Sources close to the brewery have told Cleveland.com that the brewery is shut down. Anheuser-Busch nor the brewery’s founders have publicly commented.
Platform Beer Co. was founded in Cleveland in 2014 and then bought by Anheuser-Busch in 2019. The brewery was founded by co-founders Paul Benner and Justin Carson. According to several sources, It has closed its Lorain Ave. taproom, its sour facility and taproom at Phunkenship, and ceased local production.
Cleveland Scene has heard some employees have been locked out of the company’s Slack channel and haven’t officially heard from anyone while others have signed NDAs as part of their severance package.
The beer giant may continue brewing a few core Platform beers elsewhere, some said, but the entire local operation is done and all employees have been laid off.
Last year, Platform laid off dozens of staff at its Cleveland production facility as well as some in sales, a true sign of issues within the organization.
After a mass staff walkout at its Columbus taproom in 2021, Platform never reopened that location, and its Cincinnati outpost closed recently as well.
