County forces Bent Shovel Brewing to relocate its tasting room because it’s too damn popular

Visitors to Bent Shovel Brewing in Oregon City have found the tasting room’s doors closed for the last week, but its owners want to assure everyone that the brewery is doing just fine.

Bent Shovel Brewing has been forced to move its patio and tasting room operations due to the traffic impact the demand for its beer has had on its rural neighborhood. As philosopher P. Diddy once opined: With mo’ money comes mo’ problems.

How we got here

For the past four years, Bent Shovel Brewing has been handcrafting a range of beer styles on a 10-bbl system in a retrofitted red barn located along the Clackamas River on the outskirts of Oregon City. Sounds perfect, right?

The brewery’s business is strong, and it continues to grow thanks to the support of craft beer lovers from around the region. Bent Shovel has experienced strong double digit year over year growth for the past three years. In early 2018, Co-owner Rick Strauss was able to leave his corporate job and dedicate 100 percent of his time to the brewery. At that time, he doubled the brewery’s production capacity with the purchase of a new 10-bbl brewhouse to keep up with growing demand.

“We want to apologize to our customers for the abrupt short notice of the closure of the tasting room,” said Strauss. “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.”

What’s next?

Bent Shovel Brewing is working on securing a nearby location with a similar patio atmosphere and customer experience.

“Bent Shovel Beer will continue to be brewed in our iconic red barn,” explained Shelly Strauss, co-owner of Bent Shovel Brewing. “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.”