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EDGEBROOK — A craft beer shop is coming to a once-dry section of Edgebrook this week as Bottles and Cans opens its second North Side location.
The beer shop, which also sells wine and spirits, opens 11 a.m. Thursday at 6401 N. Central Ave., near Edgebrook Park. The area had been dry for years before voters opted to allow liquor sales.
Joe and Carly Katz opened their first Bottles and Cans location in North Center in 2012 when they noticed the lack of craft beer shops in city.
“When we opened nine years ago, my wife and I always used to say, there’s a liquor store on every block, there was a fine wine shop in every neighborhood, but there were really no beer stores,” Joe Katz said.
Since then, the Katz family discovered how powerful a good business can be when supporting a community.
Last year, Bottles and Cans partnered with the Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce to make up for lost fundraising opportunities due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Katz family wanted to bring that impact closer to home in Edgebrook.
The Katzes, with their family of four, have lived in Sauganash for three and a half years — and plan to be in the neighborhood for the long haul.
“We can be a big integral part of [this] community, whether it’s with our partnerships with the schools, whether it’s helping to build and promote events, and any just awareness of things going on in the neighborhood,” Katz siad. “We’ve got a voice and we want to use it for the right reasons.”
Everyday Edgebrook, a local organization focused on improving the Edgebrook business district, has welcome the Katz family with open arms. Earlier this month, it organized a Wine Walk for community members to get a sneak peek into the craft beer shop.
“The local community Everyday Edgebrook is awesome, they put it together,” Katz said. “While we weren’t technically open, we did open our doors … to give the neighborhood a little taste of what we were going to be.”
Bottles and Can plans to have community events like weekly wine and beer tastings. And educational cocktail courses will begin this weekend on a rotating schedule.
The shop will also offer its popular “build your own six-pack” option in Edgebrook, allowing customers to stick with old favorites or discover new beer.
To celebrate Thursday’s grand opening, Bottles and Cans teamed up with Alarmist Brewing to create a new beer called Mom & Pop, an American wheat ale.
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