At the 2017 National Restaurant Association Show, which took place on May 20-23 at McCormick Place in Chicago, all the food trends about to hit a swank eatery near you were on display. Also this year, the show featured the Beverage Alcohol for Restaurant (BAR) section, and even though beer and wine is still clearly important to restauranteurs, spirits makers, both craft and large scale, were heavily in attendance as exhibitors.
With the slowdown of the craft beer market and major roll-ups being predicted of small to mid-sized craft brewers, evidenced recently by Heineken’s full acquisition of California and Chicago’s Lagunitas Brewing Company, the beverage industry is looking towards more craft distilleries popping up in the near future.