HopCat Craft Beer Bar Closes In Chicago

In with a bang and out with a whimper, HopCat an uber-successful Michigan-based family of beer bars, has closed its only Chicago location…

Here’s the deal…

Founded in 2008, HopCat quickly caught fire and expanded its reach far beyond its original location in Grand Rapid, into other Midwestern cities such as Minneapolis, St Louis, Indianapolis and Kansas City.

Ranked by Beer Advocate as the #3 Beer Bar in the world, and by CraftBeer.com as the #2 beer bar in the US, the company’s mission statement is as ambitious as it is attitudinal…

 “HopCat’s mission is simple: Be the best damn beer bar on the planet. The places were envisioned, designed, stocked, and staffed with one mission in mind: To bring you great beer.”

“We’re committed to creating a unique atmosphere at every HopCat location. We don’t do cookie-cutter bars. Each HopCat has its own design and specially commissioned artwork. If you’ve seen one HopCat, you have NOT seen them all.”

Since 2008, the “anti-chain” chain had grown to 17 locations in nine states, including its now closed Chicago outlet in the city’s downtown Lincoln Park neighborhood.

The company’s massive Chicago location which opened in 2016, had a mid-seventies look that was inspired by a bar in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown according to Eater. It also had an ambitious selection smartly curated craft beers.

But as HopCat founder Mark Sellers explained to Josh Noel at the Chicago Tribune  it failed because of its Lincoln Park location…

“We picked the wrong location …It’s not a bar district or restaurant district, so we didn’t have the critical mass that helps in a place like Bucktown or River North. We shouldn’t have been in a location where we were the destination. “

“Chicago is really competitive, and when you have amazing restaurants within five or 10 minutes of where you live, getting people into an Uber and going to another neighborhood, that’s tough.”