Victory Brewing’s Parkway taproom closed after failed health inspection
The report from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health counted 26 violations, including live roaches and mice.
Victory Brewing Company’s Philadelphia taproom was ordered to cease operations over a series of “imminent health hazards” following a Department of Public Health inspection Tuesday.
The Downingtown-based brewery’s three-level bar at 1776 Benjamin Franklin Parkway was ordered to close at 3:20 p.m. Tuesday after a health inspector documented 26 health-code violations.
Among the findings: live roaches, flies, and mice in the first floor bar and prep areas alongside mouse droppings littered throughout the nearly 14,000-square-foot space.
No soap was available at several sinks throughout the brewery at the time of the inspection, the report stated, and employees were observed working without washing their hands. Black specks and orange residue had accumulated inside the ice machine, while several soda guns were “not clean to sight,” the report said.
Victory Brewing must remain closed for at least 48 hours and cannot reopen until it pays a $315 fine and passes a new health inspection. The bar announced via Instagram that it would be closed Wednesday with plans to reopen Thursday.
“The cleanliness and safety of our taproom are of paramount importance to us. They are ingrained in our daily routines and reinforced by the professional partners we work with. We have always been in compliance with the health department since opening, which is why we take this week’s report extremely seriously,” Matt Reimold, the area operations manager for Victory Brewing, wrote in response to an Instagram comment asking about the closure. “We are taking immediate action to resolve all issues and will reopen only when they have been fully addressed.”
A pest control service is “on site” to address the vermin-related violations, Reinhold wrote. Victory Brewing has maintained regular pest control service throughout doing business, Reimold wrote in the comment.
Health inspections are typically viewed as snapshots in time and may not necessarily reflect an establishment’s day-to-day conditions. That hasn’t stopped at least one corner of the internet from fixating on Victory Brewing’s violations — which, to some, feel like taproom sins.
“A brewery not cleaning their own lines. What a trip,” read one Reddit comment on a post about the cease operations order in the popular subreddit R/PhiladelphiaEats.
Cofounded in 1996 by Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet in the old Pepperidge Farm factory in Downingtown, Victory Brewing has grow into a national craft beer brand known best for its IPAs and easy-drinking Golden Monkey tripel.
The brewery opened its sole Philadelphia location on the Parkway in 2021, and runs two other taprooms in region in Downingtown and Kennett Square. Those remain open.
