Ultimate magazine theme for WordPress.

Naperville’s Go Brewing finds its niche by tapping into audience that wants beer taste, no alcohol – Chicago Tribune

Business: Go Brewing

Address: 1665 Quincy Ave., Naperville

Phone/website: 630-864-5258, www.gobrewing.com

Founders/partners: Joe Chura, 45, of Naperville; Bruce Etzcorn, 47, of Manhattan; and James Bigler, 39, of Wheaton

Years in business: Opened in October

What does your business do? “We are a non-alcoholic brewery with a taproom. We also sell online and wholesale,” Chura said.

Why name it Go Brewing? “We all want to take a step in a positive direction.”

What gave you this idea? “My wife and I abstained from alcohol for 75 days in the end of 2020. We felt like gluttons and did this challenge. … I lost a significant amount of weight and felt great. … When we went out to dinner, there wasn’t one place that didn’t revolve around alcohol. That was a big a-ha moment. … I developed a business thesis where I could sell the beer online, have a taproom and also wholesale it.”

Any favorite story? “A gentleman was sitting here more than an hour. … I asked, ‘Do you normally drink nonalcoholic beer?’ He looked at me like I was crazy. … I pointed to the board and realized he thought he was at Solemn Oath (Brewery), who we share a parking lot with. I asked him if it tastes bad. He said, ‘No, it tastes like hazy IPA.’ I asked ‘Why do you need the alcohol?’ He said, ‘I don’t know.’ … Instead of leaving, he said, ‘I’ll invite my friend here and see if she notices.’ She shows up, orders a beer. They were here for two hours.”

How’s business? “This month, we doubled the sales of the previous month. Dry January has been great to us. Business is beating expectations. … I created a ‘Go Dry’ challenge and it attracted 400 people. They subscribe to a daily text message and motivation. Get discounts.”

Do you market to alcoholics? “We don’t want to market to people who are alcoholics because there are all sorts of reasons people don’t drink,” Bigler said. “We are inviting to everyone and anyone who is willing to try this out. Sometimes people don’t drink for health reasons, or they’re on medication.”

How did you get involved? “I saw a post from Joe looking for a head brewer to help with this idea. The idea had been rolling around for a while. That was in September 2021. We opened in October (of 2022),” said Bigler, who has brewed beer for five years

How did you prepare? “We were brewing batches in Joe’s garage for a year, testing out some things. … We use all traditional ingredients. But we make sure we only produce beer at a minimum fermentability. We only produce beer with about 0.45 percent alcohol, so we can call it nonalcoholic. … We use traditional yeasts that everyone else uses. … Because we don’t have as much fermentable sugar, we don’t need as much yeast.”

James Bigler, co-founder and brewmaster at Go Brewing in Naperville, keeps the alcohol content at 0.45% or less in every batch brewed.

What do you like best? “It’s hard to pinpoint one thing,” Chura said. “People we’ve found ourselves helping, it’s such a happy surprise to fill that need. That’s a big driver. Idea to creation is awesome. The idea to make the first (nonalcoholic) black-and-tan ever, it will debut on St. Paddy’s Day.”

How is the wholesale business? “It’s good. Almost all our business has been in store or on the website so far. Other breweries carry our product. You can get one of our beers at Solemn Oath, Hog Butcher (For the World) in downtown Chicago, Empire in downtown Naperville. More and more are picking up that people want options.”

And the online sales? “Fantastic. The biggest growth engine so far. All over the country. Mostly East Coast. New York. New Jersey. Washington DC There’s an order every day.”

Are you surprised? “Yes and no. What I’m really happy with is our product. We have, I think, the best NA beer on the planet.

“I thought it would take us a while to get there. Our eight brews stand up to anyone. I give kudos to James (Bigler) and Michael (Stahulak), our packaging manager, with helping deliver a great product in just a few months.”

What’s the pricing here? “Most of our beers are $7.”

Can you buy beer with alcohol here? “You can. We just don’t make it.”

What’s your advice for someone starting a business? “Find something that doesn’t seem like work. That’s exactly what this is. I get lost in what I do because it’s so fun. Secondly, know that nothing great is easy. And that ideas are a lot easier than execution.”

If you know of a business you’d like to see profiled in Down to Business, contact Steve Metsch at [email protected].

Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.

Comments are closed.