2023 Illinois Brewery Opening / Closure Thread

Sad news for anyone who lives in the near west 'burbs. Exit Strategy brewing in Forest Park announced on Instagram that their last day will be October 29th. Guess it was a combination of Covid and mental exhaustion that made the owners decide to close.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CyRCnv5L0UR/

Been going there since they opened back in 2015. Beer was solid (hits and misses), food was great and the space was always inviting . Will definitely be going back before they close.

 

Wow, crazy, hadn't heard that.

 

That’s great news! Might have to take a trip down. It looks like they are still brewing Hale To The Chief IPA. When I looked on untapped it said “no longer in production” it might be small batch now and not a wide distribution like it use to be.

 

Definitely wasn’t inviting if you have kids and only moderately more so if you didn’t. Would have been better if they just flat out said no one under 21 allowed instead of being rude and treating people like crap. Sorry, but I’m not sad at all to see them close.

 

Oh wow, never seen anything like that. Was just there tonight with a few friends and saw a few kids running around and didn't see any issues.

 

Per Eater Chicago, NYC's Other Half Brewing is making plans to open an outpost in Bridgeport. According to the article it will be part of a new live music/restaurant complex in the old Romova theater (35th and Halsted, about half mile west of Guaranteed Rate Field).

Only had a few brews from Other Half and they were pretty solid. You can find them at Binny's but they're obnoxiously expensive. They also did a collab with them releasing some BA stouts which you can still find.

A New York Brewery Is Creating a Craft Beer Destination Inside an 82-Year-old Chicago Icon
The Ramova Theatre will soon welcome Brooklyn’s Other Half Brewing


https://chicago.eater.com/2023/11/2...eport-other-half-brewing-brooklyn-music-venue

 

Late to post on this but the wife co-owner of this place was one of the most awful, snobbish and entitled people I have encountered in the industry and this is from multiple encounters that never varied. Your feelings are not alone and that atmosphere likely played into their dwindling sales, plus the beer was always a huge meh for me.

 

Yeah have to agree. As much as I liked the place, Katherine was a bit over the top and definitely rubbed some people the wrong way. Beer was hit and miss but I did enjoy some of it.

Still sad to see it them close shop. One less brewery in the near west 'burbs.

 

I live in the area. From what I know from friends who are familiar with the business world locally, they were already having some issues being fiscally solvent for a while. Then COVID happened. They ignored pandemic restrictions and held some private parties, people posted photos to public accounts that they were flaunting restrictions and they got in trouble for it. I believe a license got pulled for a bit. He then went about saying it was basically the state's fault he had to close because of it, but it's my understanding that they were having issues prior to that. They lost a lot of local support in the area when they did this. Basically a FAFO scenario. Well, they found out. I haven't kept up with them really since then because they blamed everything on Prtizker which was disingenuous. It was a tough time for most businesses, but they were one of the ones that skirted rules and got smacked for it. You can look up articles online, but most of them just give his quotes about being teary eyed because many of the local "news" outlets are sympathetic to right wing talking points. There's more to it, but I'll leave that out. A simple search comes up with their FB page and you can see the comments from the community being upset with them about it all.

TL;DR they can piss off and there's much better beer made in the area and those breweries pivoted during COVID, made things work, and didn't publicly bitch about it and flaunt COVID mitigation. I vote with my $ and encourage others to do the same.

 

PritzkerAdvocate.com

 

Could be worse. Have you seen the Rauner thread on ratebeer?

 

Yeah, surprised to hear such negativity about the vibe. I definitely do not know the owner, and never met them, which some here clearly did.

The beer was certainly very mid, but the only reason we went was because it was a big space to have our <1 year old and they never seemed to mind us bringing her.

 

Ruaner? Never heard of her

 

I did buy a bottle of Bardstown Origin Rye today. So in a way, I suppose I was a PA.

 

Liquor? I don’t even know her.

 

Seen a FB post from 2 Fools saying goodbye to Naperville. Rumors they are either closing or moving. Seems hard to believe they would move after just moving into the new location.

Really hoping they don’t close for good, they brew excellent ciders (best i’ve had, point blank).

Anyone with more intimate knowledge know whats going on???

 

I only have hearsay. That said, they didn't make anything special from a cider standpoint. They fermented and then flavored tanker trucks full of apple juice concentrate. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything better than Angry Orchard which is what bit them on the ass off-premise.

 

Real talk that Shirley Temple cider still got me dreaming lol. Seems latest word on FB is maybe they are moving… sucks cuz Naperville is nearby me. Moving is better than closing though.

 

Didn't they act like they were going out of business when they moved the first time? Leaving it very ambiguous if they were going to reopen or were closed forever?