Mass. brewery shutting its doors in December after 35 years in business

When Cambridge Brewing Company opened in 1989, there were three beers on the menu. Now, as the brewery prepares to close on Dec. 20, it has nearly two dozen.

The brewery announced its impending closure in an Instagram post on Saturday. While the post does not provide a reason for the closure, owner Phil Bannatyne told The Boston Globe he wanted to retire.

“A heartfelt thank you to all who have participated in our dream,” the post reads.

One of the goals of opening the brewery 35 years ago was to expand the “possibilities of craft beer,” the post reads.

“We were the first commercial brewery to produce a Belgian Style beer in this country and one of the first to embrace multiple yeast strains in-house and even to intentionally invite wild organisms into our brewery,” the brewery’s post says.

The other key goal of opening the brewery was to establish a community meeting place, a “place where our guests could get a break from their hectic lives, gather with old friends, make new ones, and let us take care of them.”

“Over our 35 years we have hosted millions of guests, witnessed joyous family gatherings, awkward first dates, college reunions, running and social clubs, raucous bar crowds and countless other occasions,” the post reads. “It is this accomplishment we are most proud of.”

As the brewery grew, its goals did, too. Among those was an effort to increase the brewery’s energy efficiency and to be a “good community stakeholder” by contributing to nonprofit organizations.

In its final four months, the brewery will still have Patio Season, Festbier and a new fall menu.

“35 years, one hell of a run,” the post concludes.