On beer and broken dreams — another take on Ogden River Brewing’s demise
-
- Beer-maker Pat Winslow with some of his beer making equipment in the garage of his Plain City home, photographed Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. He was a driving force behind the launch of Ogden River Brewing in 2020, which recently closed.
-
- Beer-maker Pat Winslow with some of his beer making equipment in the garage of his Plain City home, photographed Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. He was a driving force behind the launch of Ogden River Brewing in 2020, which recently closed.
-
- Beer-maker Pat Winslow with some of his beer making equipment in the garage of his Plain City home, photographed Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. He was a driving force behind the launch of Ogden River Brewing in 2020, which recently closed.
-
- Beer-maker Pat Winslow with some of his beer making equipment in the garage of his Plain City home, photographed Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. He was a driving force behind the launch of Ogden River Brewing in 2020, which recently closed.
PLAIN CITY — This is a story about broken dreams, business and beer.
When the ball started rolling, says Pat Winslow, one of the central players in the story, his aim was to make the craft beer he had become known for on a commercial scale. He wanted to launch a taproom — “a place to celebrate life” — where visitors could gather and sample his creations.
“People started liking my beer. I started winning awards on my beer,” said the Plain City man, explaining the roots of his push to launch a beer business.
His efforts included a 2017 crowdfunding drive that generated nearly $32,000 from the public to get his operation off the ground and, ultimately, a partnership with Bryan Wrigley and his Salt Lake City firm, Lotus Co., the motor behind numerous housing developments in Ogden. Thus, Ogden River Brewing Co. — a restaurant and brewery featuring Winslow’s creations — came to life on Oct. 28, 2020, sitting along the Ogden River at 358 Park Blvd. and underscoring what some viewed as a step forward in the city’s craft brewery scene.
They were heady times for Winslow, and his efforts got a lot of local and area attention from beer lovers.
“My idea of starting a brewery was to be in a warehouse with some fermenters, a brewhouse and a taco truck,” Winslow told Utah Beer News, an online publication, only weeks after the 2020 grand opening. “This is way beyond my wildest dreams at that time. I feel really fortunate and very humble to be part of this organization.”
What goes up typically comes down, though, and now, just two-plus years later, Ogden River Brewing Co., or ORB, has halted operations and Winslow is left shaking his head, his dream seemingly in shambles. An unrelated lawsuit is also winding its way through U.S. District Court over ORB’s use of names associated with Becker Brewing and Malting Co., an Ogden beer firm that closed its doors in 1964.
Last month, the new operators of the ex-ORB site announced they had taken over the location and rebranded it the Ogden Beer Co. Lane Montoya and Brian Zinsmann, high-profile players in Ogden’s food scene and operators of the nearby Wimpy and Fritz taco restaurant, teamed with Wrigley and local brewer Jacquie King, who came over from Roosters Brewing Co., in launching the new operation.
The Standard-Examiner reported on the change, notable in the local food scene. Left out, though, was Winslow, a retired train engineer, and the apparent drama that accompanied ORB’s demise. In the end, he’s OK, says Winslow, later contacted by the newspaper. He just wants it to be known that there’s another side to things.
“The message to the public is I did not retire,” Winslow told the Standard-Examiner from his Plain City home, where he still has plenty of beer-making equipment. “I took my recipes and left.”
He offered a more pointed take in a public video he posted to his Facebook page with the hashtag #dreamstealers late last December. He recalled the crowdfunding effort and the public support he received — “the foundation of Ogden River Brewing” — then touched on the decline of the business.
“Well, recently, I was forced out of the brewery. Regardless of what anyone may say, I did not retire, I did not quit. I was forced out,” he said. He thanked his supporters and offered a parting shot: “It was our dream and they stole it.”
‘I’ll BE MAKING BEER’
Of course, Wrigley offers a different take. A statement to the Standard-Examiner from Lotus Co. describes the turn of events as the unfortunate culmination of market forces and economics.
ORB sustained significant losses each year of operation, the statement reads, trying the patience of lenders who helped get the operation off the ground. Early on, Winslow said he put up around $210,000 to launch ORB — the crowdfunding money plus around $180,000 from refinancing his home — but that Lotus took control of the brewpub as it launched and returned about $150,000 of that funding.
“These lenders anticipated that the year 2022 would be the year that Ogden River Brewing would turn the corner and start making profits. 2022 turned out to be another disappointing year and the lenders refused to provide any further funding,” reads the Lotus Co. statement. “To prevent further operating losses, the decision was made that Ogden River Brewing would discontinue operations. Ogden River Brewing was approached by Ogden Beer Company about the possibility of assuming the lease on the current space.”
Winslow has his questions about how ORB was managed, but having ceded his stake to Lotus Co., he didn’t have access to the books. He also points to the Lotus decision to move two new eateries — Wimpy and Fritz and Dirty Bird, which features fried chicken sandwiches — into a building owned by Lotus adjacent to ORB.
“To me that didn’t make any sense,” as the restaurants would compete with ORB for customers, Winslow said. Meantime, Winslow said his initial focus at ORB was on operating a meat smoker, not beer, though his responsibilities later shifted to beer making.
Despite Winslow’s role in the launch of ORB, the Lotus Co. statement indicated that his actual involvement in day-to-day management was limited. “Mr. Winslow was an employee of Ogden River Brewing and his position was terminated due to lack of funds to continue operations,” reads the statement.
Moreover, the statement says, those involved in ORB “made every possible effort in good faith and with the most admirable intentions for the business to succeed.” In the end, turning over operations to Ogden Beer Co., which plans to launch its own line of beers, was deemed to be the best course of action.
Alluding to the federal lawsuit filed by Karen Becker Edson, a descendant of the family behind Becker Brewing and Malting Co., Lotus Co. said Edson’s claims don’t have merit, at least in the view of company officials.
“However, with the discontinuation of operations by Ogden River Brewing, the use of the Becker name will no longer be relevant,” the Lotus statement continued. Edson sued Lotus and ORB over use by ORB of Becker branding and logos, which apparently weren’t trademarked.
Winslow, meantime, says he plans to put his focus, for now, on caring for his elderly parents in Wyoming. He has offers to work for other beer startups, though he seems reticent about trying to launch on his own, and says he’s not finished.
“I’ll be making beer,” he said.