21st Amendment Brewery closure results in 76 jobs cut

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The closure of beloved local craft brewery 21st Amendment Brewery will result in dozens of job cuts across two Bay Area counties. According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice posted to the Employment Development Department, the brewery will be laying off 58 workers in Alameda County and 18 in San Francisco.

The job cuts, which were announced earlier this month, are permanent and will take effect on Nov. 4.

News of the long-running craft brewery’s upcoming closure broke earlier this month and was first reported in Brewbound Magazine. The groundbreaking craft brewery, which introduced innovative beers like “Hell of High Watermelon Wheat” and “Brew Free! or Die IPA,” will cease operations the first week of November after 25 years in business.

The brewery is reportedly already in the process of winding down operations at its San Leandro production facility, which will result in 58 job cuts. Another 18 positions are set to be eliminated at 21st Amendment’s San Francisco brewpub on Second Street, a few blocks from Oracle Park.

Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, 21st Amendment co-founder Nico Freccia said the brewery’s sales had dropped by around 20% every year since 2021.

News of the pioneering brewery’s closure sent shockwaves through the already struggling craft beer industry. Changing drinking habits among young people and a mature market has seen a number of closures and consolidations in the Bay Area brewery scene.

Most notably, Anchor Steam Brewing, the quintessential San Francisco beer brand, shut down in 2023. Earlier this year, Fort Point and HenHouse, announced a merger that will see the two leading local craft breweries sharing production facilities.

Last year, it was announced that Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya had purchased Anchor Brewing and would be reviving the brewery. However, more than a year later, there is reportedly still very little in the way of activity at the shuttered Potrero Hill brewing site.