USA: The Yakima Brewing Co. is closing its production plant in Yakima

Yakima Brewing & Malting Co., which makes Bert Grant's Real Ales, is moving its production to the Southeast, West Coast and Northeast, Yakima-Herald News posted on October 7. "The decision to close the brewery was a tough one psychologically, but financially it was really easy to make," Paul Brown, vice president of operations for the company, said on Thursday, October 6.

He said the move is expected to cut production costs significantly, in some cases as much as 50 %. Sharing space at other brewing facilities will also reduce distribution costs, which have risen about 30 percent with the recent spike in gas prices, said Brown. "Right now, it's killing our distributors to ship beer from Yakima to, say, Florida," he said.

Brown said the new facilities' locations were chosen because they are close to the company's major distributors, but he declined to provide specific locations, except to say none are in Washington state.

The company has no plans to resume brewing operations in Yakima, but could make its draft beer here in the future, said Brown. The 20,000-square-foot brewery at 1803 Presson Place was built by founder Bert Grant in 1990 to expand production capacity. Grant, who died in 2001, sold the business in 1995 to Stimson Lane Vineyards & Estates, which later became Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. Brown and J. Gregory Tranum, company president, purchased the brewery in 2001.

Two years later, Yakima Brewing fell behind on its payments to INTERNATIONAL Wine & Spirits, the holding company of Ste. Michelle. The company avoided foreclosure by giving its plant, property and equipment back to IWS and entering a lease agreement Dec. 1, 2003, allowing continued operations.

Yakima Brewing, owner of Grant's Brewery Pub, has had a tumultuous past two years. Shortly after giving back the brewery to IWS, the company touted a highly publicized stock offering of up to 500,000 shares. But that was halted by an investigation by the state Department of Financial Institutions of Brown and the company president allegedly deceiving investors and breaking security laws.

A year later, the company's Grant's Brewery Pub was evicted from its longtime home at the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co.'s depot at 32 N. Front St. for owing $85,678.82 in unpaid rent, attorneys' fees and legal costs to the railroad.

Yakima Brewing was in Yakima County Superior Court earlier this year. The company owed $34,650 in back rent and penalties for its brewery. It was served a "pay rent or vacate" notice in July.

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