Illinois brews up beer boom
U.S. Census finds Will County in top five for growth, Cook County in top five overall nationally
Chicago’s Begyle Brewing is part of the five-year beer boom, having opened in 2012. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
Something’s brewing in Illinois when it comes to beer.
The U.S. Census Bureau released a nationwide study earlier this month finding that the state is in the midst of a national beer boom.
According to the Census Bureau, the number of U.S. breweries more than tripled over the five-year period from 2012 through 2016 — the most recent data available — growing from 880 to 2,802. By the end of that half decade, the industry was employing 55,000 people nationally, with a combined $2.6 billion annual payroll. Most of the growth came in small craft breweries with fewer than 50 employees.
The report, titled “Microbrewery Business Is Hopping,” performed a county-by-county breakdown in the industry. Will County tied for second among all U.S. counties by adding six breweries over that five-year time span. Cook County had the fourth-largest beer business in the nation, with 40 breweries, which paralleled the growth in the industry nationally by more than tripling in size with a 344 percent increase.
Over the five years ending with 2016, the number of big breweries employing 50 people or more doubled from 100 to 197, while microbreweries exploded from 780 to 2,605.
The report emphasized: “Keep in mind that these data only include businesses classified as ‘breweries.’ Businesses that brew their own beer (restaurants and brew pubs) but are classified in other industries … are excluded from these statistics. If these other businesses had been included, the number and growth over the last five years would be even greater.”
And independent beer companies have only grown, in Illinois and across the nation, since 2016.
Clark County, Wash., led the growth with 13 new breweries. Cook County’s 40 breweries were topped nationally by only San Diego and Angeles counties in California, with 73 and 51, and King County, Wash., with 53.
The report quoted Bart Watson, chief economist for the Brewers Association, who said the trend toward smaller breweries is largely demand-driven and a reflection of consumer taste shifting to support local businesses. “It is similar to the trend toward specialty coffee,” he said. “We are also seeing it in distilleries and wineries.”
The Illinois Craft Brewers Guild has a beer map of breweries across the state, and Wikipedia actually has what looks to be a fairly extensive and reliable list of Illinois breweries and brewpubs.