Naked Brewing to close Bristol Borough taproom amid rising costs

Bristol Borough is about to lose one of its neighborhood beer stops, as Naked Brewing Company prepares to close its taproom on June 28. For regulars who treated the space like a local gathering place, the shutdown trims another independent option from the immediate Bucks County map.

The brewery said the decision came down to rising operating costs and a market that has moved away from the kind of complex craft beers on which Naked built its name. “The cost of ingredients, supplies, and day-to-day operations has skyrocketed, and the market has shifted away from the complex craft beers that are the heart of what we do,” the company said. That combination matters because it points to more than a single underperforming room in Bristol Borough. It reflects the squeeze hitting small breweries across the country, where ingredient bills, wages, utilities and supply costs have kept climbing while drinkers buy differently than they did a few years ago.

Naked’s Bristol taproom opened in 2020, just before the pandemic changed how people gathered and how bars and breweries operated. The space expanded in 2021 after another tenant left the building, but even with more room the location kept running into outside shocks, including pandemic disruption and multiple floods. The owners called the site a passion project and said they loved the ride, but they also made clear they could no longer keep the mix of quality, pricing and labor standards they wanted.

The closure lands during a difficult stretch for the wider craft beer market. Pennsylvania says it is home to about 530 craft breweries, generating roughly $5.4 billion in annual economic impact, yet the national picture has softened. The Brewers Association said U.S. craft brewer volume fell 4% in 2024, even as retail dollar sales rose 3% to $28.8 billion, a sign that consumers are drinking less by volume while prices hold up.

Naked is not disappearing entirely. The original Huntingdon Valley brewery will remain open on weekends through the end of the year, giving fans another place to find the brand’s beer. Bristol Borough still sits inside a busy beer corridor, with Visit Bucks County saying the Bucks County Ale Trail includes more than 20 breweries and taprooms. Nearby, Second Sin Brewing Company operates a Bristol location at 1500 Grundy Lane and serves a rotating lineup of styles, keeping at least some independent beer choices close by even as Naked’s taproom goes dark.