As the craft beer market has expanded over the past 20 years, three former Oak Park and River Forest High School students perceived an opening – a population that wasn’t being reached by other brewers. Starting in 2018 they set up shop in a parent’s garage and tried to make a beer for those who had been left behind.
“We’ve always been beer drinkers, but we’re always the only Black dudes showing up to the barbecues, birthday parties with craft beer,” said Rich Bloomfield, co-founder and CEO. “But people were generally curious about it. So it just kind of hit us one day, there’s truly a lack of diversity in this beer space from the ownership level down to employment and even in consumption. We want to be an authentic voice that could reach out with a warm introduction to craft beer across race, Black, Latino, Asian, and include more women into the beer space as well.”
After taking some brewing classes co-founders Bloomfield, Zach Day and Greg Williams started up in Day’s parent’s garage.
“It helped bring us together just for general laughs and giggles but also we were working on something and learning a lot.” Bloomfield said.
“Our first batch was terrible,” Zach Day said. “It looked just like beer, but it tasted terrible.”
“I don’t know why we were so confident,” Bloomfield said. “The color was perfect. We bottled it. The carbonation was perfect. But then you tasted it, it tasted just like water.”
Through perseverance and grit, they finally developed a recipe to their liking. Fast-forward and their flagship beer “Hip-Hops and R&Brew” is an award-winning pale ale with low bitterness and astringency.
“We wanted to make sure that any kind of newcomer into beer would have a good starting point in their own on-ramp,” Day, director of brewing and operations, said. “We always focused on being more welcoming on the tongue versus like an IPA. Still, it’s something that the aficionados can respect as well.”
Several other styles have joined the company’s offerings. An American amber ale called “Woo-Wap-da-Bam.” A Marzen called “Homecoming.” “Cuffin’ Season” is an Irish red ale. And “Summertime Chi” is a Belgian Witbier. All are brewed at Pilot Project in Logan Square.
You can get these at local stores: Whole Foods in River Forest, Jewel in Oak Park, Binny’s in Elmwood Park. And in restaurants/bars: The Beer Shop, Kettlestrings Tavern, Poor Phil’s.
In the four years that Funkytown has been distributing their brand has caught on rapidly.
“We were able to grow pretty fast,” Bloomfield said. “We landed, like, almost trophy accounts: United Center, Soldier Field, Rate Field. We landed in Wrigley.”
Bloomfield and Williams are now full-time at Funkytown. Day is currently keeping his other work. The trio has lots of plans for 2026.
“We set ourselves up on a platform for growth,” Bloomfield said. “First, focusing locally here in Chicago, expanding our distribution, expanding our awareness, and focusing a little bit more on event curation.”
Their founding purpose, to bring craft beer to a wider audience, is reflected in both this growth and in the name they chose.
“We wanted something that would have broad appeal, but we wanted to have a story that connected to us,” Bloomfield said of the name.
It references not only the song “Funkytown” by Lipps Inc. but also funk music by George Clinton and others in the 1970s, “Funkified” song by Da Brat in the 1990s, and Isaiah “J.R.” Rider’s famous “East Bay Funk Dunk” signature move – a between-the-legs dribble and dunk.
“The ‘town’ part is the community that we’re trying to build around it. All together it’s about being creative and showing things in a different perspective that attracts people,” Bloomfield said. “And that’s what we want to do with Funkytown Beer.”
Occasionally the three of them still get together in the Day’s garage in Oak Park. Will it someday be as iconic as the garage where Apple computers started?
“That’s what my parents are banking on,” Day said with a laugh.
