Old Irving Brewing set to expand with new brewery in former Finch space

Finch Beer Co. is out and Old Irving Brewing is in at a West Town facility that will soon be home to its fourth brewery in the last decade.

The move underscores the tenuous moment in the craft beer industry, where brands such as Finch struggle to compete amid intense competition and the rising cost of doing business — yet others, such as Old Irving, see a narrow path for growth.

The move will mark a major expansion for Old Irving, which has built a steady fan base and won several high-profile awards since launching as a brewpub on Montrose Avenue in 2016.

Co-owner and head brewer Trevor Rose-Hamblin said one of those awards, a gold medal in the highly competitive juicy or hazy India pale ale category at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival, helped Old Irving surge past the production limits at its brewpub. It has had that medal-winning beer, Beezer IPA, made under contract at Great Central Brewing in Chicago for about two years.

The new space, at 1800 W. Walnut St., will allow Old Irving to bring all production in-house. While it will retain its original location as well, Old Irving also plans to build a taproom in its new West Town space in 2023 to sell draft beer on-site — one of the strongest revenue sources for breweries.

“Our growth point has always been low and slow,” Rose-Hamblin said. “We’re betting on a brand that’s already proven itself.”

Meanwhile, after a decade of moving around the city and trying different approaches to jump-start its brand, Finch stopped production during the summer and auctioned off its equipment. The brand is largely unavailable in the market, but Finch co-owner Jamie Lisac said Finch plans to relaunch in the coming months as a contract brand. Seven people were laid off when Finch closed its production brewery, he said.

Finch continues to operate The Perch Kitchen & Tap, a Wicker Park brewpub, with 4 Star Restaurant Group. The shift to contract brewing the bulk of its beer is a response to market realities, Lisac said.

“It certainly was not the plan, but it’s a necessity in the current environment,” Lisac said. “All that overhead was an expensive hurdle to clear. As I see the market continuing to have challenges, not only in craft beer but in the wider craft beverage segment with (ready-to-drink cocktails) and seltzers and whatever the next new thing around the corner is, it’s a crowded market.”

Finch moved into the West Town space in 2017, seeking stability after a rocky few years since launching on the Northwest Side in 2011. Before Finch, the space was home to the now-defunct Like Minds Brewing and before that was used by Goose Island for storing barrel-aged beer.

Beezer will be a priority for Old Irving at its new location, but Rose-Hamblin said he also sees room for growth for other styles including lagers, which have enjoyed a resurgence in the craft beer industry in recent years.

“We’re trying to tap into some styles with staying power that are your everyday drinking,” he said.

Old Irving makes about 2,000 barrels of beer per year at its brewpub and about 2,500 at Great Central Brewing, Rose-Hamblin said. The brewery hopes to get to about 10,000 barrels of production in the new space.

Contract brewing at Great Central was a low-stakes way to test whether beer drinkers would support more production, Rose-Hamblin said.

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“We’re seeing sell through — that’s proof of concept,” he said. “Our distribution is pretty small, so there’s room to grow there, and a lot of room for us to grow in larger chains.”

Old Irving will install a 30-barrel brewhouse in the space.

“We won’t push further than it organically would go, but after a while you see people seem to like us and they buy the beer so maybe we need to push it a little further,” Rose Hamblin said. “I don’t want to open (some) next big over the-top-brewery with iffy expectations.”

Beezer’s gold medal, which came among 348 entries in the category, “made a big difference” in Old Irving’s trajectory, Rose-Hamblin said.

“We went from being a smaller brewpub to an acclaimed brewery at that moment,” Rose-Hamblin said. “It was a big change for me personally. You think, ‘Am I doing the right thing with my life?’ and then when your cohort tells you you’re doing great work, it cements it.”

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jbnoel@chicagotribune.com