“Now, we can kick out small batches and get real-time feedback from our most-devoted fans in our own taproom, who will help determine which beers deserve a broader audience.” Hoppy lagers, experimental Belgian beers, hybrid styles - you name it,” La Rose said.

“We are excited to dive into new styles and experimentation, something we previously didn’t have the capability to do. Credit: Hop Butcher The glasses are lined up and ready at Hop Butcher’s first taproom.

The owners plan to use their North Center location to pilot new recipes and test smaller-batch beers before taking them into retail distribution, they said. The Lincoln Avenue property has a smaller, fully functional production brewery that will supply most of the beer available in the taproom and attached retail store. While Zimmer and La Rose worked on getting the North Center taproom ready, they also took over over 5 Rabbit Cervecería’s Bedford Park location to ramp up their brewing operations. Half Acre announced in May 2021 it would consolidate operations at its Bowmanville location and sell its 13,000-square-foot brewery and taproom at 4257 N. Credit: Hop Butcherįor most of the brewery’s history, its owners have relied on other facilities to make its beer, producing at Miskatonic Brewing Company in suburban Darien as well as 5 Rabbit. The brewery self-distributes its beer every week and its brews are often only hours or days in the can before being shipped out to retailers throughout the area and to other states, the owners said. “Some updates act as a nod to our predecessors’ 10-year tenure in the space, while others aim to showcase the unique spirit of Hop Butcher and what we stand for as a brewery.”įounded in Chicago in 2014, Hop Butcher’s beers include hop forward IPAs, double IPAs and triple IPAs flavorful lagers and bold stouts. Our goal upon taking over the space was to inject a giant dose of who we are as a brewery,” Zimmer said. “Half Acre built a beautiful space for drinkers to enjoy beer, so a lot of the foundation was in place. Hop Butcher has spent more than a year lining up permits and renovating the property ahead of the opening, the owners said. Hop Butcher owners Jeremiah Zimmer and Jude La Rose bought the building and equipment from Half Acre in 2021. It guides who we work with and where our cans and kegs are distributed…and where they might someday be distributed.NORTH CENTER - Hop Butcher For The World will open its first taproom in the former Half Acre Brewing in North Center this week. It inspires the ingredients we use and the personality behind the beers we brew: unique enough for the beer geeks, approachable enough for the newcomers. That’s who we aim to be, except with hops, yeast, water and grain in a brewery instead of a butcher shop and a meat-filled counter.įinally, at some point, you’ll refer to us simply as “Hop Butcher” (and we’re cool with that), but the “For The World” part is an important and meaningful element of our name. They’d take the time to get to know you, get technical when necessary and if you wanted it, help you find something or make a recommendation. All of the ones we grew up around were approachable, dependable and visibly and vocally passionate about their craft. How we are inspired by the “Butcher” portion of our namesake is thankfully less bloody than the history behind it, but there are a lot of butcher-esque traits that we do draw inspiration from. No surprise then that the word “hop” appears in our name and that the majority of our recipes begin with a specific variety or intuitive blend of hops in mind. The variety of ways they can be used in brewing and the range of flavors and aromas that they bring to beer are vast and areas in which we enjoy experimenting heavily. In his poem “Chicago,” Carl Sandburg first refers to this great city as “Hog Butcher For the World.” And while the literal meaning behind that moniker has faded since the mid-twentieth century closing of the Union Stock Yards, it anchors and inspires our ethos in three meaningful ways:įor starters, we love hops. “Hog Butcher For The World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders.”

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