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A sign on Hwy. 101 beckons travelers to visit the main brewing facility.

Lost Coast Brewery, the 36-year-old Humboldt County suds-maker that grew into one of the nation’s top 50 craft breweries, is up for sale.

Owner Barbara Groom, who co-founded the brewery with Wendy Pound after touring English and Welsh pubs in the late ‘80s, told the Outpost on Thursday that she’s ready to retire.

“I’m 80 years old; I can’t do this forever,” she said.

Industry website ProBrewer.com quietly broke the news late last week, touting Lost Coast’s trajectory from the original brewery and restaurant in downtown Eureka through its 2014 expansion to a $27 million, 75,000-square-foot brewing facility at the south end of the city. But Groom said she’s not expecting a quick sale.

“We’re looking around, seeing if we can find somebody, but there are not a lot of people buying breweries right now,” she said.

After years of explosive growth, the craft brewing industry has fallen on hard times amid rising costs, excess competition and fading demand. The COVID pandemic and a shift away from alcohol consumption among young people have both contributed to declining sales. More than half of the microbreweries in the country in 2018 had closed by 2024, according to a recent story in The Guardian. In October, ProBrewer reported a continuing “cascade of breweries filing for bankruptcy and closing.”

A Flatmo-inspired shark hangs outside the main brewing facility.

“In this atmosphere, there’s too many breweries,” Groom said. “Nobody’s really drinking. … Eight, 10 years ago, breweries were selling like hotcakes. Not anymore.”

When the brewery and cafe opened in 1990, Lost Coast Brewery was among the first women-owned breweries in the country. The company’s aesthetic, and most of its distinctive labels, were created by local artist Duane Flatmo, who later beefed with Groom over royalties and look-alike artwork. The company’s award-winning brews include Downtown Brown, Great White, Alleycat Amber, 8-Ball Stout and Tangerine Wheat, and its beer has been distributed to at least 21 states and 11 countries. 

Groom said she doesn’t have a specific asking price in mind, and she’s open to selling each piece of the business separately, whether someone wants the downtown restaurant, the brewing facility, the brand or the whole shebang. She added that she doesn’t want her employees or customers to worry; the sale could take years. But she’s ready to kick back with a cold one.

“I just want to retire,” she said. “I want to go traveling. I’ve got a nice little camper. I just want to get in that baby and travel across the United States.”