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So it's been a little more than a week since Half Acre Beer Company started placing their lager at various bars and package stores around the city. By "around the city" we mean "Wicker Park and Bucktown, save for a couple locations."
There's going to be a lot written in upcoming weeks about Half Acre owner Gabriel Magliaro's decision to have his beer brewed on contract in Wisconsin, and whether the knowledge that the beer is contract brewed makes it any less local (some of that questioning has already begun). But Magliaro has offices in Chicago, creates his beer recipes in Chicago, has been been making face time with bar owners and distributor reps working to promote the beer locally, and ultimately wants to bring the brewery operation home. Sharing a couple bottles of Half Acre last night with Magliaro at the Charleston, he seemed sincere when we asked him that very question. He cited the expenses he and his partners would have incurred in trying to build a brewery from scratch as the reason behind contracting the brewing out, while emphasizing that he's worked thoroughly with the brewer to ensure his vision for the beer. From a business perspective it seems as though Magliaro is committed to growing the company slowly, letting word spread and finding more places to carry Half Acre's lager. He mentioned Goose Island and Brooklyn Brewery as examples of beer companies he'd like to emulate.
The ultimate question to ask is "how is the beer?" Half Acre lager, brewed using a blend of Munich and pale malts, and copious amounts of Saaz hops. It's a dark lager, with a mouthfeel and flavor comparable to an India pale ale, only without the gravity. The combination of Munich malt and Saaz hops give it a warm citrus flavor - one Charleston customer who sampled the beer since its launch said that it "tasted of grapefruit" - and it finishes clean. Half Acre has good carbonation, with a head that fades into little floating pods of yeast, leaving faint traces of lacing on the glass. For a city whose breweries focus on seriously hopped ales for the hirsute, Half Acre lager should find a fast audience among casual beer drinkers, people who want a beer with some character and folks looking to take those initial baby steps past thin, mass produced lagers.
The saying goes that Rome wasn't built in a day. The same could be said for a beer company that's worth its weight in brew. Right now, Magliaro is content to just let the beer do the talking when he can't.
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I don't really care where the beer is made. it seems like they are trying to cement their Chicagoness but i can't imagine it would be easy for them to find an established brewery in chicago to make their beer. why would someone in the area help them when the Chicago beer market is so tough to begin with. so they farm out to Wisconsin, build up their business and then build a brewery in Chicago.
hopped ales for the hirsute,
What in the world does this mean? I recognize it's an attempt to be cute, but "hirsute" is a bizarre adjective to use to describe beer.
Many breweries start super small and then contract out until they are sure they can make it on their own and buy the half million bucks worth of equipment. There are breweries out there that JUST do contract brewing for others. I don't care where it is brewed, as long as it is flavorful. Having the guys here in Chicago makes it a Chicago beer. Even Three Floyds Alpha King was contract brewed until they got their Munster brewery up and running...
Hopefully give this stuff a try tonight. It's funny that Magliaro mentioned wanting to emmulate Brooklyn Brewery, since they ran into some criticism of their own for contract brewing at a site ... gasp ... not in Brooklyn. They brewed, and still brew, some of their stuff upstate in Utica, NY. Very, very similar circumstances.
Despite these geographical issues, I'm excited to see how this addition to the local beer scene does. With only Goose, Piece, and Rock Bottom brewing beer at a Chicago address, you can understand why Magliaro is pushing a hometown sorta marketing pitch.
Sounds great. Why can't this be expanded past the Bucktown/Wicker Park area? I'm not talking about having every liquor store in Chicago carrying it, but why not sell it at a few select liquor stores that carry more "high-end" beer on the far north side (and other places)?
Always excited about new beer. Whether its brewed, here, WI, wherever.
Sidenote about contract brewing. Sam Adams is the king of this business model. They own one brewery in the South End of Boston that only makes kegs for a few select bars in town. A bottle of Sam Adams drank in Boston was made in upstate NY. I believe the bottles of Sam Adams in Chicago are contract brewed at Miller in Milwaukee.
Berghoff isn't made in Chicago any more right? Not that it's very popular but I know it came up a lot when the Berghoff closed.
"So it's been a little more than a week since Half Acre Beer Company started placing their lager at various bars and package stores around the city. By "around the city" we mean "Wicker Park and Bucktown, save for a couple locations."
