Half Acre Beer Company and Maplewood Brewery & Distillery, two of Chicago’s largest craft breweries, are set to merge into a new beverage company, the businesses announced on Tuesday. Both breweries will operate independently at their respective taprooms, but the joint venture will consolidate their behind-the-scenes business operations to form an unnamed, “premier Chicago beverage company,” per the release.
The merger comes after a wave of shutterings in the Windy City’s craft beer scene. Five breweries, including Casa Humilde, have closed or announced closures in just the last six weeks. Half Acre president and chief operating officer Kevin McGillen tells the Chicago Sun-Times that the the formation of the new beverage company was predicated by the city’s weakening craft beer industry. “This is an opportunity to take advantage of a marketplace that is a bit tumultuous,” he says.
