[Photo credit: brostad on Flickr (via Creative Commons)]

(Chicago, IL) – Oskar Blues Brewery has heard lots of feedback over the years from the Chicago market that the company was wanted in the Windy City. With expansion of production capacity this year, the company is now finally able to do something about it.

Windy City Distribution acquired the rights to distribute Oskar Blues in its eight-county Chicagoland market on Monday evening. Details around Oskar Blues’ entry into Chicago are still being worked out though a launch date of August 20th has been tentatively set with events happening throughout the week. A source tells BeerPulse that the company is expected to send its year-round products initially.

Oskar Blues Marketing Director, Chad Melis, says that it was the addition of a new canning line and a dozen fermenters that helped make it happen. Two more fermenters are scheduled to be installed this year.

“It is really exciting to be in a position to expand distribution,” said Melis. Oskar Blues’ desire to enter Illinois was aided by the success that it has had in nearby Wisconsin. The company also added Alabama to its distribution footprint in late June. Melis called it a “passion play,” citing the owners’ background in the Cotton State where the Katechis family was raised.

Oskar Blues has no plans to expand distribution beyond Alabama and Illinois in 2012.

The company’s projected output for the year is around 90,000 barrels if everything goes according to plan. That would mark a 50% increase from 2011 production of 59,000 barrels.

Melis also says that the company’s addition of a brewing facility in Brevard, North Carolina, is still on schedule for a December opening.