As the Church Street Brewing Company continues to grow in the Midwest – to include a few other states such as Missouri, Iowa and Florida – co-founder, Lisa Gregor, has decided it’s time to share Church Street’s passion and love of craft beer beyond the U.S. borders.

According to the Brewers Association, an American trade group based in Boulder/CO representing small and independent craft breweries, “…craft beer export volume abroad increased by 16.3 percent in 2015, now totaling 446,151 barrels and worth $116 million.”  Per the Beverage Master magazine, the international market is increasing by leaps and bounds.”

Lisa is no stranger to the world beyond the U.S. borders.  She’s studied, lived and worked abroad – and, is fluent in Spanish. She loves to travel and learn from other cultures.  Her husband, co-founder Joe Gregor, has been traveling the world as a chemical engineer for the last 30 years; in fact, he has honed his love, taste, and passion for craft beers by trying various locally brewed lagers and ales in other countries.  Now, they want to share their own concocted craft beer flavors with others across the world.

The Church Street Brewing Company has founded over 5 years ago and was just recently awarded the “Best of the Best” craft brewery in the Chicago area by the Daily Herald’s ‘2017 Readers Choice’ event. Over the years, Church Street has been fortunate to receive many other awards from well-known and -regarded establishments such as the Chicago Magazine, Tastings.com, Midwest Brewers Fest, and the Alltech Craft Brews and Food Fest.

To navigate these often-challenging waters, Lisa decided to work with Velour Imports based in Houston, Texas.  Velour Imports makes the export process easy by facilitating the acquisition of licenses and certifications and handling operations and logistics such as shipping coordination, exportation, and U.S. customs clearance.  Velour Imports has a reputation of growing and marketing America’s trendiest, up-and-coming craft beer brands in the South American Travel Retail and Caribbean markets.  Church Street will start exporting to luxury hotels and resorts, as well as other local establishments, in the Cayman Islands, Trinidad, and Panama.  Thanks to Velour Imports – Church Street can share their unique flavors and passion in a brand-new market.

About Church Street Brewing Company

Church Street Brewing Company creates Chicago's best craft beer in an unpretentious manner.  Voted No.1 of 8 things to do in Itasca on TripAdvisor, Church Street Brewing Company is a family-owned brewery which offers tours and a tap room.  Located at 1480 Industrial Drive C, Itasca, IL 60143 and is opened from 5–10PM most evenings. Visit www.churchstreetbrew.com for more information.    

Officially announcing Church Street’s entrance to the global market, Velour Imports has sponsored a 12-week campaign called BeerFluence #localgoesglobal Campaign.  The BeerFluence Campaign lasts from August 14th until November 4th and features product reviews from bloggers, homebrewers, journalists, or media professionals from Brazil, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Panama, and the U.S.  Utilizing craft beer’s greatest strength, social media, the campaign strives to reach a total of 8.9 million craft beer drinkers around the world.   Campaign details and a list of to participating partners can be found at velour imports.online.