Deschutes Brewery has sold its 50-acre property in Roanoke, Virginia, where it had planned to locate a second brewing site. 

The Bend-based brewery, ranked No. 11 craft brewer nationwide by volume, had put the plans on hold as far back as 2019, but hadn’t completed the sale until a few weeks ago.

The city of Roanoke announced on Jan. 12 that Amazon purchased the land from the brewery. The land was on Blue Hills Drive in an area slated for economic development. The brewery paid $3.2 million for the property and had opted to waive any tax incentives for the flexibility to develop.

Deschutes Brewery halts plans for Roanoke production facility

Deschutes Brewery halts plans for Roanoke production facility

Deschutes Brewery was not able to comment on the sale of the property, said Angie Anderson-May, Deschutes Brewery senior innovation and insights manager, in an email. 

The initial plans called for construction of a $95 million facility employing 100 people on  the site. Deschutes had planned to start brewing test batches in 2020 and begin shipping from the facility by 2021. But that was all canceled in 2019 because of changes in the craft brewing industry.

The brewery also had a tasting room that it closed in Roanoke in 2021, four years after it opened.