So instead of saying that whole thing, just say '"It's been a little more than a week since Half Acre Beer Company started placing their lager at various bars mainly in the Wicker Park and Bucktown area and we had the chance to sit down with the brewer himself last night."'
Also, besides the Reader, who do you really think is going to be writing about this?
There is no reason to worry about being local in brewing. For God's sake, Old Style has based its entire marketing plan in Chicago on being "local" and the commercials themselves end with "G. Heilemann Brewing, Milwaukee, Wisconsin."
#9, do you know anyone who actually likes those commericals? They give me a foregin feel for Old Style because the guy sounds like someone trying to be from Chicago. Like 'Bundy Fountain' for example, oh yeah something from a National Television show that ran for years and years is a 'local' thing. Or an Elvis bar in Indiana?! How about cab sharing? It's a Midwestern thing! Please, I've never seen non-friends share a cab. I drink Old Style less because of those ads. They ruin Cub games.
#10 - I can't agree more. Awful commercials, and incredibly annoying if you listen to a game for more than a few innings.
Speaking of contract brews, does anyone know who Trader Joe's uses for its name-brand beers?
Their Heffeweizen is surprisingly good. I haven't tried the others, but am hoping they do an IPA at some point.
I was going to try this exciting new "local" beer the other day. Then I saw the price: $9.99 for a freakin' six-pack of lager. I passed. Too rich for my tastes, and good luck with that.
This entire beer seems fake as a premise. Everything you read says this is more of a guy who, seeing "rapid growth" in "craft beer", came up with a "business model" to make money...then had to come up with that whole *beer* aspect of it. He's launching the name with ONE beer? And not just, "This is our best beer, let's get everybody excited and then roll out the others"...it's, "This is our one beer, we're trying to get someone to tell us how to make other styles so we can make money at this." I'm not interested in this beer whatsoever..
#12:
Gordon Biersch brews Trader Joes hefe. Different breweries brew different stuff for them. Goose Island used to brew one of their beers, too. Mexican Coors plant brews their lager, even Unibroue makes a few special beers for them in their signature big fancy bottles.
more good beer in chicago can only be a good thing.
as far as contact brewing, sam adams had brewed everything in miller plants. they now own and brew at the old hudepohl brewery in cincinati and recently agreed to purchase a large former stroh brewery outside of philly. the current leaders in contract brewing include "imports" such as harp (canada) bottled guinness (canada) fosters (miller) old style (miller) and the strangley beloved pbr (miller). blue moon is a coors brand brewed and marketed by coors. very confusing. i do know 100% of goose island is brewed in chicago.
No one has made any sort of attempt to refute this in any way -- it makes me think that it's pretty much exactly right..
So, basically, this is a trust fund idiot that has tried really hard to make a beer that people will buy and make him money. Nothing spells "Business Plan" like selling it in only the hippest of neighborhood. Good luck to this guy, who knows nothing about beer, and wants marketing to make him all kinds of undeserved money.
Jerk.
A friend brought over a six-pack of Half Acre lager for our Friday pizza night.
I'm more of an ale guy and, at that, prefer IPAs (Goose Island IPA being a favorite).
But, this Half Acre lager was uncommonly good! (Well, it certainly suited my taste.)
Someone commented that it goes for about ten bucks a six-pack and, frankly, that's beyond my budget.
Nonetheless, to give some perspective to the price: I was at Famous Liquors in Glen Ellyn where there is a selection off more than 200 different beers. One beer (I don't recall the brand) had a price of $8.50 for a 12 ounce bottle.
That's one beer that I'll never get to know how good it may be!
"Someone commented that it goes for about ten bucks a six-pack and, frankly, that's beyond my budget."
Now, I usually by beer at Benny's and I got a six pack of Half Acre for 8.99. And frankly that is only $1 more than Goose Island, for their IPA, or even 312. Goose Island is a much larger company, too. If you go to their brewpub you'll pay $5 for a pint, same with Rock Bottom, and Piece, some times even 6. So I don't see what all the fuss is about. It's not them, they are priced with the trend. You should be mad at the beer market. Cause it all costs a lot. That is if you don't want to get a $3 six packs of Old Style! :)