WILMINGTON — A popular brewery with two locations in town is closing shop until further notice.
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New Anthem Beer Project announced on social media it will shutter its Dock Street location on Wednesday, March 13. St. Patrick’s Day — Sunday, March 17 — will be the final day of operations at its Greenfield Street facility.
The brewery announced it’s closing “indefinitely, barring an 11th hour surprise.”
Port City Daily reached out to owner Aaron Skiles on Feb. 8 after hearing rumors of an impending closure. Skiles said at the time it was untrue.
Skiles did not immediately return PCD’s request for comment Wednesday; this will be updated upon response.
The New Anthem Instagram post Wednesday expressed gratitude to the brewery’s customers throughout the years:
“All we can say to you all is, thank you, it has been an honor to make beer for you. Truly. We are grateful to have been a contributor to this community, both locally and in the great state of North Carolina. We’ll miss yall.”
Skiles started the New Anthem Beer Project in Wilmington in 2016, first by opening on Dock Street between Second and Front streets. Two years later, he announced the addition of a 15,000-square-foot facility in the South Front District neighborhood, behind Satellite. The former Capps Industrial Supply warehouse was upfitted as 3,000-square-foot taproom and large production facility.
New Anthem opened an operation in Raleigh in April 2023 in the Glenwood South area. It announced on March 4 this year it would not remain open.
“The mill has been full of rumors for weeks about the fate of New Anthem Beer, and, yes, we’re struggling,” a social media post from the Raleigh location detailed.
Topping the list of reasons were taking on debt and expanding before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The hangover from COVID that just will not go away,” the post detailed. “However, we’re not quite done yet, we’ re still fighting. More on that too [sic] follow soon.”
It added a few “last-minute shots” were taken to remain afloat but didn’t pan out.
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