Bent Shovel Brewing To Close Its Tasting Room In Oregon City

Located in a rural area of Oregon City, Bent Shovel Brewing has announced the closure of its Tasting Room. This closure was not something that Bent Shovel wanted to do, but was forced to due to the traffic impact the brewery has had on its rural neighborhood. Bent Shovel is working on securing a nearby location with a similar patio atmosphere and customer experience that hopes to be open in the near future.

Co-owners Rick and Shelly Strauss want to emphasize that the brewery operations are doing just fine as it has experienced double digit growth over the past few years. It’s just that the impact that its Tasting Room has had on the area’s rural infrastructure that has led to the closure.

“We want to apologize to our customers for the abrupt short notice of the closure of the tasting room,” said Rick in a statement. “We really wish that things could remain the same for our humble little brewery patio, but we have been forced to make this change. We have been working with our county officials for quite some time trying to avoid moving our thriving, local, family-owned business. Unfortunately, the county has forced us to change the way we operate.”

Founded four years ago by the Strauss’, Bent Shovel has been brewing in a retrofitted red barn at 21678 S Latourette Rd. located along the Clackamas River on the outskirts of Oregon City. According the press release, Bent Shovel has experienced strong double digit year over year growth for the past three years. Nearly two years ago in early 2018, Rick left his corporate job to go all in at the family’s brewery and has been brewing some well-respected beers during this time. He also doubled the brewery’s production capacity with the purchase of a new 10-barrel brewhouse to keep up with growing demand.

“Bent Shovel Beer will continue to be brewed in our iconic red barn,” explained Shelly in a statement. “This barn is part of our history and will continue to be part of our future! We want to thank the community for its wonderful support for the past four years. We are so excited to see what the next four years bring.”