Oro Brewing is back to pouring pints on Main Street, quietly reopening its downtown Mesa taproom this week after owner Dave Valencia reversed a January decision to sell the longtime brewery. The about-face follows an outpouring of neighborhood support and brings one of Main Street’s better-known hangouts back to life, at least for now. The taproom at 210 W. Main St. is operating primarily as a place to drink and buy beer while the team decides what the next chapter looks like.
Valencia announced the change of plans in a March 7 Instagram post, saying that the community response convinced him to “stay open and continue serving the community to the absolute best of our ability.” As reported by The Arizona Republic, he credited the wave of messages and in-person visits from longtime customers with keeping the lights on.
The original January shutdown was supposed to be a clean break, part of a pivot toward other projects and a negotiated sale of the Main Street space before that deal stalled out. Phoenix New Times reported that the brewery had announced a Jan. 25 closing after nearly nine years in business and that a takeover by local restaurant owners was in the works at the time.
How The Sale Fell Apart
That plan unraveled when problems tied to another project involving Oro partners started to pile up. Golden Oak Barbecue & Taproom in Phoenix, a separate downtown venture, shut down abruptly in February after disputes with nearby residents over smoke from its smoker, and investors pulled back. Mouth by Southwest reports that the fallout from Golden Oak, combined with other roadblocks, left Valencia unable to complete the transfer of ownership for Oro’s Main Street space…