This Week's Beer News: A Great Chicago Fire Brewery?

Powered by random press release discoveries

I get a lot of press releases.

Most of the time, they get deleted. (I got two offering me samples from “Beer Girl” just now.) But this week I got one that caught my eye for a reason unrelated to why this release was sent.

An email announcing this year’s Hops for Heroes 2025 Campaign, sent by a brewery in Texas, included a mention of a participating beermaker called Great Chicago Fire Brewery. I thought, “Is there a new beer brand in Chicago that I haven’t heard of yet? Surely no one outside of Chicagoland would name themselves Great Chicago Fire Brewery…”

And yet, in little Leesburg, Florida, a bit northwest of Orlando, someone did exactly that. And when I saw this image on their website, my heart grew three sizes:

Maybe it’s because I’ve been a Chicago expat for a while now but seeing someone so proudly proclaim that they carry pizza puffs and show all the Bears games makes me a little misty.

No idea what their beer is like - they do have an Old Style clone apparently - but either way I figured you might be interested in knowing this place exists. And they’re different from Portillo’s, y’all!

• The Chicago Tribune has a story on the impact that aluminum tariffs will have on local brewers, with comment from Spiteful Brewing but also from a labelling company called BevWrap.

• Half Acre announced in their email newsletter today that they’re expanding distribution into Tennessee, which is great news for anyone looking for a better beer to drink during their next Nashville bachelor/ette party on Broadway. (Honestly, just drink all the Yazoo Dos Perros and Southern Grist while you’re there.)

• 3,000 drinkers attended the recent Mardi Gras themed Lake County Craft Beer Festival.

• BiXi Beer chef Bo Fowler went on NBC5 last week to talk about their menu … and her surprise at being named a James Beard Award semifinalist.

• Opening up this fun Craft Beer & Brewing piece about table beer is comment from Is/Was Brewing owner Mike Schallau about their Bourgeois Daydreams 3.2% ABV brett saison.

• Craft Brewing Business takes a closer look at how Siebel Institute played a role in the creation of the NA beer brand BERO.

• Vinepair’s “20 Breweries to Watch in 2025” includes Chicagoland beermakers like Funkytown, Maplewood and Roaring Table.

• We mentioned this in our Friday email but Eater Chicago has a little more info on the Goose Island 312 Day "fine dining” event with Vienna Beef.

• It’s paywalled but Crain’s shared a story about Larry Bell selling his house on the Southport Corridor, in case anyone wants to put in a big offer.

• The Chicago Fire re-upped a multiyear deal with Revolution Brewing to be the official craft beer of the team.

• Yuengling coming to the state isn’t exactly breaking news, but this weird WCIA headline heralds their arrival in package format: “Oldest brewery in the U.S. coming to Central Illinois.” Note that the URL says “worlds oldest brewery” - guessing an editor had to make a quick fix there.

• Triptych Brewing worked with U of I Wildlife Medical Clinic students to come up with lizard-themed beer labels for their “Herp Slurp” lager.

• Blockhead Beerworks is expanding into LaPorte, opening a second location thanks to a city grant.

• WNDU says that you should eat, drink and play trivia at Goshen Brewing Co.

•  2,000 drinkers descended on Dubuque for their annual Dubuque On Ice Brewfest.

• While Detroit’s 8 Degrees Plato may be gone, a new group is opening a new beer bar and bottle shop in its place called Meantime.

• The Traverse City Record-Eagle has a good (but paywalled) story about the former social worker who decided to take over the Workshop Brewing Company.

• Also paywalled, but Crains Grand Rapids says that outgoing Bell’s executive Carrie Yuenker may be looking at starting a political career.

• Saugatuck Brewing revived Creston Brewing back in 2021 following their pandemic-induced closure. Today they announced that both of Creston’s taprooms are being closed for good.

• 200 new affordable housing units being built is great news - unless you’re the owner of St. Paul Brewing, who’s losing the lot where his patrons park.

• It’s also behind a paywall, but the Star-Tribune gets the details behind the new season of Love Is Blind, which takes place in Minneapolis and spent a little time at Blackstack Brewing.

• Piney River Brewing Company in Bucyrus celebrates 14 years of making beer for the Ozarks later this month.

• Beer and chicken wings are great partners in general, but Columbus Brewing Company is hosting a beer dinner going well beyond pairing light lagers with buffalo sauce.

• George Walter came to Wisconsin from Germany in the 1870s. Today, Stone Arch Brewpub still celebrates his birthday, and the many breweries he founded, including Adler Brau.

• Broken Bat Brewery is releasing a special Irish red ale to support the Milwaukee firefighter’s union’s charitable efforts.

• This year’s Lakefront / Pink Boots Society collab beer is a caramel coffee blonde ale called Queen Bean.

• Nine Green Bay breweries have teamed up to brew a special beer for when the NFL Draft comes to town in a few weeks. More here.

• As March gets underway, Isthmus looks at the many dry stouts, bocks and pub ales popping up around the Madison area.

• WKOW looks at the ongoing $35 Million expansion project underway at Octopi Brewing following the acquisition by Asahi.

• If you want to know how rough it is for craft beer right now, here’s a pretty awful sign from Craft Brewing Business: “The craft index of 17 for February 2025 is a brutally low indicator of distributor demand.” Emphasis mine.

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Last week’s most-clicked link: My Hop Butcher mini-profile at Chicago magazine. Thanks for sending them the traffic :)

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