Save Craft Beer in Illinois

As I've noted before, Chicago is quickly becoming the place for craft beer not only in the Midwest but also throughout the U.S. New breweries are opening or planning to. More and more bars are catering to craft beer. It's a place where variety, taste and local pride are taking root. However, new legislation might make it more difficult for smaller local brewers to get their beers out there and might even destroy the economy of craft beer in Chicago.

It's actually based on a ruling brought to court by, of course, InBev. Basically, InBev doesn't want to use a distributor for its beers. That costs too much money. The three-tiered system (manufacturer, distributor and customer) came about after prohibition for checks and balances and what not. Well, this made distributors very wealthy (say the Wirtz family) and has been a thorn in the side of large-scale producers for years. InBev is trying to remove the middleman so they can sell directly to customers. They argue that craft brewers can do so in state, so InBev should be allowed to distribute its beers to customers without using a distributor. InBev sued to allow it to distribute directly to customers and the judge basically said that nobody can now distribute to customers. It upheld the three-tiered system while potentially giving a crushing blow to craft brewers.

This legislation is potentially crippling. Now small craft brewers, such as Half Acre or the soon-to-be-opened Finch Brewing, will have to pay a distributor to sell their beers. If you've been to Half Acre, you know this isn't an expansive operation with tons of margin to absorb the cost. They are doing well and expanding, but this move will either lower their margins making business more difficult or raise costs for the consumer, which makes products less attractive from a price perspective.

However, don't worry Windy City dwellers. There is hope! This is just a ruling by a judge. Legislation can be crafted to allow and exemption for craft brewers. This would allow smaller brewers to keep distributing themselves as well as allow Two Brothers to continue to operate Windy City Distribution that allows them to bring other craft beers to Chicago.

A group called Guys Drinking Beer is leading this fight. Of course, the smaller brewers don't have the money that the large distributors or InBev has. We know that money equals influence, but we also need to stand up and let ourselves be heard. The distributors will fight to keep the three-tiered system in place. InBev probably can win either way: remove the system and sell direct, or burden smaller brewers to lessen the competition. Either way, they can afford to send their lobbyists and lawyers to influence the decision.

What to do? First, call your representative and let him or her know your feelings. We need to ensure that we still have access to quality locally produced craft beer.

Half Acre owns property in my neighborhood, bringing jobs to the area as well as secondary economic activity. Pipeworks brewing is looking for space, which will bring revenue and jobs. Finch brewing is working on opening a space. Metropolitan is using a manufacturing space in the Ravenswood corridor. All of these operations bring in jobs, contribute to secondary economic activity and rely on other services such as printing and other manufacturing. Legislation that potentially curbs this burgeoning craft beer movement isn't just making things more profitable for InBev, but is taking jobs away from Chicago. Especially, local jobs that reflect the character of a city.

Here's the contact information on Guys Drinking Beer.

Here's some more information on Chicagoist.