After a ten-year run, Crime & Punishment Brewing, the only brewery in Brewerytown, is closing its doors for good on April 12, writes Jenn Ladd for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Owner and brewer Mike Paul said the decision to close the small rowhouse brewery on Girard Avenue was due to a combination of strained finances and exhaustion.
“Every pallet of grain, every pallet of cans, we have to disassemble and carry inside one bag at a time into the basement and then back up to brew beer with — which was fine when I was 25,” said 37-year-old Paul.
The brewery launched in 2015 with seven original owners, five of whom remain. It was the first brewery to open in the neighborhood since 2002, when the short-lived Red Bell Brewing closed. The area was once had over a dozen breweries around the turn of the 20th century, inspiring its name.
When Crime & Punishment opened, Philadelphia and the rest of the nation was experiencing a craft beer boom. The culture around alcohol and drinking landscape have changed significantly since then, noted Paul.
He specifically highlighted the various other options, such as ready-to-drink mixed drinks in cans, wine and cider and craft liquor, and non-alcoholic beverages.
Read more about Brewerytown’s Crime & Punishment Brewing Company and its imminent closure in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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