Illinois Alcoholic Beverage Market: Regulations, Statistics, Trends, and Wholesalers

Illinois has solidified its place as a major player in the beverage alcohol industry, with a thriving craft beer scene, innovative distilleries, and award-winning wineries. The state’s local craft beer and spirits blend Midwestern ingenuity with artisanal techniques, utilizing regionally-sourced grains and ingredients.

The spirits scene in Illinois also benefits from some business-friendly liquor regulations, as Illinois is one of the few states that allows the sale of alcohol, including spirits, in grocery stores. This makes liquor more widely available compared to many other states and provides an extra range of options for suppliers to get on local shelves.

We’ve prepared a guide to the Illinois market which covers the following topics:

• Consumption trends
• The most popular alcohol categories
• Local guidelines

Illinois has an approximate population of 12.5 million people, as of 2022, with 9.3 million of them within the legal drinking age bracket. The state is the fifth-largest spirits market in the United States, with sales totaling over $5 billion.

If you need help establishing your presence in Illinois, provide your information below, and we’ll contact you to discuss how we can help.

At Park Street, we can help anyone looking to enter the market or expand their services in Illinois.

Consumption Trends In Illinois

Illinois is one of the top ten largest beverage alcohol markets in the United States. In 2022, there were 128 million cases of beer sold, followed by 16.3 million cases of wine, and 12.7 million cases of spirits. Below you will find some charts displaying the volume growth for beer, wine, and spirits over a five-year period.

Illinois Spirits Consumption from 2018-2022 by 9-Liter Cases

Illinois Wine Consumption from 2018-2022 by 9-Liter Cases

Illinois Beer Consumption from 2018-2022 by 9-Liter Cases

Illinois ​State Alcohol Licensing

All U.S. states are regulated at a federal level according to the Federal Alcohol Administration Act. At a state level, the Illinois Liquor Control Commission is responsible for licensing, tax collection and auditing, fee collection, and enforcing the state’s laws and regulations. The ILCC oversees all tiers including:

• Manufacturers (breweries, wineries, distilleries, cideries, meaderies, and rectifiers)
• Wholesalers, also known as distributors
• Retailers (on-premise and off- premise)

In the simplest terms, manufacturers, sometimes referred to as producers, make alcohol products. Wholesalers sell the alcohol to the retailers. Retailers sell the alcohol to consumers. While there are some exceptions to this flow of goods, this is the federally regulated route to market.

All businesses that deal with manufacturing, distributing, selling, or importing alcohol in Illinois must be licensed. In Illinois, all goods must come to rest at a wholesaler’s warehouse before reaching a retailer or consumer.

As of 2022,  there were over 130 licensed distillers and bottlers, according to the TTB, more than 300 active breweries, and 165 wineries in Illinois.

Common Licenses for Manufacturers in Illinois

Distiller—may sell and deliver alcoholic liquor to distillers, rectifiers, importing distributors, distributors, and non-beverage users and to no other licensees.

Rectifier – any person who rectifies, ferments, brews, makes, mixes, concocts, processes, blends, bottles or fills an original package with any alcoholic liquor, other than by original or continuous distillation.

Class 1 Craft Distiller:

• 50,000 gallons production limit
• Self-distribution eligible
• May not hold a Distilling Pub License

Class 2 Craft Distiller:

• 100,000 gallons production limit
• Not eligible to self-distribute
• May transfer to commonly-owned Class 2 Craft Distiller’s locations up to 100,000 gallons of manufactured distilled spirits
• May hold no more than three (3) Distilling Pub Licenses

Non-resident Dealer’s License – may ship into and warehouse alcoholic liquor in Illinois from any point outside of the state and sell alcoholic liquor to Illinois-licensed foreign importers and importing distributors.

Illinois ​State Alcohol Regulations

Illinois is an open state, meaning private entities handle the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages but are still regulated by state legislators.

Shipping and Selling to Consumers

No provisions in the state of Illinois allow suppliers to ship distilled spirits or malt beverages directly to Illinois residents.

Wine may be shipped by eligible industry members holding a Winery Shipper’s License.

As of 2021, retailers may deliver alcoholic liquors to the home or other designated location of a consumer in this State if the following conditions are met:

• The alcoholic liquors are delivered by the retailer’s employee (including third-party facilitator licensees)
• The retailer or its employee who delivers the alcoholic liquors verifies that the individual accepting delivery is at least twenty-one (21) years of age.

If the retailer or its employee intends to serve the alcoholic liquors to the consumer, the retailer or its employee providing the service has completed the required responsible alcohol service server training.

Self-Pitch Distribution Model

Finding the right distributor is often cited as one of the most difficult challenges to building a brand in the U.S. There are thousands of brands and industry consolidation has led to fewer distribution companies to choose from in each market.

As such, one option available to emerging brands is to use Park Street’s self-pitch distribution model.
The self-pitch distribution model is similar to the three-tier traditional distribution model where product is delivered
to retailers, but the key difference is that sales and marketing is handled by the supplier.

Park Street’s CEO Explains Self-Pitch Distribution

Required Procedures for Alcohol Suppliers Selling in Illinois

Label Registration

All alcohol products sold in Illinois must have a label registration approved by the ILCC to ensure compliance with federal and state label regulations. However, the supplier does not pay a fee or cost associated with this approval.

Price Posting

Price posting is not required at the retail or wholesale level.

Illinois Spirits Volume Sales By Category – 2022 Data

Spirit trends in Illinois by volume and dollar sales in 2022.

Source: Beverage Information Group

Illinois Wine Volume Sales By Category – 2022 Data

Wine trends in Illinois by volume sales in 2022

Source: Beverage Information Group

Illinois Beer Volume Sales By Category – 2022 Data

Beer trends in Illinois by volume sales in 2022

Source: Beverage Information Group

Beer Distributors

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