local breweries

I've been part of an effort to restore brewers' rights to self distribute their beer in Illinois that is getting more complicated by the day.  The big picture is that small, independent brewers often can't get the distribution they need out of the gate and self-distribution is the tool that gets them to the market.  Zooming into the details of the issue, everyone is now fighting to protect their own interests and there is one battle in the courts and another in the legislature that seem to be traveling dual paths.   The quick synopsis of what's happened, visit the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild. 

The news of the day is an A-B Motion to extend the stay of enforcement of the court's 'remedy' that takes away brewers' self distribution rights.  What's interesting in it is the affidavit of Jason Ebel of Two Brothers about the recent threat he's received from the Illinois Liquor Control Commission about ending the "common family ownership" of their brewery and distribution company, Windy City Distribution.  This is a huge wrinkle in this story that shows the domino effect of the Judge's decision hurting brewers in Illinois.  A-B argues that facts about Two Bros/Windy were withheld from them and the Judge and that the remedy should be appealed.  Interestingly enough, A-B makes no mention of their recent announcement to purchase Goose Island in their motion.  Would that have made them an in-state brewer and thus eligible to own a distributor in the days before the lawsuit? All this makes wish for a second I went to law school. Or not. Back to making beer.

There's also an opinion in today's SJR in favor of the craft brewer exemption and the amendment to fix the brewpub language that the ICBG has been pushing for.  Oh and if you missed this news, Two Brothers just purchased the Roundhouse (formerly Walter Payton's) in Aurora at auction for a fire sale price.  I think that's the most beautiful building housing a brewpub in the country and can't wait to see what they do with it. Hats off to Jim and Jason Ebel!

Coming up this weekend is the 8th Annual Festival of Barrel Aged Beers run by the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild.  We'll be bringing bourbon barrel aged Eugene Porter and Bad Man Old Rye Ale.  As of press time, there are still tickets available for the evening sessions from 6-10pm although the day is sold out. 

Last Saturday, the Festival of Barrel Aged Beer rocked the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers' Hall in the West Loop. This annual tasting of strong and tangy beers from the wood was the biggest yet with 113 beers from 41 breweries from 14 states. The Plumbers' Hall turned out to be an excellent venue for this event, with visual appeal, good acessbility, and a nice loading dock for getting all those kegs in and out. The affable Pete Crowley from Rock Bottom was the driving force behind the event, and now I've got a better understanding of how they kick so much beer out of that brewpub downtown. Personally, in addition to the beer, I enjoyed the solidarity with the Plumbers' who are invaluable partners in the everyday work of making beer. The eastern spiral staircase in the hall was home to the wonderful mural above, which was credited to 'National Decorating Service "Studios" 1960'. I look forward to the day the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild has such a nice hall to decorate with inspiring verse.

Back to the beer event, there were far too many tasty beers to mention but I enjoyed Goose Island's blackberry rye aged in cabernet barrel brew aptly named Juliet. I preferred the wild, sour beers, but lord did I sampled plenty of barley wine in one day. Piece's Monkey Knuckle (cousin of the Camel Toe) had some nice hop for a barley wine and Lost Abbey's Angel's Share was the most refined of the bunch. Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey/Pizza Port stopped by the Handlebar today in the midst of their Chicago launch of bottled product. A nice guy making nice beer.

Goose drilled bung holes in the top of the barrels and stored them upright in stacks of four per pallet to age and soak up the bourbon hiding in the wood. Inevitably, some barrels leak when first filled before swelling up in a day or so and becoming water tight. While at Goose, the sweet dripping beer from the barrels above coated a few of the barrels below and then air dried leaving a molasses-like goo. It will wash off just fine, but for the time being it's adding a nice sweet smell to our building. There's also a little beer left swishing around in a few barrels. I might just....

We've got BCS on tap at the Handlebar for a few more days for the somewhat unbelievable price of $10 a snifter. At $200 a 5-gallon keg it's the most expensive draft beer we've ever bought, but it is worth its weight in gold or something like that.

