Lock 27 Brewing files Chapter 11 after Dayton taproom closes

Lock 27 Brewing has shifted its fight from the taproom floor to bankruptcy court, filing for Chapter 11 after its downtown Dayton location had already closed. The move leaves the Centerville brewpub at 1035 South Main Street as the company’s operating face while the former Dayton outpost next to Day Air Ballpark stays shuttered.

The case was filed April 22, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Dayton Division, as a voluntary Chapter 11 under Subchapter V, the small-business reorganization track. The case number is 3:26-bk-30874, and the debtor is listed as Lock 27 Brewing, LLC in possession, which means the brewery remains in control of day-to-day operations while working under court supervision.

For Dayton drinkers, the timeline matters. Lock 27’s downtown brewpub at 329 E. First Street had already closed for good by October 17, 2023, after years as the brewery’s most visible city location. A 2022 shift had already separated the business into two identities, with the Centerville site operating as Lock 27 Brewing Restaurant and the Dayton site focused on beer service as a taproom. That made the downtown closure more than a single-storefront loss. It marked the retreat of the brewery’s entertainment-district presence, leaving the company smaller and more dependent on its suburban base.

Lock 27 was established in 2012 and took its name from the Miami & Erie Canal and Lock 27 in nearby Miamisburg. Its Centerville brewpub opened in 2013, and the brand built its identity around canal-era beer names and local history. That background gives the filing a sharper edge for regulars who know Lock 27 as an independent Ohio craft brewery with a long hometown story, not just another distressed balance sheet.

The filing also lands against a hard market for Ohio beer. The Ohio Craft Brewers Association said the state saw 25 brewery openings and 34 closures in 2024, and by early April 2026 Ohio had already logged 12 openings and 10 closures. For a mid-sized brewery like Lock 27, that backdrop means the pressure is not only local rent, labor, or traffic, but a wider squeeze on taproom economics, distribution, and customer counts.

What changes now is straightforward and immediate. The Dayton taproom remains closed, the Centerville brewpub keeps serving, and Lock 27’s beer stays in play while the company tries to reorganize under Chapter 11. What remains uncertain is how much of the brewery’s footprint, staff, and creditor load can survive the process without another cut.