{"id":21000,"date":"2016-12-19T10:00:57","date_gmt":"2016-12-19T16:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/?p=21000"},"modified":"2021-08-31T11:50:43","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T16:50:43","slug":"year-beer-2016-chicagoland-craft-beer-almanac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/year-beer-2016-chicagoland-craft-beer-almanac\/","title":{"rendered":"The Year in Beer: The 2016 Chicagoland Craft Beer Almanac"},"content":{"rendered":"

A whole hell of a lot happened in the world of Chicagoland beer this year.<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

\"2016<\/a><\/p>\n2016<\/span> was a year of…well, fallout, for lack of a better word. The acquisitions slowed, the big openings were fewer and further between, the major moves weren’t so major, and it was mostly about seeing where the cards were going to fall.<\/p>\n

When you look back over the whole year, the headlines about craft slowing down…sorta make a certain amount of sense. You can’t sprint at full speed forever. At some point you gotta drop the pace\u00a0before the engine explodes.<\/p>\n

Rather than slowing down, though, I like to think of it more as\u00a0settling in<\/em>. Craft beer stopped being the new, crazy, supercool thing in 2015 — we started to view it as the fully formed economic juggernaut that it had become, able to kick pretty serious dents in the side of behemoth beer battleships.<\/p>\n

For once, when we look back at a year of craft beer history, we’ll be asking who had the worst<\/strong> year in 2016. Revolution\u00a0had to pull more barrels of beer than most breweries make in a year (or two!), and Finch rode a real roller coaster, going from kicking out the founder to floundering its way to a contract-only operation in just about six months.<\/p>\n

But in spite of the near-monthly announcements of new branded pubs, brewpubs, Block Parties, Migration Weeks and everything else Goose had going on this year, when they look back on 2016 as a whole, it’s hard to not chalk the whole year up to one big story running through everything: infected Bourbon County.<\/p>\n

That was the throughline literally from day one of 2016: dirty beer. Bummer.<\/p>\n

On a grander scale, it’s nice to think of 2016 as the year where the world — not just the serious enthusiasts<\/em> like you and me, Constant Reader — really started to have it sink in that this weird bitter beer with crazy labels made by dudes with big beards wasn’t<\/em> going to go away. In fact, even as we stand at over 5,000 breweries to end out the year, this world of independent beer is only going to keep getting bigger …even if that doesn’t mean 75% year-over-year growth any more.<\/p>\n

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Much, if not all, of this info was culled from our weekly Chicagoland Craft Beer News email. If you are interested in any of this stuff, you should probably consider signing up here<\/a>. Otherwise, you can review our previous entries and relive four more years of craft beer coverage thusly:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • 2015 <\/a><\/li>\n
  • 2014<\/a><\/li>\n
  • 2013<\/a><\/li>\n
  • 2012<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Once more unto the breach, my friends. It was another pretty busy year — and the one of the year’s biggest stories kicked off early, so let’s go right back to…<\/p>\n

    \n

    January<\/h2>\n

    January 1, minus a few hours:<\/strong> Beer quality was a major concern in 2016, and one of the biggest stories of the year in that regard\u00a0actually started in the final hours of 2015, when Josh Noel at the Trib confirmed<\/a> that there were off flavors in certain Goose Island<\/strong> Bourbon County Brand Stout batches.<\/p>\n

    January 4:<\/strong> Goodbye, Wirtz Beverage. Hello, Breakthru<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    January 7: Slapshot<\/strong> announces<\/a> that they’ve shuttered\u00a0their Little Village facility and moving their production to the Atlas Brewing<\/strong> canning facility on the South Side.<\/p>\n

    January 8:<\/strong> The official story<\/a> re: those Goose Island recalls is published and Crain’s goes live<\/a> with a similar\u00a0piece the same day.<\/p>\n

    January 11:<\/strong> DNAInfo gives us the first look<\/a> at Logan Square’s Hopewell Brewing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    January 13:<\/strong> The city’s tiniest brewery announces a big move<\/a>. Spiteful Brewing<\/strong> announces they’ll be opening a new, much bigger production facility right next door to the new Half Acre brewery on Balmoral.<\/p>\n

    January 14: <\/strong>The Half Acre<\/strong> team opens their restaurant<\/a> at the Lincoln Avenue taproom. Burritos are consumed.<\/p>\n

    January 25:<\/strong> Michigan’s Short’s Brewing<\/strong>\u00a0amends\u00a0their ‘Michigan First, Michigan Forever’<\/em> stance by announcing that they’d be expanding distribution into states like Indiana, Pennsylvania and Illinois. Joe Short’s original letter to their customers\/fans is here<\/a>, and our post on the incoming beers is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \"Band<\/a>

    A quieter moment behind the bar at Band of Bohemia. Photo from the forthcoming “Beer Lovers Chicago,” photo by Krysta Williams.<\/p><\/div>\n

    February<\/h2>\n

    February 1:<\/strong> We publish our annual recap<\/a> of the Ratebeer Best awards, which saw Mikerphone<\/strong> named Best New Brewery in Illinois, along with a number of other awards for breweries like Goose Island, Three Floyds <\/strong>and Flossmoor Station.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    February 4:<\/strong> We break the news<\/a> that 312 Urban Pale is being discontinued, and in its place Goose Island<\/strong> will rollout the Green Line Pale Ale nationwide.<\/p>\n