Into wood aged beer? Head to FOBAB next Saturday!

We get a mention in an article in Today's Trib about Chicago-area brewpubs with in-depth profiles of Moonshine, Flossmoor Station, Three Floyds and Crown Brewing headed by my old Goose-era friend Jim Cibak. The print version on the cover of the 'At Play' section had a great picture of Flossmoor's Andrew Mason shoveling out the mash tun.

This week we secured a 3-month extension on our real estate purchase contract that will enable us to close on the building near the end of 2007. It feels odd to be talking about the inner aspects of our negotiations here, but I'll just chock that up to ways of the world in the 21st Century. Assembling the equity and financing for a project of this scale ($3M+) is no easy feat, especially when you are a brewpub. One bank asked if we would consider opening a franchise and another asked, 'Would you consider another kind of restaurant besides a brewpub?' Hmmmmm.....no?

Restaurants are risky businesses and plenty of people loose their shirts opening them, but at the same time, as I was once quoted in the NT Times: everybody's got to eat. I've found that most banks, especially some of the national banks, have a strong distaste for lending to restaurants. Fortunately, we've connected with the fine folks at SomerCor 504 to qualify for a Small Business Administration loan. And you won't find me complaining about the recent reduction in interest rates.

I wish I could just blog about the beers I was drinking earlier today (Ommegang Hennepin and Spaten Optimator --both very nice), but it's hard to see the forest through the trees at the moment. Hard to get away from the "make brewery before making beer" issue. As you would expect, I've been keenly interested in the initial reviews and press coverage of Half Acre Beer Company, based in Chicago, which is contracting their beer from Wisconsin. They cite the high hurdle of opening their own brewery as the justification for why they are contracting out to start. They're right on about the height of the hurdles, and being careful to look before you leap business-wise. Here's hoping they can make something of their initial foray into Chicago. The more good beer the better, and at least Wisconsin isn't *that* far away.

If you haven't clicked over to some other beer ocmpany's website that I've linked to (got to stop doing that), I'll try to wrap up the update on us. September has been a real busy month for us and we are 60% towards our overall equity raising goal. Best guess for when our beer will flood Logan Square's sidewalks, streets and alleys: end of 2008.

We hope to begin the public approval process for TIF assistance in October. We've asked the city for financial assistance because we believe this development will help spur more commercial development in Logan Square and bring more businesses to the historic Milwaukee Ave. corridor. If you are a meeting-going type, be on the alert for a community meeting to discuss said assistance and debate the merits of the subsidy we are requesting.

While on the last leg of a 4-day bike trip around the southern half of Lake Michigan last weekend, I stopped in at Three Floyds Brewing with a few friends. Although their brewpub was closed on Mondays, their tattoo-flecked brewer Barnaby greeted us warmly and offered us a few brews, including a samples of Fantabulous Resplendence (strong and hoppy barley-wineish) and Romulus and Remus (evil twin beers hopped with different varietals). While inside we bumped into acclaimed brewer Teri Fahrendorf, who left her job and is traveling the country visiting breweries and blogging about it. In an industry dominated by boys and men, Teri has built a reputation as a skilled brewer equal in all ways to her counterparts. Her new gig let's her be an informal ambassador for craft beer and based on my first impression she makes for a good one. It would be nice if a few more women would slip on the pink rubber boots like her (although she wasn't wearing them when I saw her). The sausage festival nature of most beer events gets old after a while, and that's not just because I'm a vegetarian.

I biked out to Geneva on the Illinois Prairie Path yesterday for a meeting of the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild. I'd been to one of their meetings ages ago when I worked at the Goose, and it is good to see that they are still active. The meeting was held at Stockholm's Pub on State St., a tiny place with a brew system in the front window. The guild hosts the Festival of Barrel Aged Beer in the fall at Goose Island Wrigleyville and participates in other events throughout the year.

While in Michigan recently, I was real impressed by the work of the Michigan Brewers Guild, including their upcoming festival in Ypsilanti and their fight against a proposed beer tax increase.