What's next for Lake County's Light the Lamp Brewery, Finch Beer Co.
Two craft brewery proposals are headed in different directions in Lake County.
Light the Lamp Brewery in Grayslake is poised to leave a retail space and move a block south on Lake Street to expand in a 100-year-old building after receiving tentative village board approval last week.
However, the future of a Finch Beer Co. production facility and tap room in Long Grove has become unsettled in the wake of the business' sale in February. Finch Beer originally planned to open for retail sales in a former greenhouse in December, just north of Lake-Cook Road and Route 53, but has yet to do so.
Grayslake village board trustees have given tentative approval for Light the Lamp to move into the vacant Cupola building. Light the Lamp co-owner Jeff Sheppard said the brewery will have more than a bigger production area in what's expected to be a fall debut in the renovated structure.
"We will become a brewpub, which will serve food, full alcohol and our beer at our facility," Sheppard said. "And we'll also be distributing beer to outside distributors for retail use."
Built in 1916, the vacant and tired-looking Cupola building originally was an automobile dealership and repair shop where Center Street ends at Lake Street in downtown Grayslake. A planned renovation to convert it into a banquet hall to accommodate about 200 guests fell apart in 2014.
Trustee Shawn Vogel was among the elected officials who endorsed Light the Lamp's proposal to revitalize the building.
"I think we envisioned that building having a restaurant presence at that end of Center Street," Vogel said.
Launched in 2012, Light the Lamp has had a production area and tap room, but no food offerings, in a retail center at 10 N. Lake St. Sheppard was among the men who started the craft brewery after finding themselves with more free time when their children started driving themselves to hockey practice,
Meanwhile, the status of Finch Beer in Long Grove is not immediately known due to the sale of the business from the founding family to an investment group. The name had been Finch's Beer Co. before the sale.
Founder Ben Finch, a Long Grove resident, had moved a warehouse from Chicago to one of the old Geimer Greenhouse structures on Route 53 behind a Menards store in late 2015, with plans to start brewing operations there by the end of this year or early 2017. The beer brewed in an Elston Avenue facility in Chicago and going to the Long Grove warehouse already was supposed to be available for purchase.
While acknowledging new managers have said the business will now have operations at the former Breakroom Brewery on Montrose Avenue in Chicago instead of Long Grove, Finch said to "stay tuned" regarding plans for the village. He said his family remains involved with Finch Beer and he's on the board of directors.
"Others involved in Finch may very well be plotting a course," he said without elaboration.
Long Grove Village President Angie Underwood said she's aware of the Finch Beer sale and management changes.
"Ben is a resident and he's a real nice guy," Underwood said. "We've talked with him quite a bit. So, we're all hopeful that he will continue to pursue opening something here in Long Grove, if not the brewery then a tasting room or whatnot."
Finch has been leasing the 15-acre Long Grove property, which has active bee hives and three water wells. Five employees have been working in Long Grove.