TURNERS FALLS — It’s last call at Pioneer Valley Brewery, which is slated to close on Saturday, May 31.

Business initially boomed when owners Stephen Valeski and Chris Fontaine opened at 151 Third St. in December 2020, but drastic market changes are forcing the two to pull the plug.

“Expenses have gone through the roof. The last two years have been devastating,” Valeski said. “Prices went up. Everything’s gone up. It’s the market, it’s the economy. People aren’t going out as much. Everything’s more expensive, you know? Shipping’s more expensive. Cans are more expensive. Everything is more expensive. We just can’t keep charging more and more and more for a glass of beer. [It] gets to a certain point where people are going to say, ‘No.’”

He said he and Fontaine opted not to renew their lease.

“We had a dream. We did our dream,” said Valeski, 63. He is a retired Aubuchon store employee of 40 years.

Fontaine, 38, said Pioneer Valley Brewery made its final batch of beer more than a month ago. He said members of the generation that fueled the craft beer demand 15 years ago are now older and the younger generation has not filled the gap.

“Their social life is at home. They’re staying at home longer,” Fontaine said, adding that the cold brew coffee trend and legalized cannabis have taken big bites out of the craft beer industry. “Craft beer is just not the darling anymore. As an industry, we had a good run. Our first couple of years here were slamming. We caught the tail end of it.”

Fontaine and the brewery’s team of part-time bartenders will still be employed as teachers. He also said he will keep busy, as he has three children and works as the Pioneer Valley Regional School District’s information technology director on top of being a Boy Scout leader in Greenfield.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.