UPDATED 3:10pm 2/14/2022

It may be the end of the current craft beer era, because Modern Times Beer is closing 4 of their 8 locations, including the Portland brewpub known as the Belmont Fermentorium.

Modern Times is San Diego, CA based, and was once one of the fastest growing craft breweries in the country. They quickly expanded with many locations around California and a Portland brewery and taproom that has become a popular staple. But early on analysts were speculating the company had overburdened themselves with debt to fund that massive expansion which then lead to the company looking for equity investors via a wefunder in April 2019. In early 2021 in the middle of the pandemic they were also targeted in claims of harassment and a toxic work environment that eventually lead to numerous management being ousted, including founder and CEO Jacob McKean. The closure was unexpected by most in the company, MT had just announced a new CEO and VP of sales to lead the company only a month ago in a bid to address company-wide concerns. According to a company blog post the full extent of how much trouble they were in was not apparent until the new CEO and VP took control: “As new leadership has stepped up and taken the helm over the last few weeks, it became clear that the financial state of the company that we are now tasked with directing is not just unsustainable, but in immediate and unavoidable peril.”

In 2019 when Modern Times launched their campaign to seek public investors via equity, the brewery alluded to a desire to avoid selling a large part of the company to a corporate brand or private investment group. They were way over-leveraged and the pandemic probably put them over the edge. They wrote on their wefunder page in 2019: “we can't think of a better long-term, sustainable business model than a brewery owned by its employees and fans, both of whom already play critical roles in shaping our beer, coffee, and company culture. Giving our fans—who already champion the brewery, frequent its establishments, and cheerlead its efforts—a chance to share in the potential upside of the company’s success seems like both a rad thing to do and a chance to have the most pro-active, engaged investor group on the planet”

The rumor mill says that some of the Modern Times hard assets began getting re-posessed but an MT insider we spoke to denied that was true. Regardless, shortly after that via instagram MT announced suddenly and briefly that Portland, Oakland, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles locations would all close by the end of the week.

When reached for comment, Modern Times director of communication Dan Reed confirmed some other troubling news, saying “we will be unable to retain the staff from Belmont. We'll also be putting a pause on our distribution in the Pacific Northwest for the time being, and refocusing our attention on the Southwest as we enter this rebuilding process.” Which means get Modern Times Beer bottles and cans now while you have the chance, because we may not be seeing it in Oregon or Washington anytime soon.

Mike Wright, the landlord for Modern Times PDX Belmont Fermentorium said he learned of the closure like everyone else did via social media. Wright purchased the building and turned it into The Commons Brewery before closing that operation and leasing it to Modern Times.

“The It is a surreal and painful turn of events for us, and we realize that the suddenness of it puts many people we care about in very difficult positions. We wish that there were another way to resolve the financial issues we now face, but we have been put in a position—by the pandemic and global declines in the craft beer industry—from which this tremendously difficult path is the only way forward for us. While it is a path that we feel will lead to a renewed vision and new life for Modern Times, it doesn’t make taking these drastic measures any less heartbreaking. An instagram caption doesn’t seem like adequate space to go into great detail here, but we have prepared a statement on the closures and what’s next for MT, which you can read via our blog (link in bio). We know we’ve asked a lot of our friends and family within the last 2 years, but if we could ask just one more thing, it would be that you pay some of your favorite beer enthusiasts a last visit this week.

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*League members and those with pickup items at the affected locations will receive separate communication about next steps.”

Modern Times began as a 30bbl production brewery and tasting room in the Point Loma neighborhood of San Diego. It was founded by Jacob McKean, a Stone Brewing alum, who raised $1.25m to open a full-scale production brewery on day one. Modern Times began distributing in Oregon in 2017 and soon after opened the Belmont Fermentorium in PDX in the former The Commons Brewery space in January 2018. They are known for their hazy IPA’s, giant stouts, and puree packed fruit sours, but they also have a sizeable coffee roasting business, and their taprooms are known for their bright and popping throwback visuals that often nod to 90’s pop culture.