The last news we shared from Elysian Brewing involved workers at the Seattle production brewery and the question of unionization (more below). Today we learned that Elysian Brewing, which is owned by Anheuser-Busch, will shut down its Seattle production brewery effective December 31st. The taproom at that location is now closed permanently. One source tells the Washington Beer Blog that as many as 90 employees will lose their jobs as a result. Another source tells us the closure will impact very few employees.
An Elysian Brewing employee tells us that all of the workers at the facility in Georgetown have been laid off. Other insiders report that all of Elysian Brewing’s beers, like Space Dust IPA, will now be brewed at other Anheuser-Busch facilities. For now, we’re told, the brewery in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, the original home of Elysian Brewing, is one of those facilities. The now-closed production brewery in Georgetown is much, much larger than the Capitol Hill brewery. The future of Elysian’s third location, Elysian Fields, is unknown.
One of the impacted employees tells us, “All but two of the production brewery staff have until the end of the year. Those two employees will now work at the Capitol Hill brewery. The Brewmaster and Lead Brewer were also let go. The same thing happened at Golden Road [another A-B brewery]. A-B is consolidating us into ‘craft west.’ Some marketing and sales are being kept in that consolidation.”
While one source tells us that as many as 80 or 90 people are losing their jobs another tells us that very few people will be impacted. Anheuser-Busch and Elysian Brewing have not released an official statement at this time.
sponsor
Elysian Brewing opened in Seattle in 1996 and led the local beer industry in terms of innovation and creativity for years. The company was acquired by Anheuser-Busch in 2015. In August of 2023, Aheuser-Busch jettisoned eight of its craft breweries, selling them to Tilray Brands, as we reported here. Though Elysian Brewing was not one of the brands included in the deal, it was obvious that A-B was changing its craft beer strategy.
Did Unionization Play a Role?
About a year ago, Elysian’s employees at the production facility voted to join the Teamsters Union. Since then, the Union (Elysian’s employees) and Anheuser-Busch have failed to reach a labor agreement. Was the decision to close the facility related to the unionization? One of the impacted employees tells me, “I think so, but would never really know.” Indeed, we will never know what was going through the minds of the people sitting at that negotiation table. In the end, Anheuser-Busch did not need to pursue a labor agreement with those employees. The question is, when did they know that?
sponsor
Anheuser-Busch is a union shop. Nationwide, about 5,000 A-B employees are Teamsters. Publicly, the Union and the company speak well of each other. It does not appear an adversarial relationship. Any forthcoming statements from either side would likely shed no light on the situation.
