Venerable Cambridge brewpub shutting down

I assume someone has written a book on the evolution of the "brew pub" in the Boston area by now. But you really start to feel old when you think of how much it has changed over the years -- from the actual beer varieties to the pub/brewery concepts and esthetics, to the larger gentrification and development patterns in the different local areas.

I worked for the company that owned the building that Commonwealth Brewery was in and I remember hauling out a pick-up bed full of sodden barley and hops in trash bags that had gotten soaked by a faulty fire sprinkler incident. Driving under the Haymarket garage the hamper containing some of the bags went flying out the back of the bed and splattered all over Congress Street. Hopped out, tossed the hamper back in the bed and swiftly sped away. Truck smelled like skunked beer for a week.

All things must pass.

It's probably a bit of both. In that part of E. Cambridge a lot of the business is going to come at lunch or after work, and if you've got fewer people in the office that makes things tougher. They'd still pick up business from MIT but a substantial minority of the population there can't drink legally.

They're closing Dec. 20 so that sounds like the lease is up at year-end and you might as well close up once most folks at MIT head out for the holidays.

He looked into selling but there was no buyers at the price he wanted, particularity if the lease was ending anyway.

He took pride in the business and would rather see it end than risk watching someone control it without his input.

The market for independent beer has probably peaked and become over-saturated at this point. There are so many options for good local beer now. Personally, I like a good IPA but have cut back considerably as the price edges $5/can and $10/pour. The enjoyment isn't worth the cost.

I have seen this happen to breweries that I have known all over the country. The retirees often own or control their spaces in ways that make it uneconomical for anyone to take over. There has also been a downturn in beer consumption after the pandemic, and the sector may have been overbuilt anyway.

Some of these places came into industrial areas on the edges of cities (because they were zoned thus) and anchored flourishing renewal, or were just there when it happened anyway. Some had 30 year leases or just bought their spaces as they expanded, so they were grandfathered out of the ensuing cost increases. Bridgeport in PDX was certainly the poster child for this.

We both remember what that area of Cambridge was like 40 years ago. The development of One Kendall Square was intended to help revitalize the area with employment and social activity. It didn't disappoint, but other things have changed and the rent on that rather large space alone would be more than a new brewery could likely support.

I half lived there in the early 90s once we moved closer in and started biking everywhere. My husband had multiple jobs in and around that building/area over the course of 20 or so years - it just became a good place to meet, eat, and ride home.

Looks like it's our turn to be old now. Sigh. I'm still grieving the loss of a friend I knew since high school and his Someday Cafe, too. Same era and third spaces vibe.