Beloved San Francisco Brewery Shuts Its Doors After Crowdfunding Effort

Despite recognition, a California brewery is saying goodbye.

BY MOSES JEANFRANCOIS, NEWS WRITER @MOSESJEANS

Black Hammer Brewing Company co-founder Jim Furman. Photo: Getty Images

Even the healthy beers are being hammered in. A San Fransico brewery has permanently shut its doors after being open for 11 years. 

Owned by Jim Furman and Kevin Jackey, the Black Hammer Brewing Company closed on April 3, joining a string of two dozen other Bay Area closures. This follows an attempt from the duo to crowdsource money to keep the brewery open. The company was able to raise $160,000, though its valuation was $11.2 million, according to the platform StartEngine.   

“It’s been an honor to share our ales and lagers with our community and to gather so many remarkable people — neighbors, organizers, artists, caretakers, makers, dreamers, and everyone in between,” said Furman in an announcement.  

The brewery built a reputation for inventive, offbeat beers, with a particular focus on gluten-free offerings, while also earning praise for its balanced lagers and IPAs alongside experimental, small-batch releases. 

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In the months leading up to its closure, Black Hammer made multiple efforts to stabilize its finances following pandemic disruptions, most notably with crowdfunding efforts.

Reporting from The San Francisco Business Times noted that in November 2024, the brewery posted its first sustained profitability since the pandemic’s onset, recording more than 20% profits over a three-month span. The company also scaled its wholesale business to over 4,000 Northern California retail accounts, added distribution in Solano, Mariposa, and Stanislaus counties, and expanded direct-to-consumer shipping to 45 states. 

A bond prospectus tied to a crowdfunding campaign on SMBX shows that Black Hammer Brewing Co. posted net losses of $218,000 and $224,000 in 2022 and 2023, respectively, before launching public investment offerings in 2024. 

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