Canada, ON: Whitby’s Brock Street Brewing shuts down its operations

Whitby’s Brock Street Brewing, which opened its downtown location with much fanfare in 2019, has shut down operations, INsauga reported on October 6.

It is unknown if there was a breakdown among the four partners or if financial issues are at the heart of the closure but the brewery portion of the business has been closed since late last week and there has been radio silence on the company’s socials.

Co-owner and spokesperson Mark Woitzik has not responded to repeated requests for comment.

There has been plenty of chatter on social media channels about the closure in the absence of any confirmation from the brewery owners. 12welve Bistro & Tapwerks, which operates a restaurant inside the building and had been exclusively serving Brock Street beer on tap, said it was “saddened” to hear that Brock Street “appears to be winding down operations.”

12welve Bistro remains open and has brought in other local beers to fill the void.

“We are and continue to be, a tenant of the building, which is independently owned and not connected to Brock Street Brewing Company operation,” said John Allen of 12welve Bistro. “While we had an exclusive arrangement to serve Brock Street Brewing products so long as they were able to supply our needs, we ultimately had to make decisions in the best interest of our guests when that supply could no longer be sustained.”

“As a fellow local business, we recognize the role they played in the community and the many connections they built with guests and supporters over the years. We wish their team the very best as they transition forward during this difficult time.”

Brock Street Brewing launched in 2015 on Hopkins Street in Whitby with a dream of turning the old fire hall at 204 Brock St. S. – which had sat vacant since 2004 – into a destination brewery.

That didn’t happen until four years later when the brewery moved into the three-storey, 19,000-square-foot building, which included an 8,000-square foot brewery, a bottle shop and eventually an upstairs private lounge and event space.

The brewery proved to a be a popular addition Whitby’s downtown and the company, which was very active in the community – even launching a beer to sponsor a local rock band – had announced plans to expand to Cobourg in 2023 and were sponsoring events there last year.

Last week the brewery abruptly cancelled regular weekly events like Euchre night and Trivia night and their beers were no longer available for sale on the company website.

As well, Lake of Bays Brewery in Muskoka, which had been doing some contract brewing for Brock Street, is now offering cases of Brock Street beer for heavily discounted prices as they try to unload stock before it becomes old code.

As one person noted on Reddit, it is the “end of an era.”