American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
“We might have been one of the first people to say that we’re closing, but I don’t think that we’re going to be the last.” Taurean Davis, The Beer Collective
A beloved New Haven, Connecticut craft beer bar has shut off its taps and closed its doors for good, the latest casualty of a worldwide pandemic that is decimating the hospitality industry.
On June 29th Craig Sklar and Taurean Davis co-founders of Downtown New Haven’s The Beer Collective, took to Facebook to make the sad announcement.
It is with great sadness that we make this post. We at The Beer Collective have done our best to provide great customer service, great food, and most importantly, as the name implies, great beer. We wanted to provide a dedicated craft beer list of the best beer we could find, and for the past three and a half years, we believe we succeeded in that goal. This COVID-19 crisis has hit the world hard, and especially the service industry in ways for which we could not predict or prepare. Together, we will hopefully get through this crisis together. This new world will sadly be without The Beer Collective. We have considered different strategies, but we are unable to keep the doors open any longer.
We would like to thank all our guests, from the regulars to the ones who only made it by once. It was for you that we painstakingly suffered to provide the best service possible. Even during the hard times that love made us feel greatly appreciated. New Haven is an incredible town and we were glad to be a part of its nightlife for the past three years.
To the brewers and industry reps who supported us over the years: from the bottom of our hearts we would like to thank you for helping us procure a draft list that we felt rivaled any prestigious beer bar on the East Coast. The New England area, and more specifically, Connecticut, has a fantastic beer scene and we were glad to be a feature it. We cannot even recount the numerous great nights drinking great beer with the craft beer community and discussing the great intricacies of craft beer. Those are nights we will miss and cherish for a lifetime.
To our employees who worked for us one day or for the duration of our journey: we were only the bar we became because of you. Your tireless effort to provide great food, great service, and most importantly, great smiles for our guests regardless of the craziness surrounding the days was extraordinary. Craig and I came into this industry passionate about craft beer, but inexperienced. You helped us through our rougher times and kept us functioning as we learned. We feel like we provided a great experience for almost everyone who entered, and the team was by far the biggest part of that.
To the world: Things are tough now and we are in the midst of a terrifying pandemic, but things will get better. We want you to think of the good times you shared with friends at our bar. We want you to remember all of the great breweries we featured and to support them going forward. We will get through this, but only if we as a community continue to support each other. We hope you join us and share a beer at another local craft brewery or beer bar.
Thanks for all of the support.
Craig and Taurean
“We were open for three and a half years, and it was bittersweet to close, but I very much think we accomplished what we wanted to do,” Davis told the New Haven Independent. We were very much the definition of a small business, We were owners that were there every day.”
We might have come out and been one of the first people to say that we’re closing,” Davis added “but I don’t think that we’re going to be the last.”
