A new brewery and virtual reality playground could be coming to town.
Noon Whistle Brewing is interested in bringing a production facility and taproom to town. Co-owner Mike Condon presented their case at the latest Naperville Liquor Commission meeting.
“We are currently seeking a second location that would be a production facility for us,” said Condon. “It’ll be a larger space, we’ll roll out a lot more product, and we’ll be able to expand our market more outward. Not only to fulfill our distributors but also to expand in the Illinois market.”
Condon asked the commission to expand the Class P liquor license cap for a brewery retailer, which is currently capped at two breweries filled by Solemn Oath and Two Fools Cider.
The commission voted to expand the license cap, pending the information Noon Whistle Brewing brings back to the next meeting in September about the probable location for their new Naperville facility.
Another business on its way to town is VR-360. After going through planning and zoning, the virtual reality playground came to the liquor commission asking for the Class M license on recreational facilities to be expanded to allow VR-360 to sell beer and wine at its facility. The commission voted in approval, and Naperville City Council will have the final vote.
Marcus Beam from VR-360 is planning to bring his business to 22 East Chicago Avenue in the River Square Shopping Center. The facility would be the first of its kind in Naperville, offering families and adults the crossover experience of drink and play with virtual reality video games.
And while those businesses got approved, others needed more deliberation.
Commissioners once again tabled their vote on the cannabidiol, or CBD retail business hoping to come to Downtown Naperville. David Palatnik presented his CBD and Kratom Shop to the commission at the last meeting and was met with many questions.
He returned this time with more information about his products, as did 360 Youth Services, who reported that Kratom has a similar chemical structure to opioids and can be addictive. This led the commission to vote to restrict the sale of Kratom in the city.
Although Palatnik was happy to continue pursuing his business as a CBD shop only, commissioners were still a bit hesitant. CBD comes in oil, lotions, and edible forms, and is commonly used for pain relief.
“CBD is better for the medicinal purposes, but both hemp and CBD generally contain little to no THC in the product. And there is a difference, clearly. The THC levels are low, but ultimately where I’m at, we need to do more research, but I think I’m going to wind up centering around the THC level and keeping that down,” said Commissioner Joe Vozar.
Commissioners will further research CBD with city staff, and will allow Palatnik to come back to the next meeting with more information about it to support his request.
Naperville News 17’s Christine Lena reports.
Send your message to us:
Post time: Aug-12-2018