Suspended Brewing plans to close, move to smaller spot in North Baltimore

Pigtown’s Suspended Brewing Company announced plans Tuesday to leave its Washington Boulevard home for a “small, cozy” building in North Baltimore.

The brewery, which has been a neighborhood staple for seven years, will shutter its doors following a celebration on New Year’s Eve. The announcement made on social media brings Suspended into an expanding group of local businesses who have had to close or reinvent due to an inability to recover from pandemic-era losses.

Longtime fans and neighbors of the brewery will be able to stop by for a pint during normal taproom hours Thursday to Saturday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. until Dec. 30.

“Whether you’ve stopped by once, or if our home also became yours, we are truly grateful,” the brewery said in a statement to community members. “This journey would be impossible and meaningless without you.”

Suspended struggled to find its footing following the pandemic. According to their statement, the company “barely made it through,” citing financial strains and an expensive, large taproom as contributors to the closure.

While it remains unclear what building the brewery will be calling home come the new year, they said in their posts that they are confident the move, which does not yet have a public timeline, will be “an opportunity to reinvent ourselves.”

Brewery founder Yasmin Karimian was not immediately available to respond Wednesday.

In the last month, beloved Baltimore spot Joe Squared announced plans to close at the end of the year due to “lower turnout, higher expenses, and a lack of resources” following the pandemic. The Local Oyster also shuttered its doors, with a partner of the eatery’s parent company Zack Mills claiming that “restaurants are not back” from the COVID-19 financial downturn.

“Things haven’t been good [in the restaurant industry] since 2019,” he said earlier this month.

matti.gellman@thebaltimorebanner.com