Supply and Demand Keeping Half Acre Out of South Side Taverns

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jun 20, 2011 3:35PM

We and others in print and online have written incessantly about the craft beer explosion in Chicago and how one of the negatives to that is the ability of breweries and brewpubs to keep up with demand.

It's a good problem to have, if you own a local brewery. If you're a fan of good local beer and can't seem to get enough of, say, Half Acre Daisy Cutter, not so much.

There seems to be a dearth of Half Acre on the South Side recently. We didn't notice it, at first, mostly because we don't mind visiting Half Acre's North Center brewery and filling a growler or buying bombers of what they've just released. Last Monday, however, we stopped at one of our local taverns in Bridgeport, Bernice's Tavern, which usually has been able to keep Daisy Cutter in stock. The look of surprise on our face was evident when the bartender said, "Sorry, we don't have any Half Acre here."

We had better luck a few days later at Maria's, where we were able to buy two bottles of the now sold-out run of "Small Animal... Big Machine," an ale brewed with cherries and currants.

Apparently, we were lucky. Maria's owner Ed Marszewski told Chicagoist's Kevin Robinson that he's unable to get Half Acre. Kevin also had similar problems trying to order Half Acre at Simone's.

So, what's up with no Half Acre on the South Side? We emailed that question to owner Gabriel Magliaro. Magliaro said it's a combination of supply and demand and the lack of distributorship on the South side. Half Acre's brewery is already operating at capacity. They're selling their beer as fast as they can brew it. Their distribution arrangement with Chicago Beverage Systems allows them to place their beer with accounts that Chicago Beverage Systems can reach. That usually means North and Northwest sides and the Loop.

Because of the way beer distribution territories are divided, Chicago Beverage Systems (which is a MillerCoors-affiliated distributorship) can only as far south as 31st Street, maybe 35th. Further south, tavern and retail accounts are controlled by another distributor.

Half Acre currently doesn't have a South side distributor. Magliaro said that the point would be moot, since they're at capacity.

Until that happens, we can always follow the potholed road along Lincoln to get our fix.