USA, PA: Salmon Pants Brewery closes after less than a year of business

A craft brewery in Allentown has closed after less than a year of business, the Allentown Morning Call reported on August 1.

Salmon Pants Brewery, offering unique beers made with Colombian coffee beans, cotton candy, lychee and more, closed last month at 100 E. Susquehanna St.

“We are very pleased to say that our brand ‘Salmon Pants’ has been bought out by another company!” a July 1 post on the business’ Facebook page reads. “We would like to thank the people that have supported our vision from the start. We have learned a lot on our journey. We will be investing in a few cool projects this year supporting the vision of a few local entrepreneurs.”

According to the post, Salmon Pants was set to close by the end of July, following a private event to finish off the beer.

The brewery, which opened in November, was run by friends John Patello, a former U.S. Army officer with an MBA from Lehigh University, and Jonathan Rotger, an experienced programmer and scientist with degrees in chemistry, biology, genetics and computer programming.

“We sold the name and there is a group of guys that want to start a brewery so we will help them get started but they will go straight into distribution,” Rotger wrote in response to a comment on the Facebook post. “The tap room we have will shut down.”

Patello and Rotger, who did not return messages seeking comment, opened Salmon Pants in a renovated space that previously housed Williams Cafe.

The partners added new flooring, lighting, hand-crafted furniture, gray- and salmon-colored walls and a three-barrel brewing system.

They also aimed to operate a sustainable brewery, turning the backyard into a community fruit and vegetable garden, composting much of their garbage and growing plants indoors via aquaponics.

Customers were able to choose from 11 draft beers, along with locally produced ciders, wines and spirits.

Salmon Pants, which also offered a limited food menu, got its name from a conversation that Rotger and Patello had about “trust-fund” culture and how funny it was that most wealthy people had a habit of wearing pastel colored pants on their boats.

“Salmon-colored pants or shorts seemed to be the most popular color,” Rotger said prior to the brewery’s opening.

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