Samuel Adams closes Faneuil Hall tap room, citing ‘out-of-state visitors’

Tourists looking to sit down for a taste of the beer synonymous with the city of Boston will have to look elsewhere than Samuel Adams’ Faneuil Hall tap room.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, the company announced it was closing its rooftop patio at the Faneuil Hall location, writing, “Upon further reflection, we have made a tough decision. Due to the influx of out-of-state visitors from COVID-19 hotspots to our taproom, we are closing our rooftop patio out of an abundance of caution for our guests and coworkers. While we love welcoming visitors to the taproom, we also know we need to do our part to keep everyone as safe as possible.”

The tap room had been open for the last three weeks, joining other Boston-area breweries (that serve food) as part of Phase 2 of Massachusetts’ reopening plan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Open since February, the space, which occupies three levels, offers 20 beers on tap and houses a small, working brewery for small batch and experimental brews. While Samuel Adams also has a tap room in Jamaica Plain, the Fanueil Hall site is the most centrally located for Boston visitors.

“The landlord said, ‘We have 13 million people who walk by this site,'” founder Jim Koch told Boston.com in January. “And I said, ‘That’s great — my job is to get a million of them to not walk by and stop in for a beer.’”

Given the pandemic, that heavy foot traffic is not currently a plus. In announcing the closing, the company said it will continue to monitor trends in relation to COVID-19, and could reevaluate the decision. For now, the Faneuil Hall location will continue to provide customers beer and merchandise to go.