Old School Craft Brewery Lompoc Is Closing for Good Next Week

The classic Portland brewery death rattle continues with the impending closure of Lompoc Brewing, a 23-year old craft beer maker with several Portland pubs. Lompoc Brewing will close its brewery and two North Williams locations — 5th Quadrant and Sidebar — on October 29, the Oregonian reports. Oaks Bottom Public House, still run by Lompoc owner Jerry Fechter, will remain open and stock Lompoc beer until it runs out.

Lompoc got into the brewery game in 1996, with the help of then-brewer Fechter; the brewery was a massive success, and within a few years, the team opened locations on Southeast Division and North Williams. Lompoc-affiliated brewpub Oaks Bottom Public House, which opened in 2006, is often considered the birthplace of the totcho, a quintessentially Oregonian cheesy-tater-tot bar snack. In its heyday, Lompoc had five locations across the city, with brewpubs everywhere from Westmoreland to NW 23rd.

But a decade later, Lompoc started to shrink. First, the Hedge House location closed in 2017, followed by the original location in Northwest Portland. Now, Oaks Bottom will be all that remains, save a few novelty bottles of Proletariat Red hidden away by devotees.

Lompoc isn’t the only classic brewery to close this year; Bridgeport Brewing closed up shop in Northwest Portland this spring. And those that haven’t closed are often shrinking: Widmer Brewing shut down its brewpub in January, and Laurelwood has closed its Sellwood-Moreland location. For now, nostalgic beer nerds can visit Lompoc this weekend for one last beer.

• Lompoc Brewing [Official]
• Lompoc closing after 23 years, as Portland loses another legacy brewery [O]
• Previous Lompoc Brewing coverage [EPDX]