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Illinois Fans of Bell’s, Rejoice!

February 13th, 2008

For those of you who live in the Land of Lincoln and miss Bell’s, you can now find Kalamazoo on tap at select locations in Chicago. It is currently only available in an on-premise manner, but I have it on good authority that we’ll be seeing Kalamazoo in stores on or around March 1 of this year.

For those not in the know, but who are aware that they haven’t seen a bottle of Bell’s in the state in ages, here’s the skinny: Bell’s didn’t want to do business with their distributor. In Illinois, distributors can buy and sell the rights to distribute specific beers within specific geographic areas. Bells was sold to someone they didn’t like. The brewery’s only option was to pull out of the Illinois market entirely.

I have no idea why they’re re-launching as Kalamazoo. It’s my understanding that they’ve waited out whatever statutory period they had to remain out of the state and can come back as Bell’s if they damn well please. A distributor for my specific retail location has yet to be established, but I’m aware of two that are servicing areas in Chicago proper.

I don’t get out to bars in the Chicago area as much as I’d like — but hey, that’s being a dad. If anyone gets their hands on some Kalamazoo before I can get it in stock, let me know how it is!

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Entry Filed under: Beer