Put a Three Floyds taproom in Chicago, already!

Chicago beer nerds have grown accustomed to making pilgrimages to Munster, Indiana, where Three Floyds runs a small brewpub and bottle shop adjacent to its brewing facility. The trip down I-94 isn’t brutal, but we’ve long dreamed of sipping freshly kegged Zombie Dust without crossing the state line. Rumors of a Chicago-based Three Floyds outpost have swirled for years; at one point, the company even bought a building in Humboldt Park (which it later sold).

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One major obstacle that likely prevents Three Floyds from sending even more beer to Chicago is an Indiana law that restricts craft breweries from producing more than 90,000 barrels each year. But Three Floyds’ WarPigs Brewing brand, which recently launched in Chicago, could skirt those restrictions; it’s co-owned by Danish beer-makers Mikkeller, and its beer is produced through contracts with breweries in Illinois and Wisconsin. A WarPigs representative told us that there are “no plans for a brewpub in Chicago at this time,” but like every other eternally optimistic Floyds fanatic, we choose to focus on the second half of that noncommittal statement. And similar to the prospect of actually snagging a bottle of the rare Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout, hope springs eternal.