'We Are All Heartbroken': Romeoville's Metal Monkey Brewing To Close

ROMEOVILLE, IL — Like many independently owned businesses, Metal Monkey Brewing was forced to adjust its operations when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of local communities and the food and beverage industry.

Metal Monkey, known for its eclectic craft beer offerings, heavy metal edge and penchant for live music, was no different as the Romeoville-based brewery was forced to pivot, hoping to see sales return to where they were prior to the spring of 2020. Although the brewery’s owners said recently that grants and other business safeguards allowed the business to stay afloat on a temporary basis, the hit the brewery took during the pandemic was just too much to overcome.

The brewery’s owners announced on Saturday that, effective immediately, Metal Monkey is pausing production. The owners said in a lengthy social media post that they will keep the Romeoville taproom open for as long as they have beer and as long as taproom traffic continues.

The owners said that they hope to remain open until August, but will make decisions based on the reality of the situation.

“We are all heartbroken, and mourning the loss of what has been the major focus of our lives for years,” the brewery’s owners said in a post on Metal Monkey Facebook page. “We are going to miss all of you immensely.”

The brewery’s owners said that they are hoping to sell Metal Monkey as a whole as a way of preserving the reputation it has built since opening in 2016. The owners feel that with more of a marketing budget, the ability to open a kitchen in the taproom and book bigger-name bands, the brewery can not only survive but can be “a viable and thriving business even in these challenging conditions.

“We only regret that we couldn’t get (the brewery) there, with all of you, well past the pandemic,” the owners wrote in the social media post.

The closure comes after Metal Monkey had grown its operations, expanded its taproom and added event space. The brewery went from selling its beers in-house only to packaging them for outside sales and then expanding its distribution.

However, the owners said in the social media post that to say the brewery struggled during the pandemic “would be an understatement”. Relief grants ensured the business’s survival between 2020 and 2022, the owners wrote, but as taproom sales remained well below pre-pandemic levels throughout 2022, the owners said that the business’s difficulties only continued to worsen with time.

The owners said despite their efforts to adapt to changing market conditions and did everything to get patrons back into the taproom while making improvements to the space and adding live entertainment, sales did not improve at the level they needed to see. Unwilling to “throw in the towel”, the brewery’s owners continued to cut costs, add products, improve marketing efforts, and continue to grow its distribution.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to turn the tides in our favor,” the owners wrote.

Since posting the announcement on Saturday, the brewery’s owners told Patch they have been inundated with messages as they attempt to decide what will come next. Since the brewery’s new liquor license took effect in late June, which has allowed for the sale of beer and liquor, they have seen steady improvement in sales.

However, they admitted that the growth in sales hasn’t been enough and after learning recently that improvements they hoped to make would not be possible, reality set in.

“After years of sales not climbing into a sustainable range, and these options no longer on the table,” the owners wrote, “we’ve had to stop and take a really hard look at our viability.”