Oskar Blues closure

[TAF]

Kind of sudden, and a big one to close without warning.

https://austin.eater.com/2023/11/3/23943828/oskar-blues-brewery-austin-closed

 

[AntonioGG]

Came here to post the same.  So weird how they did it.

[AntonioGG]

 

[TAF]

Interesting Reddit comments. Will I miss em? No - didn’t visit the tap room often, and didn’t care much for the beer. Tough short-term for the employees - maybe some will find a home at Pinthouse.

Meanwhile, I wonder how much longer Celis will last.

[Chief]

1 hour ago, TAF said:

 

Meanwhile, I wonder how much longer Celis will last.

Celis filed for chapter 11 a few years ago and was able to get backing. The daughter is one of the owners now using the original recipes. But it seems the beer thing is shrinking. Too many breweries brewing the same beers as each other and not enough diversity in styles. IMO Redhorn has the most diverse tap list locally, pretty much something for everyone. Their dark side of the wall event is one of my favorites. Hell Or Highwater brewing in liberty hill does some good stuff too. Thinking the bike industry is following suit.

[TAF]

52 minutes ago, Chief said:

Celis filed for chapter 11 a few years ago and was able to get backing. The daughter is one of the owners now using the original recipes. But it seems the beer thing is shrinking. Too many breweries brewing the same beers as each other and not enough diversity in styles. IMO Redhorn has the most diverse tap list locally, pretty much something for everyone. Their dark side of the wall event is one of my favorites. Hell Or Highwater brewing in liberty hill does some good stuff too. Thinking the bike industry is following suit.

Celis is probably still experiencing financial difficulties. I believe Uncle Billy’s or Zilker or someone rents a good part of their production facility. The debt load on that fancy building must be high, and in addition, the non-Pierre brews have not made a name for themselves.

[mack_turtle]

Too many breweries! I'm not beer-sensitive enough to tell the difference among juicy IPAs and saisons, so if I'm going to visit a taproom, I go for ambiance and food. Currently, I enjoy:

Beerburg out on Fitzhugh great for a post-ride meal and drinks after riding Pedernales, Reimers, etc.

Fast Friends on the south side next to I-35. Giant pizzas and a huge space for gatherings. It's also close to the far-east segments of SATN, so it could become a hub for rides there.

Koko's Bavarian on the east side. They have been "Temporarily closed" for quite a while, which has me concerned. I hope they reopen. Central Machine Works is right next door and also a great spot.

[AntonioGG]

I think the places that will remain will be the ones that have consistent food, good ambiance.   Pinthouse Pizza has pizzas until closing time, while some have food trucks that change, or run out of food early, or close the kitchen very early.  Being adjacent to walkable neighborhoods is a plus as well.

[The Tip]

4 hours ago, mack_turtle said:

Fast Friends on the south side next to I-35. It's also close to the far-east segments of SATN, so it could become a hub for rides there.

Rumor has it there is now a trail connection from the brewery to the Boggy Down trail. Pretty cool

[AntonioGG]

Yeah, also location relative to trailheads is a plus I think.

[ATXZJ]

1 hour ago, AntonioGG said:

 Being adjacent to walkable neighborhoods is a plus as well.

This exactly^

Nano and small neighborhood breweries will survive the impending storm. The ones that are smart have basically built a brewery version of Cheers. The mid sized ones, trying to distribute, that need a constant stream of cheap loans will drown as small fish in a big AMBEV pond.  Also seems every other brewery that tried to operate in the beer DMZ that is metric, has failed. That area is certain death.

As far as Oskar blues goes. There's no love lost.  Giant facility and taproom that offer the same mediocre beers you could buy at HEB. Yawn

Heart goes out to the employees that showed up to locked doors. Had that happen to me more than once. 

[TAF]

Pinthouse will do fine - they fund everything using pizza sales, in any case.

[AntonioGG]

BTW, those of you that like the dark heavy beers, HEB had the bomber 6-pack for around $10.  (Black Quad, Real Heavy, Comissar)  I hope that brewery makes it!

