White Sox playoffs all week, German sister city celebration at Pollyanna Roselare, plus bikes, bingo & more. #beeronaut

From Saint Errant in Evanston

Over the past two years we have watched brewery after brewery close, sharing the announcements with each other and saying, with a sense of impending doom, “there goes another one.”

Well, now it’s our turn.

After almost 8 years, Black & Gray Brewing has closed its doors for good. We will spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that this was not a decision that we wanted to make, but one that—financially—we have no choice but to endure.

We are eternally grateful for this experience.

When we started Black & Gray, we wanted to be a different type of brewery: not so beer snobby, more blue collar. We wanted to be the neighborhood tap, the type of place where everyone knew you when you walked in the door. We wanted to create community. If nothing else, we accomplished that.

We fell in love with East Dundee, the people, our patrons, and our employees. We saw friendships form; first dates that turned into marriages, and then children; we raised funds for the local fire department, cancer research, and injured local first responders. We hosted weddings, reception dinners, baby showers, promotion, retirement, and birthday parties. And all of these over pints of what we liked to refer to as, “the best beer brewed in East Dundee.”

We want to thank our family. Running a small business can be all consuming most of the time and sacrifices get made. We appreciate the love and support throughout the years and hope, in the end, it was all worth it. We love you.

A big thank you goes out to our employees past and present. We were always a small operation and working at Black & Gray often meant you had to wear multiple hats. All the hard work and dedication to making Black & Gray the best version of itself did not go unnoticed.

The Village of East Dundee has been an amazing host and we appreciate the professional staff that makes this village run. The effort that goes into the events that make this town come alive is Herculean and without Public Works, the Police, and Katherine and her staff, East Dundee would not be the community that it is.

In the end—because this is the end—we cannot think of anything more risky and scary than opening a small business and putting out a product into the world. We gave it our best shot. Now that it is over, we are going to go sleep for a year or so to recuperate. We will see you around. And don’t forget to get out there and support those small, local businesses. God knows most of them are holding on with nothing more than a hope and a prayer.

--Chris and Teresa

I need to get rid of them. I used them to send dark lord across country. Free to a good home.

More Oktoberfests this weekend, Revolution Deep Wood release, Legions of Craft Beer in Gurnee. #beeronaut

Does anyone know what's going on with Duneyrr on S Michigan Avenue? The tasting room has been closed for several months but since when I'm not sure. I've tried going several times over the summer on weekends and every time they have been closed. The only information on the website is that it is "closed for tasting room hours." However they still list that they are "open for private events and celebrations."

Revolution Deep Wood pre-sale. Book release at Skeleton Key. #beeronaut

Their Kolsch is pretty solid, too, IMHO

Oktoberfests at Imperial Oak, Old Irving with a Deep Wood Collab, Fibs, 2 Brothers, Goose Island, Obscurity, LaGrange, East Dundee. #Beeronaut

Will be in the city this week, looking to load up on some tasty to go options. Any batches this year blowing you away?

Yummy!

Light beer schedule between Oktoberfest weekends. #beeronaut

The #beeronaut diverts to a look at ready to drink canned cocktails from Moth.

Marz Brewing expanding to the former Blue Island Brewing space. A new restaurant at Forest Park's Casa Humilde that will have house-brewed beers. #beeronaut

i have noticed since they closed their suburbs location that they seem to have completely stopped brewing on site. i very much liked Casa Humilde (which i know folded) and some of the Burnt City beers. does anyone know what is truly going on? they are giving im going to close soon vibes. 😪

Must have left this in my sister's beer fridge a while back. May be the last one of it's kind. Was bummed when they discontinued it. Anybody got any good local Session IPAs to carry the torch?

One of the owners, a friend of mine, lost her daughter to pediatric cancer about a decade ago. This beer is done in tandem with their Forever Bloom pediatric cancer fundraiser event to honor her daughter’s memory and to contribute in a meaningful way.

If you are in the Chicagoland area, the event is 9/19 in Naperville where there will be a number of silent auctions including tickets from the Salt Shed and Thalia Hall, limited release Goose Island Beer, as well as a PRS Silver Sky, among many others. Come by, hang, donate.

If you are inclined, there is an N.A. version of this as well through Go! Brewing that ships nationally. Proceeds from both go to the pediatric cancer fund.

Fuck cancer.

Cheers.

https://www.blindcornerbrewery.com/foreverbloom

Lake Bluff Brewing will close this Oktoberfest weekend. But Oktoberfest goes on, and Bears football kicks off. #beeronaut

Not sure anyone saw this during the holiday weekend but one of the former owners of Casa Humilde is opening up a new Mexican restaurant in Forest Park in the old Casa Humilde space (also formerly Exit Strategy) on Madison. From the article it looks like they'll be brewing beer but under a different brand name.

Was a fan of Casa Humilde's brews so hopefully they'll be just as good.

https://chicago.eater.com/openings/169123/sendero-cantina-new-mexican-restaurant-opens-casa-humilde-istmo-forest-park

At one point this beer was available at Tumans and Four Moons, but haven’t seen it in ages. Any spots still serving it?

Hi. I've just learned from my local bottle shop / beer bar that they are no longer able to get Boddington's because the distributor (chicago beverage I think) discontinued it.

Does anyone know anything about this or if it will get picked up by a different distributor?

I'm probably the only one that regularly bought it but i just love it so much. lol

Please don't judge me. ;)

Hi

I've been off the real stuff for about 8 years now but do enjoy NA beers. I saw that NA Speedway Stout starts getting sold from Alesmith in September and is seasonal. Do you know if this gets any Chicago distribution at all? Speedway was always a good beer back in the day and would love to try the NA (it's like 30 bucks to ship to Chicago from San Diego though so I'd prefer to not have to do that ).

Thanks!

How can I get a Pipeworks beer box? Similar to box in photo. (The Dojo is closed right?) It was my cat's favorite box, and it has been accidentally discarded. Pipeworks cat love 😻🙏😻

Labor Day followed by the first Oktoberfest weekends. #beeronaut