Huge Changes For Modern Times
RIP Dankness Dojo…
Yesterday there was massive news in the Craft Beer world that dropped. Modern Times Brewing decided to close four of its eight locations amidst a massive restructuring due to a great many reasons with the effects of the Pandemic being the first and foremost one.
The locations that are being affected are Portland (opened in 2018), Los Angeles (opened in 2018), Oakland(opened in 2019) and Santa Barbara (opened in 2019). Modern Times had very much been on a expansion train that seemed like it could keep going above and beyond what many thought were possible. The remaining locations except for Anaheim (opened in 2020) are all in San Diego proper and will help Modern Times refocus on their new vision going forward. Those last locations are: Point Loma (the main brewery that opened in 2013), North Park (opened in 2014) and Encinitas (opened in 2018).
To say that this came out of the blue… is very much an understatement. Modern Times like most other Craft Breweries has felt the Pandemic’s effects quite harshly. Though extra sale drives have occurred to support the Brewery to get them through these tough times … it seems like it wasn’t enough. Full Disclosure - I am a member of their beer club called The League and have a unique perspective when talking about Modern Times. I joined in 2018 and this is my fifth year as part of it. Seeing Modern Times evolve and change as they’ve expanded has been a very interesting experience. Modern Times was riding high and it seemed like they could do no wrong and boy… were those early years amazing. Multiple beer festivals, grand openings and numerous events happened throughout the years. There were always whispers about the sudden growth and expansion of the brewery but… with the way the market was going… it seemed like everything was going great. Then the Pandemic hit. It changed the marketplace. And even though it seemed like Modern Times was able to pivot in order to survive… it seems like there was some overreach from previous years that couldn’t be avoided.
Green Flash did have some good days…
So… going forward… what now? It seems like they will restructure and lock down their key SOCAL region and make sure that they will survive as a company. Since I’ve been watching the Craft Beer market for a long while… I have actually seen something like this before. Famously, Green Flash had something similar happen to them in 2018. Back then… Green Flash was a massive Craft Beer brand and was known nationwide. They started to expand aggressively and even opened up a huge brewing facility in Virginia with talks of opening up another facility in Nebraska. What they couldn’t see was that the Craft Beer revolution was still in full swing and more and more Craft Breweries were popping up everywhere. People had even more options for Craft Beer then ever. Sadly, they had to shutter their Virginia Brewing location and their Sour Brewing location… and then they had to shutter everything and sell the brewery.
Now I know that this example has its differences to Modern Times but there are two main similarities… distribution is difficult & pricey and competition in the Craft Beer market is still occurring and shelf space IS A THING. We have been waiting for the bubble to burst for the Craft Beer market and I feel like we are nearly there. Sadly… we will see more of this kind of thing for Craft Breweries and then we will see more of what Modern Times is currently doing. Retreating and locking down their home court and digging in deep to survive what is to come. If only the Pandemic hadn’t happened… Modern Time’s ambitious expansion gambit would probably have succeeded. But sadly… we are not on that golden timeline.
I most certainly will be doing some follow up articles about Modern Times but as for now…
