Chicago is My Home

15
Apr

Closure of Goose Island on Clybourn Leaves Chicagoans Crying in Their Beers

Author: Adam Fendelman, Category: Leisure

CHICAGO – The looming shuttering of the popular Goose Island Beer Co. pub at 1800 N. Clybourn Ave. in Chicago has left local fans crying in their beers.

Company founder and CEO John Hall says he was unable to negotiate a new lease with property management company CRM Properties Group, which owns the site. Mounting real estate prices in the Clybourn area have garnered the attention of commercial developers in recent years. The pub will close when the current lease expires at the end of 2008.

Founded in 1988, Goose Island Beer Co. rapidly grew into Chicago’s signature craft beer. Now largely focused on retail sales, Goose Island Beer Co. brews – including Honker’s Ale and 312 Urban Wheat – are sold in 14 different states and in Europe. In 2007, the company sold interests to Oregon-based Widmer Brothers Brewing, which is partly owned by Anheuser-Busch.

Hall says the move gave Goose Island access to the massive Anheuser-Busch distribution system and boosted sales by 50 percent in 2007. He says the brewery will seek a new location for the Clybourn pub and continue to operate its Wrigleyville pub at 3535 N. Clark St.

By Megan O’Neil