December 29th, 2022
Rock Island’s Blue Cat Brew Pub Closing Down Again
Rock Island’s Blue Cat Brew Pub is losing another of its lives.
After a promising re-opening last year, the iconic downtown Rock Island brew pub and restaurant is closing its doors once again.
Owner Charlie Cole posted the following on social media:
A message from our Brewmaster, Charlie Cole:
Effective 1/1/2023 Blue Cat Brewing Co. will be closing.
I don’t know if this is temporary or permanently. All I know is we do not have the management to continue operating. As a brewmaster who has never worked in a restaurant, I have been filling in as the restaurant manager on top of my other roles while we tried to fill that role with new employees and even attempted to bring on a new partner with the experience and passion for that side of our business. We were not successful in filling that role.
Unfortunately with the loss of our Chef to his new venture, followed by a failed furnace in sub zero temperatures, and several days of major damages from a burst water pipe over the holiday we are no longer able to continue operations.
This was an extremely hard and disappointing decision made by the owners. We will do everything we can to bring back Blue Cat (how many lives does this place have left?).
If this happens to be the long goodbye I want to start by congratulating Chef Kevin on his new business. Please be sure to visit him at Chevin’s in Kavanaugh’s Hilltop. We would not have been as successful as we were without his skill and leadership in our kitchen.
I want to thank my friends Alice, Nona, Sean, Justin, Ashley, Bianca, Donavan, Melissa, Devon, Tripp, Sam, Jess, and our past employees for always giving their all to making this place so great. You will always be family to me and I’ll always have your backs.
I also want to thank everyone from our local and national brewing community who have reached out and offered to help us in anyway. It’s a testament to how wonderful you all are and our industry as whole. I will never forget your generosity.
This has been my dream and goal since I started drinking craft beer. I have no regrets. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with a great team to revive a legendary brand and make it our own. Even at this lowest of lows I am so proud of what we accomplished. Thanks to every patron who has supported us. You made it worth coming in everyday. We will be open from 5pm-10pm 12/29 & 12/30 with a New Year’s party on 12/31 as our last day of operations.
Please drink and eat local. If you love a local business please give them a positive review, make a post, tell their staff, keep other small businesses alive.
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