SPOKANE, Wash — A popular Spokane brewery closes its doors this weekend.
Hidden Mother Brewery announced on Instagram they’re shutting down. Their last day is Saturday, Feb. 5.
According to founder Mike deTar, many of their issues came down to bad timing.
“Between the government shutdown in 2018 that put our construction back super far because the SBA held off on releasing a lot of the funds approving us and opening just before COVID, we got caught up into a lot of debt that just turned into really bad debt."
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on Spokane's restaurants and breweries with several closing down.
According to the Washington Hospitality Association, over 2300 restaurants closed between March and September of 2020.
According to deTar, 152 restaurants had Hidden Mother taps before the pandemic. That number dropped to two when the temporary shutdown began.
He added that COVID regulations didn't help.
"Just too much of a nut to crack right now. Basically, the regulations killed us, not having enough butts in the seats all the time."
deTar said they did get approved for COVID relief funding, but it wasn't close to what they needed.
The closure came as a surprise to the brewery's fans. According to deTar, he had 130 texts within 20 minutes of the announcement.
deTar said he’s thankful for the community’s support:
"We all lost a lot with this and we're all going to bounce back, but I'm very appreciative of everything that's been put in and just got to lick the wounds for a little while and come back better next time."
Hidden Mother Brewery is spending their last days offering their inventory for $1, including $1 pints, $1 crowlers and $1 growlers.
Hidden Mother Brewery is located at 1303 N Washington St. in Spokane.