If you haven't yet heard of Finch's Beer Co., you likely will soon. The Chicago-based brewery just celebrated a successful first year of business marked by an expanding beer selection currently featuring their three mainstays, Golden Wing Blonde Ale, Cut Throat Pale Ale and the newly released Threadless IPA, available in 16.9 ounce cans, 22 ounce bottles and on draft, and by becoming the first Chicago-based brewery since Goose Island to distribute outside of the state of Illinois.
"All along it's been our goal to expose people outside of Illinois to the awesome craft beer renaissance we have here in Chicago," said Finch Beer Co. founder and owner Benjamin Finch. "What started here has quickly expanded outside Illinois borders and in the coming year we will only continue to grow and expand."
To celebrate their first anniversary the team installed five additional fermentation tanks, bringing their overall brewing capacity at their headquarters to 12,000 barrels a year.
Finch, along with his father Paul Finch and brewmaster Richard Grant, started planning in 2009 for what would become Finch's Beer Co. With only a year under their belts he attributes the brewery's quick growth and prosperous increase in production capacity to hard work and a close-knit team that is extremely passionate about what they do.
Today, in addition to their Illinois-based headquarters, Finch's Beer Co. boasts limited distribution in five states including Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Georgia, with beer available both on tap and increasingly at specialty retailers such as Whole Foods and Binny's.
To help spread the word to future fans, sometimes even before beer has made its way to a specific market, Finch's Beer Co. has relied heavily on social media to communicate important brand news and messages. In the short time it took to get their brewery headquarters up and running the team had already worked to build buzz online, coining Finch's as one of the first to successfully build a beer company from the ground up by utilizing less traditional forms of media.
Finch's Beer Co. has fostered additional fan growth by offering brewery tours and giving an in-depth, behind the scenes look at their brewing process, and finally a taste of their freshly brewed beer.
"Feedback up until this point has been extremely positive," said Finch. "People seem to love what we're making, which in turn makes our jobs that much more rewarding and satisfying."
Recently the team has started creating a fine selection of specialty beers, notably their Secret Stache Vanilla Cream Stout, Sap Sucker California Common Rye and the award-winning Dirtier Bird Barrel Aged Doppelbock, which took a Silver Medal in the Classic category at Chicago's Festival of Barrel Aged Beers in November. Like their mainstay counterparts, the new variations feature Finch's trademark "finch" on their packaging.
But the new developments for Finch's Beer Co. don't stop there.
"With what we achieved over the past year I think it's safe to say that we've surpassed that up-and-coming status," said Finch "But that's not to say that our work here is done. We have a number of exciting developments in the works and I think we're all looking forward to another extremely successful year."
Finch's Beer Co. beer is currently available in 16.9 ounce cans and in 22 ounce bottles at select retailers including Whole Foods and Binny's. For more information please visit http://www.finchbeer.com. You can also find Finch's Beer Co. and receive real-time updates on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/FinchBeer
and Twitter https://twitter.com/finchbeer.
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