Goose Island Beer Company is a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, that began as a single

brewpub Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

opened in 1988 in

Lincoln Park, Chicago Lincoln Park is a designated community area on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Lying to the west of Lincoln Park, Chicago's largest park, it is one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Chicago. History In 1824, the United States ...

, and named after a nearby island. The larger production brewery opened in 1995, and a second brewpub, in

Wrigleyville Lakeview, also spelled Lake View, is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois. Lakeview is located in the city's North Side. It is bordered by West Diversey Parkway on the south, West Irving Park Road on the north, North Ravenswood A ...

, in 1999 which later closed in 2015. Their beers are distributed across the United States, and the United Kingdom after a stake of the company was sold to

Widmer Brothers Brewery Widmer Brothers is a brewery founded in 1984 in Portland, Oregon, by brothers Kurt and Robert Widmer. It is part of the Craft Brew Alliance, Inc., the 12th largest brewing company in the United States in 2017. Details In 1986, the Widmer Broth ...

in 2006, and the brewery was able to expand into different markets. In 2011, Goose Island was sold to

Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, commonly known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian multinational drink and brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. AB InBev has a global functional management office in New York City, and regional headquarters ...

. Greg Hall stepped down as

brewmaster A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of beer ...

with the AB InBev purchase in 2011; Brett Porter was hired as the new brewmaster.

History

John and Greg Hall were originally influenced by the English brewing tradition.

Brewpubs

Goose Island has one brewpub located on Clybourn Ave which serves brunch, lunch, and dinner next to their assortment of beers. The brewpub was sold to Anheuser Busch in 2016, but it still remains a subsidiary of the Fulton Street brewery. The Clybourn Avenue Brewpub closed for renovation in January 2017; it reopened in October 2017, slightly renamed to Goose Island Brewhouse. The Wrigleyville brewpub closed in 2015 to make way for further development of the Wrigleyville area. The brewery on Fulton Street features a tap room and offers tours of the facility. Goose Island currently operates different concept locations across the globe, with brewpubs in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

; a pub in

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

, Mexico;

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and a vintage ale house in

Balham Balham () is an area in south London, England, mostly within the London Borough of Wandsworth with small parts within the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. The area has been settled since Saxon times and appears in the Domesday Book as B ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The Philadelphia pub closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the location now houses an Other Half brewpub, and the vintage ale house in Balham has since closed in the spring of 2018 to make way for another brewpub in the

Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an impor ...

area of London.

Products

Beer

Goose Island produces a number of beers that are available year-round, as well as some beers that are seasonal. At different times in the past, the brewery has produced dozens of other beers. In November 2008, Goose Island made news when its small batch of Bourbon County Stout became available for the first time in the Western United States. While Goose Island products were originally only available in the Chicago area, since 2012 their products are available in all 50 states. In Europe, post AB-Inbev acquisition, Goose Island Beer is brewed at the InBev brewing facilities in Belgium.

Bourbon County Stout

Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout was one of the first bourbon

barrel-aged beer A barrel-aged beer is a beer that has been aged for a period of time in a wooden barrel. Typically, these barrels once housed bourbon, whisky, wine, or, to a lesser extent, brandy, sherry, or port.Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1992, when

Jim Beam Jim Beam is an American brand of bourbon whiskey produced in Clermont, Kentucky, by Beam Suntory. It is one of the best-selling brands of bourbon in the world. Since 1795 (interrupted by Prohibition), seven generations of the Beam family have be ...

gave the brewer a couple of used barrels; however, according to Hall's assistant brewmaster and other pieces of evidence, it may not have been produced until 1995. Goose Island's Brett Porter said: "We let the warehouse run to Chicago temperatures—cold winters, followed by hot humid summers—that causes the staves in our bourbon barrels to bring in and then force out liquid, and that's where the flavour comes from".Punchdrink.com "The Next Frontier in Barrel-Aged Craft Beer."
Retrieved 21 April 2020. Every year in late November, Goose Island releases its series of Bourbon County Stouts, consisting of the classic Bourbon County Stout and its variants.

Soda

For several years, the WIT Beverage Company licensed the Goose Island name for a craft soda line. The branding was changed to WBC Craft Sodas following the expiration of the Goose Island licensing in 2013.

References

Notes

Citations

External links

Goose Island Beer Company Site
{{Authority control Beer brewing companies based in Chicago Restaurants in Chicago