Provisions is Closing - A Letter from Patrick

Dear Bruery Supporters,

I regret to inform you that the decision has been made to close The Bruery Provisions in Old Towne Orange, CA.  This decision comes with a great deal of heartache.  Provisions has become an important part of the Orange County craft beer scene.  Family, friends, co-workers and I have enjoyed many pints and cheese plates, and I’ve have had the distinct pleasure to work with a number of passionate and talented people at Provisions.  As fantastic as Provisions is, it has taken a disproportionate amount of The Bruery’s resources to operate and I decided it would be best for the long term success of the company to focus on making beer rather than operating a bottle shop and beer bar.

Opening Provisions was the realization of a dream for me.  After travelling to many wonderful beer establishments around the country, the places I’ve enjoyed the most are a unique combination of a beer bar and a bottle shop.  Other than being a one-stop shop for all beer needs, I noticed a common trait in that they have a great sense of community.  This format is a great opportunity to educate about the diversity of beer, and a place to express a common interest in craft beer.  When the opportunity arose to open such a concept in Old Towne Orange, steps away from my alma mater, Chapman Law School, I had to do it.

Having Provisions as part of our efforts over the last three years has been a great education for many of us within The Bruery on the retail side of the beer business.  The Provisions Team has done a superb job in operating a first class operation, and their commitment to Provisions has made this decision all the more difficult.  However, after examining Provisions within the context of what The Bruery should be, I realized it has taken a significant amount of our efforts away from our core purpose.  To put it simply, we are a small company, we can’t do everything.

Our core purpose is to make beer, really fantastic beer, and to continually improve the quality of our beer.  We’ve made some huge commitments to this core purpose by investing in fermentation capacity, which has increased our production capacity by 130% in the last few months.  About 40% of our beer is aged in barrels for a year or longer, and we’ve amassed a collection of over 3,000 barrels to achieve this.  In evaluating how The Bruery should operate in order to achieve its goals, it became apparent Provisions is not the best use of our limited resources.  At this point, the best use of our efforts is focusing on innovation and quality in brewing, working with our many distributors and the thousands of establishments that carry our beer, and serving our customers directly through our Tasting Room, our website and our Society membership bases.

If Provisions was a tool to educate people about craft beer and help move the industry and culture forward, then it was a rousing success.  Since its inception, we’ve introduced thousands of people to our passion for craft beer.  We leave the customers of Provisions in good hands with numerous other locations that have been established within Old Towne Orange, and beyond, that serve and specialize in craft beer.

We will continue to serve Orange County’s craft beer needs through our Tasting Room, adjacent to our production facility in Placentia, which has recently undergone renovations as well.  It now comfortably seats nearly 100 people and offers up to 40 different beers on draft at any given time along with our full selection of bottled beer available to-go, all hand crafted by The Bruery.  We’ve also completed our 3 BBL (93 gallon) pilot system that will allow us to hone our recipes and offer unique, experimental batches on draft.  All of us at The Bruery hope to see many of you picking up where you left off - with a flight of beer at our Tasting Room, watching us brew.

As Winston Churchill once said, "This is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. It is, instead, the end of the beginning.”  And so it is for The Bruery.  Our first 5 years are coming to a close and we are now putting ourselves on track for the next 5 years of craft beer and beyond.  We are thankful to our customers and employees who have joined us on this journey.

Sincerely,
Patrick Rue
The Bruery