LOGAN SQUARE — It's been a difficult holiday season for a pair of craft breweries based in Logan Square.
After operating out of a shared space at 2601 W. Diversey Ave. for the last 2½ years, Arcade Brewery and Ale Syndicate were recently forced to shut down. The breweries lost their lease — which was in Ale Syndicate's name — after failing to keep up with payments. It means the end of Arcade and an uncertain future for Ale Syndicate.
While the owners of Ale Syndicate admit mistakes were made, they hope it doesn't take away from the supportive community they built.
"We threw everything into it. It looks like we were the brewery that took all of the good breweries down when we were always building everyone up. We tore ourselves apart to hold on it. We just couldn't hold on it," said Jesse Edwin Evans, who ran the brewery with his brother, Samuel.
Ale Syndicate allowed Arcade and another brewery, Around the Bend, to operate out of their facility through an alternating proprietorship, an arrangement in which all of the breweries shared equipment.
Ale Syndicate was responsible for paying rent, which cost up to $22,000 per month, and utilities, while Arcade and Around the Bend paid Ale Syndicate between $500-$1,200 per batch of beer. It was all by design, Samuel Evans said.
"We didn't charge them for pallet storage, gas, electricity, office space. A lot of times we netted hardly anything, or nothing. Our goal was always to support breweries and help foster and grow the craft brew community in Chicago," he said.
But the arrangement, while not lucrative, wasn't the main reason they lost their lease, the brothers admitted. Without a source of revenue, they couldn't keep up with bills or rent. The goal was always to open a tap room to make more money, but the community approval process ended up taking several months and by the time approval was granted a tap room was no longer financially feasible, they said.
"The tap room would've helped tremendously. Not getting it was very detrimental," Samuel Evans said.
The owners of Arcade Brewery didn't respond to multiple requests for comment, but founder Chris Tourre told the Tribune, which was first to break the news, that he was surprised by Ale Syndicate's dire financial situation.
“We knew things weren’t going gangbusters [for them], but we didn’t realize how bad of shape things were in,” he told the newspaper.
Yet the brothers contend they were transparent every step of the way.
"Everybody knew. This was not a surprise," Samuel Evans said.
According to the Tribune, Ale Syndicate hasn't had a state brewer license since its last one expired April 30. The owners confirmed that their brewer's license is on hold due to unpaid taxes and declined to discuss the matter any further, citing legal reasons.
"Yes, there's lots of bills that were unpaid and that's ultimately what caused us to close that shop. There's no doubt about that," Samuel Evans said. "We made a lot of really great decisions and did some great things were proud of, but we also made poor decisions along the way."
It's unclear if Ale Syndicate will continue to exist. The brothers say they hope to open a new, smaller facility sometime in the future, but are currently taking a hiatus from brewing.
Arcade, on the other hand, is officially out of business. Tourre told the Tribune he's "sure [he'll] find another project to take on" in the future.
Around the Bend, the third brewery to operate out of the spared space, is now operating out of Burnt City Brewing on the Far South Side.
"These were our brothers," Samuel Evans said. "They're so important to us and their breweries are so important to us. It's sad that it came down to this."
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