Goose Island is closing!

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Jim Karr

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According to a post on probrewer.com, Goose Island is closing its doors as the end of '08. It showed a long list of equipment for sale, and no details why.

I thought craft brewing was the only growth segment of the industry. Must still be tough out there.:(
 
According to a post on probrewer.com, Goose Island is closing its doors as the end of '08. It showed a long list of equipment for sale, and no details why.

I thought craft brewing was the only growth segment of the industry. Must still be tough out there.:(

I think it is just one of their brewpubs, not the production brewery.
 
i'm going to a beer and cheese pairing in nyc this friday with goose island, i'll ask whoever is representing goose island.
 
yeah no biggie. im usually in chicagoland and from there..its just a brewpud..the brewery itself wil not be gone...so calm yourselves
 
Want to bet the space won't be filled? I wouldn't be surprised if the landlords are scrambling to renew with Goose.
 
Looks like they did want to renew with Goose... with a significant rent increase since that area is booming.
Yep, that is it exactly. When they first opened, that area was so dead, you could hear crickets. This was the pub and brewery. Nowadays, you can't find a place to park and property values are shooting upwards.

They moved the brewery several years ago to a different, much bigger location. That brewery and the Wrigleyville brewpub remain. I wouldn't be surprised to see them open a second brewpub location, either somewhere else in Chicago or maybe even out in Rosemont, near O'Hare.
 
Wait... there closing the Clyborn location.... the location that is on "Goose Island"... so named because it was really just a trash dump in the middle of the river that the geese would poop and eat on....

The audacity.... the unmitigated audacity!!!! The Wrigleyville location is fine and all, but it is sort of an afterthought and much like everything else in that neighborhood way too touristy. I can bet you they upped their rent to tear the place down and put up condos. That used to be a nice respectable industrial neighborhood you'd be weary about walking through after dark. Now, like every other place with character in my fair city, it's gentrifying.... sigh....

Gonna get me some Honkers Ale to cry in.....
 
Want to bet the space won't be filled? I wouldn't be surprised if the landlords are scrambling to renew with Goose.

:off:Ya know, I see that type of thing all the time here. A store will not renew the lease because the rents get bumped and the thing sits. I have no clue how the landlord works that into the books. It would seem to me even if they are just renting just above cost that in the long run it is better than losing any long term amount of rent.
 
Oh thank god it is not the brewery. You guys had me soooo scared.

Goose IPA was the cheapest (good) beer in my neck of the woods for a long time. I probably drank 3 six packs a week for a few years. Now everyone's prices have gone up so I have been brewing more and more.

But the IPA is still the best smelling beer of all time.

If it went away, I might cry. It would be almost as bad as when Star Trek The Experience closed this year as I was planning my trip.
 
I probably drank 3 six packs a week for a few years. Now everyone's prices have gone up so I have been brewing more and more.

But the IPA is still the best smelling beer of all time.

If it went away, I might cry.

Wow! really, i think we must have been separated at birth.... years 27-31 I drank enough IPA and Honkers ale to drown..... i dunno...something big! The ancient Cambodian guy at the little hole in the wall liquor store on Irving park road said he had to up his weekly order cause of me.... ahhh the joys of being single and living in squalor.

I bet the place is vacant for a while though. I remember the Lounge Ax on Clark and Fullerton was vacant for years after it closed. A sad thing too lots of good music and good beer, in fact i drank a helluva a lot of goose there too...
 
This is the nature of the bar and brewpub industry. You will get a license and a cheap lease in an economically depressed area, your business might help bring up the area, then the city / county / state doesn't want to renew your license because they "want to go in a different direction" while at the same time your rent /lease skyrockets.

Shame.
 
This is the nature of the bar and brewpub industry. You will get a license and a cheap lease in an economically depressed area, your business might help bring up the area, then the city / county / state doesn't want to renew your license because they "want to go in a different direction" while at the same time your rent /lease skyrockets.

Shame.
This was all about the money and, for once anyhow, had nothing to do with the city not wanting to renew anything. The property values have just skyrocketed. If they had owned the building, they could have sold the place anyway and made a bundle!

I'll miss the place but, IMHO, they've become too crowded in the last few years and the service is really hit or miss. The Wrigleyville spot doesn't have the same atmosphere, but the service was a tad better. And it is still THE best place in W'ville for a beer.
 
Yep, just saw it this morning:
From the Chicago Tribune:


Goose Island toasts 11th-hour deal to keep brew pub open
By Michael Lev | Tribune reporter
November 12, 2008
They raised a glass in celebration at Goose Island Beer Co.'s pioneering North Side brew pub Tuesday night: The well-known spot isn't going to close at year's end.

John Hall, Goose Island's founder and chief executive, said he reached a last-minute deal with the pub's landlord to stay at 1800 N. Clybourn Ave. for three to five years, averting the closing of the home for Honker's Ale and other brews.

"I'm thrilled," said Hall, who bought everyone in the place a beer. "They called me last week and said we want to try to do a deal. We compromised in a week on something we couldn't do for a long time."

Hall said he couldn't talk for the other side, but he indicated the weak real estate market may have helped get the agreement done. In April, Hall had said that the landlord, CRM Properties Group, had asked for a significant rent increase, reflecting the popularity of the trendy neighborhood.



Goose Island was part of a pioneering redevelopment in the North and Clybourn Avenues area. Today, Clybourn Square is surrounded by one of Chicago's hottest retail regions, but the entire economy is now in duress.

Chris Siavelis, an executive at Deerfield-based CRM, couldn't be reached Tuesday night.

Goose Island, which also makes 312 and other brews, was founded as a brew pub in 1988 at the site. The venture was a success, and Goose Island built a stand-alone brewery at 1800 W. Fulton St. in 1995. Since then, the company has focused on retail beer sales, though it has continued to operate two brew pubs.

"We've been in the business for 20 years, and a lot of things have changed," Hall said. "We couldn't be more pleased about reaching an agreement."
 
good to hear...now lets hope they don't send down the increase in rent to the consumer...too much.
 

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