This Local Brewery Is Making Great Beer With Just One Beer Tank

By Ben Kramer in Food on Jun 20, 2016 7:10PM

The story of Hop Butcher For the World, formerly known as South Loop Brewing Co., starts the same way as most breweries in Chicago. A group of homebrewers who enjoy their craft, love their craft, and believe in their craft make the decision to go pro. After a successful Indiegogo campaign in 2014, the trio of Jason Maxwell, Jude La Rose, and Jeremiah Zimmer received the proper funds and went to work.

Since 2015, the brewery has made some major deals, which include producing the house beer for Ditka’s Restaurant, Witka (a lime witbier), and securing a deal to sell Good Ryes Wear Black, their Black Rye IPA, at the Craft Beer Kiosk in US Cellular Field. Fine accomplishments, but broad strokes in a story that’s richer than just a rap sheet of premium accounts and collaborations. Hop Butcher’s story is built upon one tank, one small space, and the never ending itch to grow.

Working out of Bowmanville, inside Aquanaut Brewing, the company is powered by a lone fermenter. The one tank was bought as part of the Alt-Prop agreement made with Aquanaut. Initially, the relationship between the two breweries didn’t stem from beer, but from art.

“I actually approached Eric McNeil, he founded Aquanaut, as a fanboy of his artwork,” Jeremiah Zimmer told Chicagoist. “I was drawn to the artwork and kind of reached out and said, ‘Love your artwork. Would love to try your beer sometime.’”

The two would strike up a friendship, and as La Rose, Maxwell and Zimmer were searching for a home, the latter would email McNeil with the idea of doing an Alt-Prop.

“He wrote back right away and said, ‘You know, I’m open to it. What’d you have in mind?’” Zimmer said.

Along with the tank, the deal includes use of Aquanaut’s canning line and storage space within the brewery, in exchange for a monthly rent. Alt-Prop appealed to the trio because it allowed them to test the market before pursuing their own space. If their beer failed, they could leave the game with only some money lost. If they succeeded, it'd prove the three are up to something good.

So far, they appear to be succeeding.

To reiterate, they make the house beer for Ditka’s Restaurant, a beer available at US Cellular Field, and an annual collaboration with DryHop over a beer named Milkstachio. Again, fine accomplishments, but what makes them so impressive is it’s all done by one tank and a limited brew schedule.

“Brew day is one day, and we accomplish that on a weekend, Saturday or Sunday,” Zimmer said. “We know what our fermentation cycles look like…Jason and Jude stop by after work, take a reading, take a taste, make sure everything is fine.”

If no one is able to make those readings, then their friends at Aquanaut can.

“We do each other favors,” Zimmer added.

Favors include canning batches of Aquanaut’s beer as they can their own. And canning is all done in one day, much like brew day.

They generally have one release per month, a limitation brought on by the single tank, but this doesn’t hinder them in trying to stretch the boundaries of flavor.

“We refuse to give up,” Zimmer said. “I’m adamant about trying to find the white spaces in the sense of blending something or a twist on an approach that we can make ours.”

Paris On A Prairie, formerly Saison du South Loop, exemplifies this. A lavender saison, the beer was inspired by Zimmer’s mother-in-law, who prefers blanc over beer. Determined to make a beer that tasted similar to white wine, Zimmer mixed Sauvin hops (which possess a white wine like aroma) with a little lavender from his mother-in-law’s garden. Drying out the lavender, he later dry-hopped it into the beer.

Beers like Milkstachio also represent Hop Butcher’s experimental nature. A pistachio milk stout, the beer is an annual collaboration between DryHop and Hop Butcher. The beer was brewed twice in 2016, a first for the company. They did so due to popular demand, a theme that’s becoming more common for the brewery. This increasing demand has them thinking about moving into their own space, complete with a taproom.

The South Loop, like every neighborhood in the city, is under consideration, though there is no guarantee they’ll move there. This played into the decision to change the name from South Loop Brewing Co. to Hop Butcher For The World.

“You can’t be South Loop in Bronzeville,” argues Jeremiah, and he’s right. Not to say Hop Butcher is moving to Bronzeville, but the name did pigeonhole them in one part of the city, and as much as they love that neighborhood, they want to represent all of Chicago.

They may find a spot south on State or Wabash, or they may not. Only time will tell. Right now, Hop Butcher is focused on continuing their growth and expanding their beer portfolio, one month at a time, one tank at a time.