As Elk Grove's BReW program taps out, it's time for the mayor and her city council to get real

With their typical misguided aplomb, the city of Elk Grove launched its Brewery, Restaurant, and Winery (BReW) Incentive Program in August 2023, offering cash incentives to position Old Town Elk Grove as a nationally recognized tourist destination. Proving BReW was delusional and about 15 years late, the program, as it relates to brewers, is an anachronism.

Funded by the voter-approved one-percent Measure E sales tax increase, Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen and her four compliant city councilmen at the behest of Elk Grove economic development director Darrell Doan approved a $200,000 allocation for the program’s first fiscal year, offering reimbursement of up to 50 percent of eligible project costs or a maximum of $50,000 per business.

Notwithstanding the program and hype, in the last few years, four Elk Grove-based brewers shuttered. They include:

• Coatza Brewing Co. permanently closed its Old Town taproom on March 25, 2025, less than two years after opening. 
• Hungry Pecker Brewery (at the same location as Coatza) opened in October 2020 and shuttered after approximately two years, exiting the market in early 2023
• Tilted Mash Brewing, located on Union Park Way, announced its closure on August 25, 2024, ending a run of IPAs, stouts and seltzers
• Dreaming Dog Brewery, once a popular community gathering spot, closed its doors in February 2022

Yesterday, Sacramento's Device Brewing Co. surprised patrons by announcing that all of its taprooms would close this weekend. This isn't a problem confined to Elk Grove and Sacramento either. 

The Brewers Association reported that 2024 marked the first year in which U.S. craft beer experienced more closures (399) than new openings (335), signaling what industry observers have dubbed a “painful period of rationalization.” Adding to the problem is a significant change in consumer habits, particularly within the crucial Millennial and Gen Z cohorts. 

A Gallup poll found that Americans aged 18–34 are less likely to report alcohol use today than their counterparts two decades ago, with a 10-point decline in young adult drinking since the early 2000s.Also, research indicates Gen Zers consume on average 20 percent less alcohol than Millennials, who in turn drink less than older generations, particularly Baby Boomers. 

Forbes report adds that heavy‐drinking young adults (ages 21–29) are consuming nearly 13 fewer alcoholic beverages per month post-pandemic, underscoring a sustained retreat from alcohol among the next generations.

So what are the implications for Mayor Singh-Allen's plan to transform Old Town Elk Grove into a drinking and tourist destination, and Doan's BReW scheme?

The convergence of heightened competition, rising costs, contracting demand among key demographics, along with the city's and America's rapidly aging populations, suggests that the model is comatose. It is only a matter of time until the city quietly pulls the plug on the program and moves forward with Mr. Doan's next ill-fated scheme, similar to the Slow and Low debacle.

Some possible alternative solutions the city should develop include focusing on the retention of mom-and-pop, non-corporate establishments that are not glamorous and do not offer the much-desired selfie opportunities for the mayor and her four city councilmen. They nonetheless keep some of the city's rapidly declining older and gritty strip centers afloat, and by extension, the adjacent suffering neighborhoods, particularly in "old" Elk Grove. 

Alternatively, instead of granting large amounts of upfront cash, the city should be nuanced and offer incremental grants tied to sales targets or job creation after a business opens and demonstrates a viable business plan. Make a business earn incentives instead of giving taxpayer cash to more grifting Sacramento restaurateurs - the fable of the fishing pole comes to mind.   

Elk Grove's BReW tap has run dry - it's time for Mayor Singh-Allen and her four city councilmen to get real.