Airport delays often induce groans from irritated passengers, but a little extra time on the Dallas tarmac in 1986 triggered a career change for John Hall (M.B.A. ’66). At the time a vice president with Container Corporation of America, he decided to thumb through the airline magazine during the wait.

“An article about boutique beers in California really caught my attention,” he says.

A beer connoisseur, Hall says he had always appreciated the wide selection of brews available during his business travels in Europe and wondered why Americans didn’t also enjoy the same variety. An idea fermented, and two years later the University of Iowa graduate quit his job to found Goose Island Brewing Company in Chicago. What started out as a single brewpub has grown into one of the largest craft breweries in the Midwest, producing more than 20 craft beers with distribution in 26 states and Europe.

Expanding peoples’ palates

“I wanted to give Chicagoans the opportunity to drink the best beers in the world,” Hall says. “Beer, not unlike food, is region and country specific, and in the United States we had a homogenous taste for beer.”

With the establishment of the original Goose Island Brewpub on North Clybourn, Hall sought to expand peoples’ tastes by offering a distinctive selection of beers in a fun environment, while also allowing consumers to observe the brewing process first-hand. Business boomed so much that he opened a larger brewery and bottling plant on Fulton Street in 1995 and a second brewpub near Wrigley Field in 1999.

Even industry giant Anheuser-Busch couldn’t ignore the impact of microbreweries, and, in May 2011, it purchased Goose Island — a move that Hall defends (“The sale gives us more money to make more, better beer for more people, and means better opportunities for the people who work for me,” he says). The company, which employs 110 people and is slated to hire another 15 in the next year, remains an independent operation with Hall at the helm.

Hall attributes the success of Goose Island — and other craft breweries around the country — to several consumer trends.

“People want variety in everything in their lives. They don’t want to be sold something; they want to buy something,” he says. “They’ve developed a palate for beer, and once you do that, you don’t go back.”

Tracing the Iowa roots

Although he studied business as an undergraduate at the University of Northern Iowa, it wasn’t until Hall took a job in the trucking industry that Hall’s career path was set.

“I realized that was not at all what I wanted to do, and my father encouraged me to get a master’s degree in business,” says the Waterloo native. “I’d always loved the Hawkeyes, so I came to the University of Iowa.”

In Iowa City, Hall married, had a son, and earned an M.B.A. His first job was with Container Corporation, which sent him to Sioux City.

“I was disappointed in the location — I’d been geared up to go to Chicago, where my brother and sister were — but it was probably the best thing to happen to me,” recalls Hall, who eventually was transferred to Chicago. “I spent three years learning how to be a better businessperson. It was a terrific career opportunity for me, and with a company that was very active in the community.”

In fact, that community involvement is something Hall took to heart when he started his own company.

“I think it’s everyone’s responsibility to make things better in their community,” he says. “Goose Island regularly host events for community groups, and we have supported and formed alliances with a variety of local organizations, including the Chicago Cultural Center, Meals on Wheels, the Erie Elementary Charter School, and many more.”

Family ties — and some advice

Hall says his biggest task now as CEO is integrating the company with Anheuser-Busch while also protecting the Goose Island brand. Another challenge will be operating Goose Island without his son, Greg, who had long served as Goose Island’s head brew master and had left the company after the sale to pursue other interests.

“I give my son a lot of credit for Goose Island — he took my dream way past my dream,” says Hall. “He told me when I opened Goose Island that he thought he’d died and gone to heaven. He worked for me at minimum wage for three years before going to brewing school, and ever since he’s been the engine that has driven Goose Island. One year he brewed 100 beers, and then he started a trend when he brewed the first barrel-aged beer in 50 or 60 years.”

Goose Island has picked up a cadre of awards and honors for its concoctions — and President Obama offered a glass of the brewery’s 312 Urban Wheat Ale to the prime minister of England to settle a World Cup soccer bet in 2010 — but Hall offers cautionary advice to those wanting to start their own business.

“If you don’t have a passion for it, don’t do it,” says Hall, who recently visited campus to speak with students in the UI Tippie College of Business. “It is all-consuming, and you have to treat it not as a job, but as your life.”

—Sara Epstein Moninger
photos by Tom Jorgensen and courtesy of Goose Island Brewing Company