Metropolitan Brewing and Other Chicago Beer News

A neat video about Metropolitan Brewing whose beer I find quite tasty. I think they go a bit hyperbolic by saying that they are the only craft brewery in the country that doesn't brew an IPA but their point is well taken. Metropolitan basically brews German-style beers, although they did do a small batch of India Pale Lager. And so I give them credit for going against the grain, so to speak. I had the chance to speak with co-owner Tracy Hurst at this year's Great Taste and she was really nice to talk to.



Also, Crain's Chicago Business has an interesting article about pay-to-play infecting Chicago's beer market. Craft brewers are getting the shaft by distributors who pay to have the beers they distribute carried at bars, restaurants, and stores.

Deb Carey of New Glarus is quoted in the article:

“Brewers call Chicago a whores' market,” says Deb Carey, co-owner of New Glarus Brewing Co., of New Glarus, Wis., which sold draft beer in Chicago for two years in the mid-1990s. New Glarus pulled out, Ms. Carey says, because it didn't want to participate in illegal business practices such as giving away beer to get bars to carry its products.

Ms. Carey says Illinoisans constantly are urging her to sell her Spotted Cow ale here again, but she's not interested. “Everyone has a hand out and everyone wants some cash, (free) beer or a discount,” she says. “As far as I'm concerned, it's not worth the graft and hassle.”

“Small brewers can't afford to pay to play,” she adds. “I really blame the big domestic brewers for creating this mess.”

I don't doubt that this happens in Wisconsin as well but surely not on anywhere near the scale of Chicagoland.