2023 Illinois Brewery Opening / Closure Thread

Fox Republic Brewing in Yorkville opened in July.
EDIT: Their neighbor is Foxes Den Meadery if you want to count Mead.

 

The loans, less than expected taproom traffic, softened distro interest, and foot traffic that hasn’t rebounded to 2019 levels is consistent throughout these closure announcements.

Can you think of an area brewery whose taproom traffic is *up* compared to 4 years ago?

 

Thanks for starting this thread. Nice to see the openings and sadly the closings.

 

MyGrain in Joliet is the next casualty.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?st...PHyNvY3hCl&id=100063509593053&mibextid=Nif5oz

 

Yes, Pollyanna Roselare. Expansion of back patio and the place is packed on weekends.

 

I think the Galena Brewing closing was their second site in Moline, IL., not the main Galena location. Unless they both closed.

 

There's going to be a woodfire pizza/ brewery opening in Silvis, IL in the future. Punk Rock Pizza and Brewery. Demo of the site they bought is near completion, with remodeling to come. I'll post back when an opening date is announced.

 

MyGrain in Joliet is closing Saturday.

 

The Rock Island one was called Blue Cat. Had quite a history. Was the Blue Cat Brewpub for 23 years. Opened in 1994 and closed in 2017. It was the first brewery in the Illinois QC's. In 2019 Big Swing Brewing opened in the same building under new ownership and closed abruptly in 2020. Finally, in 2021 it opened back up as the Blue Cat again under new ownership. Even got the recipes for some of the former Blue Cat owners more popular beers and brewed them besides brewing their own. But sadly, the partners in the venture was the brewer and the chef and the chef moved on. Coupled with burst water pipes in the building due to a furnace failure while it was closed during the holidays it closed again in 2023.

 

Finch is one of the more curious breweries in Chicago. They were literally there at the start of Chicago's craft beer boom and for whatever reason couldn't make it work despite multiple locations and opportunities.

 

Fixed that.

 

Yes, because space and opportunity are bad things….

finch had terrible branding and inconsistent product. from my viewpoint, vision and execution were to blame.

 

Exactly. Their vision and execution couldn't get them a consistent, stable location.

 

Finch's management were some of the worst people on Earth, so there's also that.

 

Finch’s founder was a marketer that brewed crappy beer. His early years he did a good job of getting his stuff into places but it never sold well. His plan was to sell out (which he did eventually). It was no surprise it failed. I’m surprised it hung around as long as it did.

 

350 Brwg. in Tinley Park is now Flipside Brwg.
"The Perch" counted as a brewery location in the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild's Passport scheme. (I got there.) Most probably standing in for Finch Brwg. Finch was upfront about its intention from day 2. It publicly stated if it got a good offer, it would sell out. I don't know if I have ever mentioned this: When I drove the 1987 Sprint back from Philadelphia for the 2013 AHA National Homebrewers' Conference, a clutch cable broke and stranded me in Harrisburg, PA. On one of the days I was there [it had to be ordered and installed], I found a multi-tap bar which had a Finch beer on draft.
I want to know when Aleman Brwg. shut down. It was the closest brewery to the abode here. I interloped inside it one night when it had an employees' event for people from Fountainhead. I have photos. I was asked to leave. My response that a successful bar would not be successful without customers was rejected. This was 30 January 2020. I will let you deduce what happened to Fountainhead a few weeks thereafter.

 

Aleman was meh. Purchased some of their brews over the years it was either ok or just not good. Only thing I liked was their logo.

Finch had some decent brews like Sungasm and Skullhammer. They tried rebranding but most of their stuff was still mediocre. Still have a couple of pint glasses from them I got at tastings.