    February 10:<\/strong> We break the news<\/a> that hot on the heels of Short’s coming to Chicago, beers from Grand Haven’s\u00a0Odd Side Ales<\/strong> will be joining them soon.<\/p>\n

    February 13:<\/strong> Off Color’s<\/strong> bottle shop opens<\/a> for the first time for the release of their Whiskers beer.<\/p>\n

    February 15:<\/strong> Beers from Half Acre<\/strong> hit downstate Illinois<\/a> for the first time.<\/p>\n

    February 17:<\/strong> The Sun-Times reports<\/a> that BMI and Sony are suing Piece Pizzeria\u00a0& Brewery<\/strong> for not having the right license to play their music at the bar.<\/p>\n

    February 18:<\/strong> The Forbidden Root<\/strong> brewpub opens on this date, after years of meetings, planning and building.\u00a0DNAInfo went inside for a first look here<\/a>,\u00a0Eater got a sneak peek here<\/a>, Chicagoist here<\/a>\u00a0and the Trib went inside here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    February 19:<\/strong> The Tribune breaks the news<\/a> that the original Goose Island Clybourn<\/strong> brewpub would be sold to Anheuser-Busch and converted into a taproom. Our post on the legality of such a move, and what it might mean for future Goose Island taprooms or pubs, is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    February 29:<\/strong> Someone thought it would be a good idea to reach out to the Hopleaf to see if they wanted to be on Bar Rescue. You can imagine how that went over<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \"The<\/a>

    Photo from the forthcoming “Beer Lovers Chicago.” Photographer: Krysta Williams<\/p><\/div>\n

    March<\/h2>\n

    March 3: Off Color<\/strong> got a ton of press for their Wari ale, brewed in collaboration with Field Museum scientists from a 1,000-year-old recipe. The Reader has a pretty good recap<\/a> of everything that went into making Wari, including purple corn and molle berries.<\/p>\n

    March 4:<\/strong> If you thought the plans for Crooked Fork Brewing were done for with the suicide of chef Homaro Cantu (and who could blame you), you were wrong…sorta. The team behind the brewery announced that they are moving forward<\/a>, but as Old Irving Brewing Company<\/strong> instead.<\/p>\n

    March 11:<\/strong> Oak Park’s Kinslahger<\/strong> opens their doors<\/a> on this date.<\/p>\n

    March 14:<\/strong>\u00a0Not a Chicago-specific story, but still pretty big — news breaks that Cigar City<\/strong> is being purchased by Fireman Capital<\/a>, owners of Oskar Blues and Perrin Brewing.<\/p>\n

    March 18:<\/strong> The long-awaited cider-focused bar, The Northman,<\/strong> opens in Lincoln Square<\/a>. Also on this date: Oak Park Brewing Company<\/strong> opens its doors for the first time<\/a>, and we get the first notice that HopCat<\/strong> is finally eyeing a Chicago location<\/a>. More on this later.<\/p>\n

    March 28.<\/strong> Today is the fifth anniversary of the sale of Goose Island<\/strong> to Anheuser-Busch<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    April<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    April 3:<\/strong> The South Loop Brewing Company<\/strong> announces<\/a> that they’re changing their name to Hop Butcher (For the World)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    April 5:<\/strong> The Brewers Association announced their list of the Top 50 Craft Breweries of 2015<\/a>. New to the list? Revolution Brewing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    April 7:<\/strong> Torontoist breaks the news<\/a> that Goose Island<\/strong> is going international, with plans to open a brewpub in Toronto.<\/p>\n

    April 15:<\/strong>\u00a0April became growler-argument-month<\/em> with this back-and-forth Mashtun piece<\/a> about whether or not bars and restaurants should be allowed to fill growlers. (Our followup<\/a>, along with our Growler Buyers Pledge, followed shortly thereafter.)<\/p>\n

    Also, the Sketchbook<\/strong> taproom opens on this date<\/a>, as does the Prarie Krafts Brewing Company<\/strong>\u00a0taproom in Buffalo Grove<\/a>, as does Lakeview craft beer store\/tasting room<\/a> Bitter Pops.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    April 19:<\/strong>\u00a0A story surfaces on the Cook County Record website<\/a> about the dispute over the Atlas Brewing<\/strong> trademark. Shortly thereafter, it’s announced that Atlas will rebrand as Burnt City Brewing Company<\/strong>, with this Trib piece here<\/a>. (We also covered<\/a> the trademark change.)<\/p>\n

    April 22:<\/strong> The new Ten Ninety<\/strong> facility in Glenview opens on this date<\/a>. Also, after years of brewing around various Chicago locations, Transient Brewing sets down roots and opens their taproom on this date<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    April 23:<\/strong> Greg Underhill, Director of Retail Operations for Revolution Brewing<\/strong>, sadly\u00a0passed away on this date<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    April 25:<\/strong> TTB approval comes through<\/a> for the location of Haymarket’s<\/strong> Michigan production brewery in Bridgeman.<\/p>\n

    April 30:<\/strong> Of course, it’s not April unless it closes out with some Three Floyds<\/strong> Dark Lord Day coverage. Here’s our Storify coverage<\/a> of the social media at the event.<\/p>\n

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    \n

    Someone needs to pick this motherfucker up from #DarkLordDay<\/a>. For real. pic.twitter.com\/9rREepO1L9<\/a><\/p>\n

    — A Cat Named Bitches (@BitchestheCat) April 30, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n