Burlington Beer Works Finally Gives Up On Liquor License

BURLINGTON, MA — Burlington Beer Works officially gave up on finding a new home for their liquor license Monday, choosing not to renew it for 2021.

It was a long road for the license, which Slesar Bros. Brewing Company acquired for almost $200,000 in 2016 to take over the space Outback Steakhouse vacated the year before.

In 2018, the company officially scrapped plans to open a brewpub in town, citing changes to their neighbors—"Burlington Crossroads is in construction disarray," the company's lawyer, Paul Sporn, said.

The next month, the Board of Selectmen revoked the liquor license, but in 2019, the state alcohol commission reversed the Board's decision.

The company and the town then spent almost two years extending the deadline to transfer the license, in hopes that a buyer would be found. Sporn repeatedly appeared before the selectmen to update them on the fruitless search for a buyer. He cited the large number of licenses at Burlington Mall as one reason for the lack of a market.

The coronavirus appears to have been the last straw, with the company sending a memo to the Board ahead of Monday's meeting saying they would not renew their license. Restaurants had to pay their license fees in November to get their licenses renewed for 2021 Monday.

The license will return to the town's pool of liquor licenses on Jan. 1 and anyone seeking it will have to go through the standard application procedure.

The full meeting is available here from BCAT.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.