LP_062019

4 | June 20, 2019 | the lockport legend news
lockportlegend.com
Lockport father and son start craft beer company
Alex Ivanisevic
Assistant Editor
One out of retirement
and the other chasing a
dream, Lockport fatherand-son
duo John and
Claudia Gamache, CPCU
815-834-2700
16614 W. 159th St., #302
Lockport
www.allstateagencies.com/
cgamache3
John Kure have worked as
a team to establish Kure’s
Craft Beverage Company.
Both are Lockport
Township High School
alumni, the elder graduated
in 1978 and his son
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graduated in 2005, and
after retiring from his
deputy chief position with
the Lockport Township
Fire Protection District in
August of 2015, John the
elder was approached by
his son with a business
venture.
After graduating from
Southern Illinois University
in 2009, John moved
to Colorado “and it was
then that I got into the craft
beer world with the dream
of starting a brewery one
day and my father and I
discussed the possibility
of starting a craft brewery
out here,” he said. Once he
gained some experience
in the craft beer industry,
he began making his own
non-alcoholic ginger beer
at home.
His father said, “when
we first started, I lived out
Saturday, June 22nd, 10am-5pm & Sunday, June 23rd, 12-5pm
261546
in Colorado with my son
for three months to get
everything set up and every
other month I was going
out to Colorado, now
about every three months
I go out there,” adding, “I
handle the Illinois territory
and I visit places from
Springfield all the way up
to Rockford to downtown
Chicago as a representative
for our company.”
The younger John observed
that many ginger
beers on the market were
lacking natural and real
ingredients, “so we started
making our ginger beer at
home [in Fort Collins, Colorado]
with organic ginger
out of Peru and cane sugar
as well,” he said, adding
that creating ginger beer
was the niche market he
dreamed of finding in the
craft beer industry. From
the beginning, the company
was a joint investment
and now they have an establishment
where they
make the ginger beer in
Loveland, Colorado.
“We incorporated the
business in December
2016 and then got our
building in March of 2017
and we started selling
ginger beer in October of
2017,” the younger said
about the company. “We
started with distribution
in Colorado and then we
developed a partnership
with Heartland Beverage
in Plainfield, Illinois, and
they are our distributor in
Illinois - we launched the
Illinois market about a
year ago in July,” he said.
He credits growing up
with an entrepreneurial
family for giving him the
spirit to take on starting his
own business.
He said that Kure’s Ginger
Beer can now be found
in certain bars, restaurants
and locally owned liquor
stores and grocery stores.
John and John Kure at their Colorado distributor’s
tasting room called Crooked Stave. Photo Submitted
Where Kure’s Ginger
Beer can be bought is
shown on kuresgingerbeer.
com. The ginger beer can
sports a distinct design of
a golden retriever, modeled
after the Kure’s family
dog, Bailey.
“I think the product is
really going to take off,
everybody who tries our
ginger beer really likes
it,” John’s father said.
“We have trademarked the
name ‘Colorado Mule,’
and we are hoping to soon
have that on the market in
Colorado; the Colorado
market is doing really
great and right now the Illinois
market is doing pretty
well,” he excitedly said.
Overall, the elder John
does not regret coming out
of retirement for this and
said, “It is fun doing this
with my son, and something
I never did before
was sales, having been in
the fire service here, but I
am really enjoying it all,
talking to people and promoting
our product,” he
said. He never imagined
going into the craft beer industry,
but is happy about
it and looks forward to the
future of Kure’s Craft Beer
Company with his son and
business partner.