Rockford Brewing Rebrands as Prairie Street Brewing Company

Rockford, IL – In 2013, in the same riverside brewery an English immigrant named Jonathan Peacock began building in Rockford, Illinois in 1849, a trio of young Rockfordians fulfilled their shared dream to be in the craft brewing business and opened an all-new version of Peacock’s Rockford Brewing Company.

The beer was flowing and the kitchen was busy year-‘round. In summertime, the riverside docks were filling up with boats, beer drinkers and diners. Business was good. Very good.

Native Rockfordians all, Reed Sjostrom, Dustin Koch and Chris Manuel are co-owners of Prairie Street Brewing Company in Rockford, Illinois.

In the backs of their minds, though, the three owners (Dustin Koch, Reed Sjostrom and Chris Manuel) knew one aspect of their business needed streamlining and improvement: the brand identity and how the business was being promoted.

“We actually had two names and that was confusing people, including us,” said Dustin Koch. “Rockford Brewing Company stood for brewing craft beer and Prairie Street Brewhouse stood for everything else that went on in the building, like meetings and weddings, leasing offices and loft apartments. We knew we had to take a long look at our brand and get better and more efficient.”

The company was full steam ahead when the trio received a message from the owners of another Rockford Brewing Company, this one in Rockford, Michigan.

“We had no idea there was another Rockford Brewing Company,” said Dustin Koch. “I mean, here we were in this historic building that had been named, ‘Rockford Brewing Company,’ back in 1900. The last thing on our minds was, ‘hey, ya think there are any other Rockford Brewing Company’s out there?’”

Jonathan Peacock’s beautiful old building hosted more than 150,000 customers in 2015 in its brewpub, Dockside Taproom and many events spaces.

One of the owners of the Michigan brand visited the Illinois brewery. He liked the Rockford owners and what they were doing, and the two groups agreed to co-exist.

“He seemed like a nice guy. He wished us luck, and we went ahead and copyrighted our name and moved forward. Then, later that year, they hit us with a cease and desist order. Needless to say we were pretty shocked,” said Koch.