Buoy Beer Co. president issues update on Roof Collapse at Astoria waterfront brewery

Buoy Beer Co. roof collapses in Astoria

President of the Astoria, OR waterfront brewery has issued a statement on the damage and catastrophic effects to the company.

One of the Oregon coast’s premiere brewery’s suffered a devastating accident on Tuesday when Buoy Beer Co.’s roof collapsed upon the restaurant and brewery on Astoria’s waterfront.

UPDATE: Buoy Beer president/ co-founder David Kroening has issued a statement posted below:

“Last night a portion of the original Buoy building suffered significant damage. The most important thing is that no one was injured or around the area that was affected.

This building houses our restaurant, small batch brewery, brite tanks, lager tanks, and canning line. The entire original Buoy building is closed to everyone until further notice. We have secured the area with fencing so that no one can enter. We will continue to work with the City of Astoria officials and other professionals to inspect things more thoroughly as we figure out the next steps. Until we're able to consult with those people, we unfortunately do not have more details to share, which will likely take some time to figure out.

We are working on plans to keep our entire team working and figure out ways to get back to brewing, as our brewhouse and fermentation facility has not been affected. Our sister companies, Pilot House Distilling and River Barrel Distribution are also unaffected and will continue to operate as normal.

We are humbled by the overwhelming support from our local community as well as our industry friends. We feel lucky to live and work in this place and in an industry like ours. Thank you for all your kindness while we navigate this situation.

David Kroening, President, Buoy Beer Company”

A photo from the rooftop of Buoy Beer ahead of construction, taken from roughly the same place the roof collapsed

Drone image of the Buoy Beer roof collapse by Kevin Sealy

The cause of the accident is so far unknown, but the brewery has announced that luckily no one was hurt in the collapse. What we do know is that the brewery has been under continual expansion including new packaging facility, distribution, and a relocation of their family brand Pilot House Distilling which they acquired in 2019.

From aerial photos it appears the center north side of the main building collapsed along the waterfront, this multi-level area likely includes part of warehousing and the restaurant kitchen space. The kitchen itself has been partially closed for months in favor of a take out window. We know that the restaurant was in construction to add additional space that expands the entire river view side and developing a large second story event space to host future weddings, events, and meetings.

In 2021 Buoy Beer Co-founder David Kroening said that the prior year forced them to "pump the brakes hard as we dealt with the toughest months we have ever faced. After some really hard work from our entire team, we were able to make the decision that with some tweaks to our plan, focusing growth on our core areas was going to be the best path for us to make sure we'd be able to expand our team again into the future and meet the ever-growing demand for our beer and spirits."

Buoy Beer Company recently held a ribbon cutting for completion of beer production moved into the Astor Street building across the street from the original facility, which is a good sign for the ongoing status of brewing operations. The new building houses a 50bbl 4-vessel brewhouse along with more fermentation tank. However, beer production did not leave the original Bornstein Cannery building, and instead they installed a pipe bridge between the new building and the current brewery where the lager tanks, bright tanks, kegging lines, and new higher-speed canning line are located. The pipe bridge carries wastewater from the brewery and distillery to the brewery's own treatment facility that will process the water before it enters the city's wastewater system.