Growers. Brewers. Beer Lovers.

Why Goose Island Exists
To lead in the craft of brewing by creating award-winning beers that define classic and innovative styles to capture the hearts, imaginations, and palates of beer drinkers.

What guides our decision making?
We are guided by our respect for the history and culture of beer as well as our passion for, and innovation in, brewing. We wish to enrich the cultural landscape of Chicago and support the inspirational organizations within our communities. Furthermore, Goose Island champions sustainability in our breweries (and beyond) as well as actively celebrates and engages our employees.

What guides our decision making?
In years to come, Goose Island will solidify our leadership in the craft brewing industry. This goal will be achieved through sharing our expertise in the brewing process, involving ourselves with professional brewing and trade organizations and growing the craft beer community through consumer engagement and education.

a goose goes to europe

Our famous beer began with a trip across Europe, when Goose Island founder (and unabashed beer lover) John Hall took a tour across the continent. Pint by pint, he savored the styles and selections of brews in every region, and thought to himself, “America deserves some damn fine beer like this, too.”

Craft brewing wasn’t widely known at the time, but upon return from his European sojourn, John set out to change all that. He settled down in his hometown of Chicago—a city perfect for craft beer, with rapidly evolving tastes and the largest system of fresh water on the planet. And then he got to brewing.

First he made some stellar beer. Then he invited his consumers in to watch his process at the brewery, bringing them behind the scenes every step of the way. The result was a new fascination with craft brewing, and beer that not only catered to people’s tastes, but challenged them as well.

That was back in 1988, and we haven’t slowed down since. By 1995, John’s beer had become so popular that he decided to open a larger brewery, along with a bottling plant to keep up with demand. 1999 brought even more growth, along with an additional brewpub, and today, what was once one man’s pint-filled dream has become the Goose Island empire you know and love.

Here’s where we tell you that in 2011, Goose Island Beer Company was acquired by Anheuser-Busch. Since then, we’ve continued to brew beer that we’re proud of and now we get to share these beers with our friends both nationwide and internationally. We think that's pretty neat. If you're ever in Chicago, we'd love for you to stop by the brewery and have a beer with us.

Our Breweries

Our brewery was built in 1995 and has more than doubled in size since originally built. We bring you our tasty pints using 32 fermenters, over 15 different yeasts, state-of-the-art filters, centrifuges and a 50 barrel JV Northwest 5 vessel system that brews 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It turns out that making awesome brews is quite the science. Luckily our brewery facilities have all the equipment necessary to deliver results.

Our packaging line alone bottles 500 cases an hour, with our keg line at a rate of 50 kegs every 60 minutes. Once the beer is complete, we store it at a crisp 38 degrees until shipping. In other words, we don’t mess around when it comes to filling the Goose Island demand. We even have separate rooms to house small batch innovation programs and yeast propagation units, and our barrel-aged beers have their own dedicated stockroom AND 143,000 square foot barrel warehouse. It’s only the very best equipment for our beer—and we invite you to learn more.