High-quality craft breweries that have been recognized for their excellence are struggling to remain in business as they battle the craft beer apocalypse.
The industry’s historic downturn, known as the Craft Beer Apocalypse, began in 2023 with 385 brewery closings and grew to 434 in 2025, according to the Brewers Association.
Among the craft breweries to close down in 2026 was San Francisco’s Olfactory Brewing, which shut down in February.
The brewery’s Proverbial Fork beer won a gold medal in the Great American Beer Festival‘s Mixed-Culture Brett Beer category in 2024.
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True Anomaly Brewing closes down
Another award-winning craft brewery, True Anomaly Brewing Co., is set to close down its brewery and taproom at 2012 Dallas St. in Houston on April 30, blaming an Interstate 45 expansion project that is displacing homes and businesses along its path, the company said on its Instagram page.
“It is incredibly difficult to write this, but after an unforgettable run in East Downtown, the taproom will be closing its doors. Our final day will be April 30th,” True Anomaly said on Instagram.
The message said the brewery’s business was closing, as plans for a second location did not move forward.
Second location plans don’t develop
“Over the past year, we found ourselves caught in the path of the I-45 expansion while also working to open a second location nearby,” the message said. “Construction delays and shifting timelines pushed the project further and further out.”
“We kept brewing and kept believing it would come together, but eventually the stars just stopped aligning,” the message continued. “We’ve got some weeks ahead of us, and we plan to make the most of them.”
The Texas Department of Transportation began expanding and rerouting Interstate 45 in the downtown Houston area in late 2024 as part of a multi-billion-dollar project that will shift the freeway from the west side of downtown to the east side to align it with Interstate 69 and U.S. 59., Houston Public Media reported.
Aerospace employees started company
True Anomaly was established in 2019 by four employees of NASA and the Johnson Space Center, who are former rocket scientists, space-suit developers, and mission managers.
The fledgling entrepreneurs started honing their brewing craft in a garage with some brewing equipment and a lot of experimentation, according to the company’s website.
Inspired by a shared fascination with science and outer space, the partners brewed beers, “just a little (or a lot) off the mean trajectory,” according to the company website.
The craft brewery’s website lists 50 locations where cans of True Anomaly beer could be purchased, which include H.E.B. Markets, Whole Foods, and Total Wine.
More closings:
- 67-year-old furniture retailer liquidates, closes down
- Kroger grocery chain rival closes locations in restructuring
- 143-year-old grocery chain closes more locations, lays off dozens
True Anomaly won a silver medal in 2025 for its Sea of Waves American Sour Ale at the Great American Beer Festival.
The brewery also won a silver medal for its Flanders Redux at the Brewers Association’s World Beer Cup competition. It was named 2023 and 2024 Brewery of the Year and has won several other medals at the Texas Craft Brewers Cup.
True Anomaly’s Year-Round Beers
- Scout Mexican Style Lager
- Small Giant Grisette Little Saison
- Contact Light American Saison
- Rocket Park Pale Ale
- Sky Lab American IPA
- Trainer Session Hazy IPA
- Ben’s House IPA West Coast IPA
- Go Flight Hazy IPA
Related: 54-year-old Home Depot rival closes store, no bankruptcy
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