This keg has run dry.
A decade-old brewery in the Bronx is closing its doors for good next week — becoming one of almost half a dozen in the city that have shuttered in the past six months.
The brew masters at Gun Hill Brewing Co., which opened in 2014 at 3227 Laconia Ave., will serve their last pint in the borough May 18 in what’s become a competitive industry.
“There’s been an explosion of breweries in the last 10 years,” said Dave Lopez, one of the partners behind the tap room. “We’ve had a hard time justifying all the price increases since Covid.”
Then-Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. celebrated the opening of the Williamsbridge neighborhood brewery during the kickoff to Bronx Week in 2014, the Daily News reported at the time. Rapper Swizz Beatz, a native of the borough, was on hand as an honoree.
Lopez says the company is not tapping out of the business for good and will continue to make its hops upstate as well as operate a smaller offshoot of the brewery, the Gun Hill Publick House, in Sunset Park’s Industry City. But the firm’s decision to close the 5,000-square-foot taproom, between Boston Road and Duncan Street, was not made lightly, said Lopez, who cited the increased costs of raw materials and utilities.
Gun Hill is now joining the fate of four other breweries across the city that have also recently closed: Coney Island Brewery, Interboro Spirits & Ales in East Williamsburg, and LIC Beer Project and Big aLICe Brewing in Long Island City.
Coney Island Brewery, on Surf Avenue near Luna Park in what’s known colloquially as the people’s playground, similarly attributed its closure to financial struggles and the “seasonality of the area,” which is usually packed during the summer months but empties out as it gets cooler, according to Brooklyn Magazine.
“It’s definitely part of a larger trend,” said Lopez.
Meanwhile, even more have opened in just the past few years: Torch & Crown Brewing Co. opened in SoHo in 2021; Talea Beer Co. has opened three new taprooms since 2022, two in Manhattan and a third in Cobble Hill; and Finback Brewery also opened up two taprooms, one in Long Island City and the other in Gowanus, in 2023 and 2022, respectively.
The longtime owner of the former Gun Hill Brewing Co. property, Charles Monaco, told Crain’s Tuesday that the lease goes for $10,000 per month, and he hopes to rent it out to something other than an auto body shop.
Julianne Cuba , 2024-05-07 19:26:58
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