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Rogue Ales & Spirits and its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Monday.
Earlier this month, the storied brewery closed all its restaurants and operations in its hometown of Newport, and shuttered its Southeast Portland restaurant.
Initial reports on the closure said the brewery was buckling under the weight of enormous debts to Lincoln County and the Port of Newport. Overall, the brewery and its subsidiaries, Rogue River Brewing Company and Yaquina Bay Beverage Company, owe $17 million in liabilities and hold $5.6 million in assets. The liabilities include $10 million in unliquidated, contested debt relating to a legal claim, leaving $7 million in uncontested debt.
Rogue was founded in 1988 by Jack Joyce, Bob Woodell, Rob Strasser and Jeff Schultz in southern Oregon, and grew into one of the state’s most venerated craft brewers. By the time the Newport facilities shuttered, Rogue beers were available in all 50 states.
Representatives for Rogue could not immediately be reached for comment.
Court documents, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon, show the company’s tax and rent debt are higher than previously reported, with Rogue and its subsidiaries owing $594,000 in unpaid rent to the Port of Newport, and $510,000 owed to the Lincoln County Tax Collector. Rogue also owes $65,600 to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for unpaid alcohol taxes.
The company also owes $2.3 million in secured debt to Alaska-based Northrim Bank and $100,000 to Columbia Bank. Rogue also owes $1.7 million to hop and malt suppliers, including $865,000 to Hops Direct and $476,000 to Yakima-based hop supplier John I. Haas. It also owes $361,000 to its own subsidiary, Yaquina Bay Beverage Company.
Of the $17 million in liabilities, $10 million is accounted for by an unliquidated, contested claim from the Estate of Nancy Vickstrom in Salem. Craft Brew News, which reported on the bankruptcy filing Tuesday, notes the debt is listed as a “dram shop negligence claim,” typically referring to situations where a business is held liable for serving a patron who then causes injury due to their intoxication.
