In more sad news, another brewery will be shuttering their doors and turning off their taps soon for good. This time its Spigot Brewing located in Ford City, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh).

Yesterday (10.5.20 at 7:17PM) they posted this on their Facebook page:

What we’re about to say brings us no pleasure and, quite frankly, sucks.For the past several months, the strict regulations surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have proven to be quite a fiscal challenge to deal with. To be completely honest, we have been operating at a deficit for six months now…and yet we have done our best to try to adapt, push on, and hope for a break. However, the breaks simply haven’t come. Our biggest challenge is the size and layout of the taproom. Even as the various phases of occupancy restrictions lift, we cannot accommodate an increase of patrons due to the tangled web of rules that govern us. To bluntly summarize, at this point we have been financially damaged beyond repair and simply cannot continue to operate at a loss any longer.So, what’s next? For starters, we will continue to be open for growler fills for a few weeks. While we will not be brewing any additional product at this point, we just tapped a batch of Fest ‘20 & Ford Street Fog IPA, and have a new IPA kegged up that will get us through for a bit until the Spigots run dry. If we had to guess, that will probably happen near the end of October. Between now and then, all outstanding gift certificates should be cashed in as quickly as possible to prevent any forfeitures. Additionally, you can bring in any beer tokens that you have and use them toward purchases of growler fills or merchandise.Words cannot describe the gratitude that we have for those who graciously supported us over the past few years…especially those super-loyal patrons who stopped in for their weekly growler fills since the inception of the shutdown back in March. You are the sole reason that we were able to survive for as long as we have…a HUGE thanks goes out to you!Please know that we are deeply saddened by this decision, and are sure that you feel the same way. However, you must admit that we had a good run and had a lot of fun together along the way. And as we have said many times over the years, we hope to have a beer with you soon. Except for this one, we may simply be on the other side of the bar with you when it happens…and that’s ok too. Cheers! Doug & Cindy

Spigot Brewing Facebook Page

They follow in the footsteps of some other Pennsylvania breweries that closed their doors for the last time this year – Stoudt’s Brewing, Crystal Ball Brewing, and Voodoo Lancaster.

2020 has certainly been a challenging year for breweries, as well as people in general. From wildfires in Australia and California, from COVID-19 and the coronavirus pandemic and various laws and restrictions and issues therein, from murder hornets, aluminum shortages, coin shortages, Tiger King, spotted lanternflies, and a host of other things; it has been a trying time for all of us. Least of all small businesses. It is in times like this that we need to best support our small businesses and smaller breweries. Visit your local microbrewery, buy a growler, share it with a friend, rave about them, write Untappd and Beer Advocate reviews – or even submit a review to me, and get them some attention and publicity. Tip their servers well. Help out where and however you can.

Spigot Brewing was established in April 2018, in one of the many historic buildings in Ford City. They are technically being listed as the first PA Brewery to close due to COVID-19 / coronavirus.

They are selling the remainder of the beer they still have on tap and in their tanks through growler sales. So if you are in the Ford City area (a bit over three hours from Harrisburg, about forty five minutes from Pittsburgh), I would recommend stopping in and picking up a growler to at least try them before they close. Also, if you have any gift certificates, now is the time to use them.

You can follow Spigot Brewing and get the latest information on their Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, and Untappd.

In other industry and brewery news, there has been a few openings lately. I have just gotten home from day two of Rubber Soul’s opening. I will have a review of the place, food, and beers up soon. You can check out my two articles on their opening here:

• A Sneak Peak of Rubber Soul Brewery (February)
• Rubber Soul Grand Opening (September / October)

I also was recently at Highway Manor’s opening. You can check out my articles on them here:

• Brewery Opening: Highway Manor
• Brewery Review: Highway Manor

And for more openings:

Be sure to check out our other articles on brewery openings:

• A Sneak Preview of Rubber Soul Brewing (Hummelstown)
• Midwest Coast Brewing Opens (Chicago)
• Rally Point – Cox Brewing Taproom Opens (Elizabethtown)
• Boneshire Brew Works to Open Second Taproom in Harrisburg (Harrisburg)
• Irv’s Pub Rebranded as Rotunda Brewing Pub (Hershey)
• Official BBQ (Pizza Boy Secondary Location) (Rutherford)
• Pilger Ruh Brewing Needs Your Help (Pottsville)
• Highway Manor Brewing Co. (Camp Hill)

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

This is not the post I wanted to make today, especially with the overwhelming bad news that is constantly flooding us all the time right now. In the midst of doing the post and work on the beer education series / class I am doing, this news came out. So I figured I’d post this; go back to finish the school / beer education post, then you can make get a good, happy post, rather than the sad one that this is.

Hopefully this won’t be a harbinger of other breweries closing as well. And this isn’t primarily because of the coronavirus / COVID-19 either; as earlier in the year Full Pint Brewing closed their second location – The Wild Side Pub.

Earlier today, Full Pint Brewing posted on their Instagram:

You can see and view their Instagram page here: Full Pint Brewing on Instagram.

Their Instagram page announces that they will be ceasing operations and closing their business on April 3rd. No word has been said about their facility, their equipment, or their beer (either already sold to distributors or in-house).

Untappd has them listed as a micro-brewery out of North Versailles Pennsylvania. It lists them with 310 unique beers and a global rating of 3.58 (as of 3.27.20).

This is the third brewery to be closed in recent months; with Stoudts announcing their closing and Crystal Ball closing completely earlier.

The caption for their Instagram post reads:

It has been an emotional day looking back through old photos… I would be lying if I was to say that I am not tearing up as I type this caption. I am the guy on the White Lightning label, I have done everything in my power to keep Full Pint alive these past few years but even the “God” of White Lightning or Unit Lorde(Inside Joke sorry) has his limitations. Thank you to all of you for supporting us these past 9 years, we were 1 month shy of 10 years in business. We are going to start discounting our growlers and kegs starting today so please come and help deplete our supplies and show our amazing staff some love. Sincerely, Barrett Goddard

Full Pint Brewing (Instagram) (Barrett Goddard)

It is never pleasant to report the closing of breweries, but sadly, it does happen from time to time. And unfortunately, with the pandemic going on, and with many (ahead of the pandemic) already claiming the ‘craft beer bubble is about to burst’ this might become more of a trend. Fingers, toes, and other appendages crossed – that hopefully this does not. But the future months do look to be tense and uncertain.

If you’ve been to Full Pint, or just enjoyed their beers, let us know in the comments. I know sadly, I never got to try the Festivus beer they made, and as a huge Seinfeld fan that is certainly upsetting.

Hopefully this message finds you all healthy, and well, inside your homes. Stay safe everyone, keep your distance, enjoy your beers at home, and support the craft breweries however / whenever you can. We’re all in this together. Cheers everyone!

-B. Kline

(Additional source: Breweries in PA)