NORTH CENTER — Hop Butcher For The World, a small-but-popular brewery specializing in hazy IPAs, will open its first brewery and taproom in Half Acre Beer’s original location on Lincoln Avenue.
Hop Butcher’s owners Jeremiah Zimmer and Jude La Rose launched the brewery in 2014 with a name inspired by Carl Sandburg’s famous poem about Chicago. They’ve relied on contract brewing since then, having other breweries make their beer, most recently Miskatonic Brewing Company in suburban Darien.
On Thursday, Zimmer and La Rose announced plans to move into Half Acre’s 13,000-square-foot location at 4257 N. Lincoln Ave. later this year.
“The dream has always been to have a home to call our own,” La Rose said.
Zimmer loved Half Acre’s beers and people well before Hop Butcher was founded. In announcing the move, he said he’s excited to brew beers in North Center’s “hallowed halls of hoppy beers.”
“[This] is about as good as it gets for our crew and our growing brewery,” Zimmer said.
Hop Butcher focuses on freshness, brewing small batches and self-distributing them to select retailers throughout the region.
The brewery specializes in hop-forward IPAs, hazy double IPAs, imperial stouts and lagers. Their beer names give nods to Chicago culture including “A Deeper Dish,” “Tavern Cut” and “Urbs In Horto.” The brewery typically release two to three beers a week, each featuring cans with artwork by Dan Grzeca. With no flagship beer, Hop Butcher counts on its fans grabbing that week’s new release when they spot them on shelves.
For Half Acre, it will be the start of a new era — one without it’s North Center taproom in brewery as the brewery consolidates into its much-larger Bowmanville brewery, taproom and beer garden.
Gabriel Magliaro, Half Acre’s founder, originally started selling beer out of the Lincoln Avenue address in 2008. In 2017, with the popularity of its beers booming, Half Acre expanded into the Bowmanville production facility at 2050 W. Balmoral Ave.
Magliaro is now passing the Lincoln Avenue torch to another favorite of the Chicago craft beer scene.
“In beer, much of the language and the way of things is about movement and evolution. This transition allows Half Acre to keep moving, try new things and provide that very same opportunity to people we respect,” Magliaro said.
“We look forward to highlighting and helping define what it means for two growing breweries to link histories in this way. The light for good beer will stay lit at 4257 N. Lincoln Avenue.”
Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Already subscribe? Click here to support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.
Listen to “It’s All Good: A Block Club Chicago Podcast” here: