Western Collective is pouring its last pints in Garden City. The brewery will close its taproom after a Halloween event on Saturday, ending an eight-year run in the Treasure Valley, even as owner Cary Prewitt insists the company's beer brands are not going away for good.
Prewitt told Boise Dev that the closure marks the end of the taproom's time, but that Western Collective's brands will continue in the Boise area. He said a deal to move those brands to another, unspecified local brewery could be finalized in the coming weeks. The taproom's lease on East 33rd Street in Garden City runs out at the end of 2026, according to the outlet.
A Business Model Prewitt Says No Longer Works
Western Collective actually started as a co-packer, brewing beer for other brands before building its own identity, and Prewitt told the outlet the company has now brought that co-packing operation back in-house. He said the co-packing model simply makes more sense for the business today, adding that he would rather pay eight workers in one location than 16 spread across three. Prewitt also said beer has become a tougher market than when Western Collective first entered it, and that taprooms in general are not performing like they used to.
Prewitt said he hopes the Garden City building will continue to be used to make beer by another party once Western Collective moves out, according to the same report. Ada County assessor records cited by the outlet show the Garden City brewery property is owned by Dog Dew LLC of Boise.
Halloween Send-Off Before the Taps Go Quiet
Before the doors close, Western Collective is throwing a Halloween event on Saturday from 3 to 6 p.m., with staff dressed in costume and candy for kids, according to the brewery's own events listing. The taproom first opened in July 2018 at 111 W. 33rd St. in Garden City, back when it was billed as a brewery opening “under construction,” as idahostatesman.com reported at the time.
Downtown Closure and Lawsuits Preceded This One
This is not the first Western Collective location to shut down. The company's much larger downtown Boise venue closed in October 2024 after operating under a string of names and concepts — Western Proper, Western Social, House of Western, Due West and The National. Prewitt said at the time that a lack of business forced that closure, telling idahostatesman.com that many downtown Boise businesses were running well below the prior year, with some down 30 percent.
That downtown shutdown left a trail of legal fallout. Boise Dev reported that several lawsuits were filed afterward, with separate parties alleging they had not been fully paid for rent owed or remodeling work completed at the Idaho Street operation. Court records reviewed by the outlet state that Prewitt owes landlord Barclay Holdings CX LLC roughly $763,695.92, including interest on delinquent rent at 10 percent. Bayhorse Homes LLC separately filed a lien claiming it was owed $25,655.26 for remodeling work done at House of Western in July 2024, plus attorney fees, though court records say that lawsuit was later dismissed.
Prewitt and his wife and business partner, Melissa Levick, have since relocated to Phoenix, where the pair are working on a new restaurant and bar concept called Pablo's in the downtown area, per boisedev.com's earlier reporting.
Part of a Bigger Industry Shakeout
Western Collective's retreat from brick-and-mortar taprooms fits a pattern playing out well beyond Idaho. Nationwide, the number of craft breweries fell 3.5 percent between 2024 and 2025, while craft beer production dropped 3.8 percent and total beer production declined 5.7 percent, according to calmatters.org. In California alone, the outlet reported the number of craft breweries fell from 987 to 939 between 2023 and 2025, a 5 percent drop. A Brewers Association economist quoted in that report said the bigger shift is not a wave of closures but a steep decline in new breweries opening in the first place.
Industry watchers point to changing consumer tastes, market saturation and rising costs tied to tariffs as drivers behind the closures, the same report notes. Those pressures have already claimed well-known names elsewhere: Prohibition Brewing Company in Vista planned to close in October 2026, Mission Brewing shuttered its East Village tasting room in August, and Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley is closing after 40 years of brewing. Ballast Point Brewing closed its 600-seat bar and restaurant in San Diego's Miramar district at the end of 2025, and the Los Angeles Times reported that Sapporo is closing Stone Brewing's flagship Escondido site while keeping its Liberty Station restaurant and other Southern California taprooms open.
