The San Francisco craft beer world just got a little less hoppy. 21st Amendment Brewery, a beloved local institution that rode the dot-com wave and became a staple of the Bay Area brewing scene, is shutting down both its South Beach taproom and San Leandro brewery in November.

The brewery’s closure isn’t just another business casualty - it’s a stark reflection of how dramatically drinking culture has transformed. Co-founder Shaun O’Sullivan candidly admitted that craft beer isn’t what it used to be, with younger generations gravitating towards canned cocktails and low-calorie hard seltzers.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Since 2021, 21st Amendment has seen sales plummet by a staggering 20% annually. Add in brutal aluminum tariffs and changing consumer preferences, and you’ve got a recipe for brewery bankruptcy. Once ranked 26th in the country by volume between 2016 and 2019, the brewery is now joining the growing list of craft beer casualties.

A Sudden Goodbye

The shutdown appears dramatic and unexpected. O’Sullivan’s own Facebook posts suggest the decision wasn’t entirely his, with the brewery’s lender pulling funding due to ongoing “cash bleed”. The abrupt nature of the closure comes barely a month after celebrating their 25th anniversary.

The Bigger Picture

This isn’t just about one brewery. It’s a symptom of a larger shift in Bay Area drinking culture. From Anchor Brewing to now 21st Amendment, local craft beer institutions are vanishing faster than your friend’s startup idea. The dream of brewing revolutionary beer in the heart of San Francisco is getting harder to sustain.

As O’Sullivan poignantly noted, “While this chapter is closing, I hope our story inspires the next generation of brewers and dreamers”. Cheers to that - and maybe to a hard seltzer.