Share the News









Baltimore’s Heavy Seas Alehouse will be closing this weekend to make way for a new eatery taking over the Bank Street space.

Reached by phone Wednesday morning, a manager at the pub and restaurant confirmed the shutdown.

“We are closing,” she said. The manager declined to be identified, noting that Halethorpe-based Heavy Seas Beer, which has licensed its name and trademarks to the location, will be issuing a press release soon about the Alehouse’s closure. The manager did say “a new restaurant will be opening in its place,” but declined to say which one.

Christine Shaffer, a spokeswoman for the 23-year-old brewery, said in an email that Heavy Seas has not comment on the pending closure.

“The Alehouse is part of a licensing agreement, and we anticipate that the independent ownership group will be releasing a statement shortly,” she said.

The Alehouse opened at 1300 Bank Street in February 2012, with Heavy Seas founder Hugh Sisson licensing his brewery’s brand for the spot without taking an ownership stake in it. Its beer list boasts numerous brews from Heavy Seas, as well as rotating taps for other breweries.

The restaurant specializes in pub food, including wings, nachos, tacos and a few signature hot dogs, as well as entrees such as seafood, burgers, steak and ribs.

Heavy Seas has also licensed its name and brand to another Heavy Seas Alehouse in Arlington, Virginia.

The brewery itself is in the midst of expanding and redesigning its taproom on Hollins Ferry Road, with plans to grow the tasting room from 1,000 to 7,000 square feet, add an event space inside, spruce up the patio and implement a nautically inspired industrial theme throughout. The brewery has already added a new canning line.

The expansion is on track to be completed by June of next year, and will cost somewhere between $1 million and $2 million, a spokeswoman told Baltimore Fishbowl earlier this month.

This story has been updated.