Edited November 8, 2023 by AntonioGG

[Chief]

I agree with @ATXZJ that one of the things that turns me away from a brewery most is no food or food truck. My wife and I like to go to a brewery for lunch on the weekends no food is a deal breaker for us. Redhorn has food at both locations, Hell or Highwater is partnered with the Shack out on the lake and has a kitchen that makes pretty good stuff, there's also Whitestone who are partnered with Ron Burguesas food truck but Whitestones tap list has much to be desired. Whitestone used to brew some pretty good stuff but now it seems that they only brew the basic staple beers that everyone else brews which IMO are mediocre. It appears that one of the largest cannibis companies is buying up breweries right now as it looks like Anheuser Busch is liquidating their portfolio. I believe a lot of the small breweries were in hopes of getting enough traction that a large corporation would take interest and make a buyout offer but that ship has sailed. With the economy contracting there's going to be a lot of this in many industries including the bicycle industry, for a while there they were naming their prices for bikes and frames but now I'm seeing prices dropping. I bought my Rascal frame in October 2020 for $2800 shortly after they went up to $3500 now they are back down to $2800. In the end the market will adjust itself accordingly.

@AntonioGG The black Quad is a great deal for a 10% beer only costing around $5-7 a bottle, it's a pretty good beer for that cost.

Here's an article about Tilray buying breweries;

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/21/tilray-cannabis-buys-brands-from-molson-coors-anheuser-busch.html#:~:text=Tilray announced earlier this month,the space in the U.S.

Edited November 8, 2023 by Chief

[AustinBike]

On 11/7/2023 at 5:34 AM, mack_turtle said:

Koko's Bavarian on the east side. They have been "Temporarily closed" for quite a while, which has me concerned. I hope they reopen. Central Machine Works is right next door and also a great spot.

Eh, good riddance. Their "Bavarian" food was a major disappointment for me. It was about as authentic as the Tex Mex that you would find in München.

[Chongo Loco]

Oskar Blues scale back probably has little to do with the Austin neighborhood brewery scene and more to do with their portfolio at large.  They went gangbusters 7-8 years ago putting in large facilities outside of Lyons/Longmont CO in Austin & Brevard, NC and did a bunch of stuff like their ranch in the Brevard/Asheville area with farm to table plans plus bike facilities to tie in with the REEB bike brand.  They closed up that ranch a while back, and seem to be shrinking their footprint in other business areas.  Their need for a large distribution hub in this area has probably declined and they'll pull back to just Longmont, CO and Asheville, NC.  Overall, I don't think their nationwide brand growth came close to what they expected, so they just don't need the 3rd production facility. A shame for this area because Dale's philanthropic outlets were great for kids in the area and the bike community.  Did a few of the bike builds at the brewery, amazing how much money he gives back.  I've been to the original Lyons location many times. They did amazing work for that community after a huge flood 5-6 years ago.  Good company, just feeling the competition for nation wide beers.

[Chongo Loco]

On 11/7/2023 at 9:22 AM, AntonioGG said:

I think the places that will remain will be the ones that have consistent food, good ambiance.   Pinthouse Pizza has pizzas until closing time, while some have food trucks that change, or run out of food early, or close the kitchen very early.  Being adjacent to walkable neighborhoods is a plus as well.

That has always puzzled me about Oskar Blues.  I've been to the original restaurant in Lyons, CO dozens of times. He has a handful of other restaurants by different names/menus in nearby Longmont and Boulder. I think they expanded Oskar Blues to Denver and CO Springs.  He's originally a restauranteur, why not tie that in to the breweries?  I expected him to at least try a version of one of his restaurants like maybe the taco joint/bike shop combo Cyclehops in this area.  That they stuck to the haphazard food trucks seemed out of character.  Food/Beer/Music is his thing, why skip that when you expand?

[Chief]

Oscar Blues is owned by Monster Energy drinks which leads me to believe Monster may also be in a bit of financial trouble.