Empirical Brewery Is Bringing A Brewpub To Rogers Park's Mayne Stage Space

By Stephen Gossett in Food on Feb 21, 2017 8:11PM

Mayne Stage / Facebook

Much-loved craft-beer outfit Empirical Brewery is taking over the space next to the Mayne Stage in Rogers Park, adding a new brewpub to the former home of Act One Pub, which shuttered last year.

The space, at 1328 W. Morse Ave., directly adjacent of the Mayne Stage theater, will house a restaurant and bar plus a five-barrel beer system located at a storefront just west of the old Act One digs, according to a notice on Tuesday from Ald. Joe Moore's office.

Empirical founder Bill Hurley, who signed a lease for the space on Monday, is slated to discuss his plans for the restaurant and brewpub, along with logistics and a construction timeline, at a meeting on Tuesday night at Mayne Stage, at 7 p.m.

The brewery will be the first of its kind for the Rogers Park neighborhood—which is starved for a venture like the one Empirical is bringing, Hurley told DNAinfo, which first reported the story.

The space always felt underutilized and less active than we would have hoped whenever we'd pop in before or after catching a show at Mayne Stage. Here's hoping the craft brewers—who run also run a popular taproom in Ravenswood—can flip the script. The new Rogers Park location is expected to open in late spring.