After nearly 30 years brewing and serving beers, burgers and bar fare, Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery has closed its Norfolk Avenue location in downtown Bethesda.
The closure was announced last weekend on white printer paper taped to the glass doors of the two-story restaurant.
“Rock Bottom would like to thank this community for the past 29 years,” the paper message said. “Serving you has been a pleasure. Unfortunately, Rock Bottom is now Permanently Closed.”
A Reddit user shared the news in a social media post Sunday afternoon and wrote that employees were “hauling food” out of the restaurant “in tears.” A photo in the post showed bags and containers of food sitting outside the restaurant’s doors, with a woman peering inside.
Under the post, one commenter noted the restaurant had been “busy all day” during a visit the day before. Another commenter wrote, “Sad day … this was my preferred watering hole for the entire time I have lived here.”
Rock Bottom was a finalist for the best brewery in Bethesda Magazine’s Best of Bethesda 2025 Readers’ Picks for food and drink.
Neither Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery nor Julie Brown, general manager of the Bethesda location, responded to Bethesda Today’s repeated requests via email and phone calls for comment this week on why the location had closed.
It is unclear whether another business may move into the space measuring more than 8,000 square feet. Douglas Development, which owns the building at 7900 Norfolk Ave., has indicated the ground-floor restaurant space as available for lease on its website.
Matthew Jemal, managing principal at Douglas Development, did not respond to Bethesda Today’s email request Monday for comment about the property.
According to the Rock Bottom website, the Denver-based restaurant first opened in 1991 and now operates 10 other locations across the country. Rock Bottom brews many of its beers in-house, an operation that is managed by an on-site brewer at each location, the website says.
The Bethesda location’s head brewer, Geoff Lively, worked there for nearly 25 years, according to the Mid-Atlantic Brew News magazine, which featured Lively in its February/March 2025 issue. According to the magazine, the Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery brand was sold to Kelly Cos. of Southern California.
Kelly Cos. did not immediately respond Tuesday afternoon to Bethesda Today’s request for comment.
The departure of the longstanding restaurant and brewery comes months before the expected opening of a Kensington brewery’s second location at 4850 Rugby Ave. BabyCat Brewery is expected to open in July 2025.
