Sleepy Dog Pub & Bistro in Gilbert closes its doors after 10 months

Sleepy Dog Pub & Bistro in Gilbert has crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

The restaurant and craft beer bar, which opened in February on the southwest corner of Val Vista and Williams Field, has closed its doors, it announced Saturday on its Facebook page.

Sleepy Dog Brewing, the four-year-old Tempe brewery, remains open.

“We were bought out of our lease to get out from this pub,” Sleepy Dog Brewery co-owner Matt Weber tells MXSW. “There was a fair amount of misrepresentation and I ended up being there for the last 12 months. We had a chance to get away from it and we took it.”

Weber says the move will allow the brewery to focus on its growing distribution business. Sleepy Dog Brewery recently signed with a Southern California distributor and will begin shipping to that state in January.

“We could have kept grinding along with (the pub) but at the end of the day our brewery is growing and that’s where our focus needs to stay,” Weber says.

Weber posted the following message on Facebook:

Dear Sleepy Dog Pub supporters,

Its not often in business that you get an opportunity to walk away from the expense of building a pub without much loss. But we were presented with an opportunity and we decided to run with it. We have decided to let our space go to a growing Sports franchise that has the passion and drive for retail sales.

To the staff that kept us going, and all the new friends we have made along the way, Sleepy Dog says THANKS! We will miss you all at our Gilbert pub and hope to see you from time to time at our Tempe brewery. We would also like to thank the City of Gilbert Economic Development group. Their effort and support made opening this pretty painless and they showed us their true desire to build up the town of Gilbert.

Sleepy Dog Brewery was not built with retail food sales in mind. Our drive and efforts have always been towards growing our wholesale business and being in the business of brewing beer. Early this year we signed a distribution agreement with a Southern California distributor and will start shipping beer into California in January. We still are in the planning stages of building a larger brewery and are working hard to continue to grow our market share in our home state of Arizona. 2014 is bringing increased production for us, a full time outside brewery representative, and a dedicated marketing individual. We are excited for 2014 and thank you all for your kind words and support!