E-Malt.com News article: USA, IL: Craft beer industry develops in Illinois

The burgeoning craft brewery industry has led a growing number of Chicago beer lovers to start their own businesses, wbez.org reported on September, 20.

The Illinois Craft Brewers’ Guild reports 57 craft breweries currently operate in Illinois and counts a whopping 67 more in planning.

The planning number includes some still wading through paperwork and setting up facilities. It may take them months or years to open for business. But others are almost ready to pour pints.

Clint Bautz of Lake Effect Brewing has set up shop in Portage Park. He will distribute just a few kegs at a time.

It's taken him about a year and a half to set up a brewing facility, file all the necessary paperwork and find partnering pubs to carry his product.

Soon he’ll be able to sit down at a neighborhood bar and order his own beer.

“Definitely it will be a moment,” he said. “It will be a bit surreal. Definitely looking forward to that.”

The guild reports overall beer sales in the US dipped about one percent in 2011.

But craft brewing grew 13 percent last year, continuing the industry's trend toward double digit annual expansion.

Major players like California brewery Lagunitas recently announced plans to open a Chicago brewery and tap room.

And for now, it seems like there is still room for upstarts like Greg Shuff too.

Shuff will open Dryhop Brewers in Lakeview this winter.

He thinks there is plenty of room for craft brewers to grow in Illinois.

“It’s an industry where no one wants anyone to do anything but make great beer,” he said. “We all look at it from the perspective of if one of us does well, it really elevates the whole craft beer scene and we all benefit from it.”


21 September, 2012