It’s traditional to look back at the previous year, and 2025 has been a rough one for Chicago brewers. The newsletter from Guys Drinking Beer (Substack) found 16 brewers or taprooms that went out:
Ten Ninety • Tonality Brewing • On Tour • Elmhurst Brewing Co. • Emmett’s Brewing – Downers Grove • Rock Bottom Orland Park • Bulldog Brewing • Diversey House • District Brew Yards – Wheeling • Holzlager Brewing Co. • Two Hound Red • Miskatonic Craft Kitchen • Miskatonic Brewing • Pratt Brewing • Lugan’s Brewing (now distilling Lugan’s Spirits) • Spirit Water
They also listed nine new places, although only Blind Corner was a totally new player. Others included existing brewers opening new taprooms in former breweries: 93 Octane in the former Elmhurst Brewing • Brother Chimp in the former D and G Brewing • Black Lung Grayslake into the former Light the Lamp. Others included the first tap rooms for production brewers Lake Effect and Foreign Exchange, and expansions to new areas: Pilot Project Wrigleyville and Crust Brewing Tap Room
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Eris Duneyrr Fermenta Pig Minds
