your dollars more than you might think.
We encourage everyone to venture outside your comfort zone and try something new every once in a while. Sometimes a can of beer you’ve never heard of could have a hidden gem you would’ve never found if you hadn’t taken a chance.
For now, we say farewell to Curtis and Liz Chism and wish them well with their next venture.