In October 2006, Larry Bell, owner of Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo, Mich., called it quits with his Illinois distributor, National Wine and Spirits, effectively cutting off from the state all supply of Bell’s beer, a favorite of beer drinkers in the Chicago metropolitan region.

Beer distribution franchise laws give the distributor full rights to Bell’s in Illinois, meaning Bell’s can not switch wholesalers at any time. When National Wine and Spirits chose to sell its beer holdings in 2006 to Chicago Beverage Systems (CBS), the Miller distributor in Chicago, Larry Bell took issue.

“Our brand has been bought and sold any number of times and we haven’t had a problem with it,” said Bell. “These guys had particular ideas about how they wanted a deal to get done. Unfortunately they really didn’t seem to want to work with their supplier partners very much.”

Bell met with CBS and expressed his concerns about its ability to adequately market the multiple varieties of Bell’s beers. He walked away from the meeting unimpressed.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t come to an agreement and it was getting very expensive for us to do business in Illinois and would’ve been prohibitively expensive to continue at that time,” he said. “We decided it would be best to not do business in Illinois.”

Since then, beer drinkers in Illinois have been forced to go out of state to acquire their favorite Bell’s microbrews, liked the famed Oberon and Amber Ale. But all that changed in December 2007, when Bell’s introduced a new brand to the Chicago market.

“We’ve been able to secure three new distributors in Illinois and have come back with the Kalamazoo brand,” Bell said.

Bell’s is working with wholesalers Central Beverage Co., Schamberger Brothers Inc. and Skokie Valley Beverage Co. to distribute the Kalamazoo beers, which proclaim on the back label to be “brewed especially for the people of the great state of Illinois.”

The first Kalamazoo beer to come into the Chicago market was the Royal Amber Ale and was followed by Kalamazoo Porter and Kalamazoo Unfiltered Wheat Ale—which is as close to Oberon as any Illinoisan can purchase while still within state borders.

“It’s not the same (as Oberon) but there might be some similarities,” said Bell. “I understand that some bars in Chicago are calling it Foberon.”

Bell is quick to point out that the Kalamazoo brands are all new recipes.

“These brands are different beers, different labels,” he said. “They may have some foundations in Bell’s recipes, but they are new recipes.”

Bell, who did not receive any legal interference from National Wine and Spirits concerning the Kalamazoo brand, feels the relationships he has with his new distributors will satiate those Illinois Bell’s drinkers who sorely miss their favorite microbrew.