MacLeod Ale Brewing Co. To Abruptly Cease Operations

(Van Nuys, CA) – The Los Angeles brewing scene has been dealt an unexpected blow as valley favorite MacLeod Ale Brewing alerted their fans on Facebook that their original location in Van Nuys, CA and their brand new location in Highland Park will be halting operations once they have sold through their current inventory of beer.

This shocked many of the loyal fans of MacLeod, and it was noted that only fourteen days ago, MacLeod was advertising job openings for their new pizza venture in Highland Park. Below is a memo MacLeod has sent out to members of the Los Angeles Brewers Guild. We wish the best for the entire staff at MacLeod on their next ventures.

Hi Everyone,

Some of you have seen our posts today on Instagram. Unfortunately, today we had to lay off our entire staff and close down both locations. We will be open for beer sales only [draft and cans] in the Van Nuys taproom.

I’m a direct and open person, so I just want to let you know what is going on. Very simply:

1] We’re over budget in several categories
2] We have too much debt due to expansion
3] Sudden crash of sales [down 15% in Oct, 21% in November! Bad timing!]
4] Our 2nd location opened too late and is underperforming.

Over the years I’ve been able to scrounge up money here and there to keep things going, but I finally came to the end of the road and we only have enough money for one final payroll, this Friday.

We are exploring all options at this time. Perhaps there’s a buyer? Maybe declare bankruptcy? Reorganize with a new team? Who knows, but we’re open to any and all conversations.

We also have some cool equipment for sale, more on that shortly.

Love to you all,

Jennifer

MacLeod Ale Brewing Co.
14741 Calvert Street
Van Nuys, CA 91411