The evolution of craft breweries

The forecast today looks perfect: 21°C under sunny skies. Perfect for a Brews and Choos trip! And while one of the stops will be to a brewery that could under no circumstances be called "craft," the other stop will take us to a brewery incubator suspiciously close to Wrigley Field.

Fitting, then, that Crain's reports today about how craft breweries have had to evolve to stay in business:

After a decade of unbridled growth, the industry hit a rough patch in the years following the pandemic. Ten percent of the state’s roughly 300 craft breweries closed between 2022 and 2023. Consumers did not return to taprooms after COVID restrictions lifted. Retail beer sales sagged as people turned toward wine, spirits and canned cocktails. The price of ingredients, like grain and aluminum cans, skyrocketed, but people will only pay so much for a beer. Craft breweries that took out big loans to survive the pandemic could not pay them back.

The moment proved to be a crucible. In need of additional revenue, the survivors evolved. They rolled out non-alcoholic options, food menus and THC-infused beverages. In aid, Illinois introduced a new brewer license category that allowed breweries to sell wine and spirits in addition to beer. To stay afloat now, craft breweries must look a lot more like Brother Chimp and a lot less like the taprooms of the 2010s that sold nothing but their own beer.

As craft breweries’ business models have evolved over the past couple of years, their numbers have improved, said Ray Stout, executive director of the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild. Only four craft breweries in the state closed between Jan. 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025. In that same period, 16 breweries opened or expanded.

By Stout’s count, Illinois now has 308 breweries. That’s a record high for the state’s almost $2.9 billion industry.

Beneath those improving numbers, though, the headwinds remain. Craft beer sales in stores are down about 4% compared to a year ago, according to data from market research firm NielsenIQ. The average price for a case was up about 2%.

And would you just look, the article goes into detail about our second stop!