Brewer Larry Bell more ›

It's been nearly six months since Bell's Beer founder Larry Bell pulled his product from the Illinois market in a dispute with distributors over the Beer Industry Fair Dealing Act of 1982. Readers will remember that that specific law, enacted at the time to protect distributors from the loss of a giant beer account on the level of Anheuser-Busch or Miller should they decide to move to greener pastures, doesn't give mid-level craft breweries like... more ›

You're reading that headline correctly. A Bell's beer is this week's "BotW" selection. But don't get too excited. Larry Bell hasn't changed his mind and decided to start shipping his beer back to Illinois while we weren't looking. We just went to one of the few places we knew that still had an inventory of the beer. That should appease the cynics and set you off running to free them of it. Anyway, we're on... more ›

In business, one rule holds true: “money talks, bullshit walks.” When you’re talking about a multi-billion dollar industry as alcohol, that old adage takes on an often literal meaning. In the past twelve months, we’ve seen a series of issues that have shed a light on the seedy underbelly of wholesale liquor distribution, most notably in the lengths the state’s liquor distributors go to acquire and maintain their business. They’ll lobby Springfield to pass... more ›