USA, CA: Magnolia Brewing Company to shutter its Dogpatch location

Longtime San Francisco favorite Magnolia Brewing Company announced on February 14 that it will shutter its Dogpatch location. In a post on Instagram, the company cites the impacts of COVID-19 and a desire to focus on its flagship location in the Haight, which it has run since its launch in 1997, as reasons for the decision, the Eater San Francisco reported.

In an email to Eater SF on February 11, the business confirmed a tip that the Dogpatch location of their operation would be closing. The Eater SF tipster added that the landlord of the brewery’s 3rd Street space had raised the brewery’s rent, and, when the company looked to negotiate the price, the landlord let Magnolia know they already had a new tenant in mind: a plant-based salmon company. The brewery did not offer Eater SF any further comment or confirm that the nature of the building’s new tenant. The director of marketing for Plantish, a popular plant-based salmon alternative, told Eater SF they will not be the new tenants.

Magnolia Brewery has had a dynamic decade. In 2014, the Haight-Ashbury corner business expanded to the east side of the city after numerous delays and setbacks. The Dogpatch expansion featured a restaurant called the Smokestack and was first led by a former Namu chef with a bar program put together by an Alembic alum.

Not long after, in 2015, owner Dave McLean put Magnolia up for sale after filing for bankruptcy. In 2017 the brewery was acquired by Colorado-based New Belgium for a reported $2.7 million. McLean went off to found Admiral Maltings in Alameda, and the Dogpatch space went through a major renovation in 2018. When it emerged, there were three new owners: then-new Magnolia brewing director Dick Cantwell, New Belgium co-founder Kim Jordan, and Belgian brewer Oud Beersel.

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