After 25 years of operating in the Bay Area, 21st Amendment Brewery is following a trend of many other craft breweries and officially ceasing business operations.
The San Francisco based company, most popular for its “Hell or High” fruited wheat beer series that included fan-favorite “Hell or High Watermelon,” is ceasing operations fully on Nov. 4, leaving 58 workers in the San Leandro production facility, and 18 workers in their San Francisco tap house, without a job.
In 2023, 21st Amendment opened its existing 120,000 sq. ft. San Leandro canning and packaging facility to other companies, contract brewing and packaging an array of other seltzers and premixed drinks.
Castro Valley resident Dan Gulart espoused,”21A, they’re more than just a craft brewer, they’re a contract brewer. So they will brew for other companies and put other companies’ labels on the product that they manufacture. And it’s significant you know, losing that supply from the market is kind of a waste. As a beer drinker, I don’t like to see that happen. I like to have more choices, not less choices.”
Cole Wagner, a Chabot student also familiar with the beloved Bay Area establishment, claimed, “Yeah, I’m a big fan of 21st Amendment and all their beers. I went to their brewery in San Leandro multiple times over the last 10 or so years for birthday parties and other events like that. I always liked that they had a family-friendly atmosphere and that they often had really good food trucks right outside. As far as their products go, I mean, all their beers were very tasty. My particular favorite was their Hell or High Watermelon and I also really liked their banana bread stout.”
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, 21st Amendment co-founder Nico Freccia claimed that sales have dropped around 20% every year since 2021. According to a recent Gallup Poll, the percentage of Americans that drink alcohol has dropped 8% since just 2023, when 62% of Americans reported they consume alcohol. The current rate of 54% of Americans that reported they drink alcohol is at its lowest in the almost 90-year history of the Gallup Poll, which first started in 1939 where 58% of pollsters claimed they drank alcohol.
According to the Brewer’s Association, a trade entity representing small and independent craft breweries, ”Over the year 2024, 430 new breweries opened while 529 closed. Although openings declined for the fourth consecutive year, reflecting a maturing and highly competitive industry. Craft brewery closure rate remained relatively low at approximately 5%.”
With demand down and operating costs up due to multiple factors, be it due to tariffs on canning and storage materials, rising cost of ingredients, or just consolidation of competitors by major drink conglomerates, it’s no surprise Freccia claimed, “It’s the perfect storm to challenge craft beer, on top of significant headwinds.”
Named after the 21st Amendment ratified in 1933, which repealed the 18th Amendment and ended prohibition, it’s perhaps a cruel twist of fate that 21st Amendment’s doors have now closed, partly due to a growing self-imposed semi prohibition by the American consumer.
