Beers to You!

Coming in May

Carbondale Main Street is partnering with the SIU Fermentation Science Institute and Southern Illinois Brewers to bring an exciting new event to downtown Carbondale, the CarbondALE Brew Fest! This festival will feature brews from all over the US, including ones from local breweries as well as those from Kentucky, Missouri, Michigan, and California.

CarbondALE Brew Fest will be held at the Town Square Pavilion on Friday, May 6th from 6pm-9pm, with early entry for VIP ticket holders, and an after party at Hangar 9 beginning at 9pm. In case of rain, the event will move to the Carbondale Civic Center at 200 S. Illinois Ave.

Limited advance tickets are currently for sale; General Admission tickets are $25 and include a souvenir tasting glass and tastes, VIP tickets are $40, and include a premium (larger) tasting glass, tastes, early entry to the Fest, and more!

Pricing will be $30 for General Admission and $45 for VIP at the door.

The CarbondALE Brew Fest is sure to be a great time, with live music and lots of information from brewers and representatives from over 20 breweries (a full list, and ticket information can be found at www.carbondalebrewfest.com). Several breweries are bringing seasonal craft beers and special releases!

A feature of the Festival will be the “Urban Chestnut Beer Hall” in the Town Square Pavilion itself, with a limited release of maibock from Urban Chestnut Brewing Company. The maibock will be sold for $5.00 per glass (tastes will also be available in the Urban Chestnut tent).

Proceeds will benefit Carbondale Main Street and the SIU Fermentation Science Institute. To learn more, call 618-529-8040 or visit www.carbondalebrewfest.com!

LAB Meeting

It looks as if La Paisano Taqueria, over on the west side of town, wants to add liquor to its menu offerings. It is just very hard for a restaurant, any restaurant, save a fast food one, to make a profit without offering at least beer as a beverage option on the menu. From the agenda for this Thursday's Liquor Advisory Board meeting

Application for a Class A2 liquor license for Los Chama, Inc. d/b/a El Paisano Taqueria at 100 North Glenview Drive Suite 103


Discussion of proposed changes to the Liquor Code regarding approval of changes in ownership or the nature of the business and requiring identification of all natural persons beneficially owning a liquor-licensed business

Abbey Ridge Brewery and Taproom

Abbey Ridge Brewery and Taproom opened recently on Cedar Lake Road, just east of Hwy 127.  Maybe if enough microbreweries open in the area, Carbondale Tourism could start promoting the Southern Illinois Beer Trail

Wine and Beer Sales

Short interviews with Francis Murphy of the Neighborhood Co-op and Darla Lubelt of Kroger on the effects of allowing grocery stores to sell beer and wine.  It's interesting to compare Kroger and Schunucks beer an wine areas as Kroger has not jumped into the area with the same enthusiasm as Schnucks did.  Within days after getting the license, Schnucks had cleared out the are that used to be their video department and stocked it. Then a month or so after that, cleared out 2 full grocery aisles and converted them to beer and wine, along with reseting most of the counters throughout the rest of the store.

Meanwhile, Kroger still only has the half of one aisle that it devoted to beer and wine, with no refrigeration set up for beer yet.

Beer Sales

Got curious about the effects of the increased number of beer and wine outlets on Carbondale sales so asked a friend who works for one of the local distributors.  According to them, overall beer and wine sales are up significantly since the change in the ordinance.  Sales are down some at the already existing liquor stores, but not as much as they had expected.  In addition, Carbondale is now pulling in a large amount of business that used to go to Murphysboro and Marion, especially Marion since Marion still does not allow beer and wine sales in supermarkets and discount stores.