Revolution Brewery Grand Opening

Bar and taps at the new Revolution Brewery

You'll have to excuse us if we're a little hazy after this weekend.  Friday night, the folks at Revolution Brewing got the Memorial Day weekend started right by throwing one helluva party at their new Kedzie Avenue brewery.  As most people know, Revolution Brewing has a restaurant/brewpub open on Milwaukee Ave in Logan Square for a couple of years.  Well, their brews became so popular that they decided a production scale brewery was a must and chose a location on Kedzie Avenue.  Here is a story from Eater Chicago from March 2011 that talks about the search for the new digs.

As previously chronicled, we scored early "VIP" entry to the event for having our CCBW maps stickered up.  By the time we got to the brewery, it was a little after 4:30, and we immediately went to get a beer.  There was probably less than 100 people in the place at that time, which as a result looked bare in the 35,000 sq. foot facility.  Much to our surprise and delight, beers were FREE until 5pm with our early entry.  So, we quickly ordered up a few of Revolution's regular brews.  We then made our way to the other side of the brewery, where Revolution brought in some Chicago area beer friends to serve samples of their beer.  Goose Island, Half Acre, Two Brothers, Metropolitan, Solemn Oath, and more were represented.  We were able to try a few choice beers: Half Acre's Galactic Double Daisy Cutter and Goose Island's Vanilla Bourbon County Stout.

Meg and Jen getting a beer at the beautiful 160 ft long bar

Once the general admission crowd started to file in, the line for the barrel aged beers formed quickly and only continued to grow as the night went on.  However, a firkin sitting on the bar caught our eye shortly before 6pm, and we found out it was a version of their Black Power Stout, made with coffee, which was to be tapped at 7pm.  So, we "flanked the firkin," as we called it, and hung out for a bit for our chance to be one of the first to try it.  We'd doubt it was as good as the barrel aged options, but it was nice to say we tried one of the more special beers from the night.

Along the way, we met some fun folks, including the guys from the Brew Shed, a Lisle-based homebrew organization.  We told them about bottling our first beer recently, and they invited us to come out the next time they are brewing and bring it along.  It sounds like they're also trying to open up their own place, but they're still a little ways away from making that happen.

This place is huge!

After filling ourselves with more beer than we could keep track of, we checked out the scene in the back parking lot, where several food trucks had setup shop.  As to be expected, all of the lines were pretty long.  We made an executive decision that despite the early hour of the night, we would use our remaining beer tickets, and head elsewhere to get some grub.  It would have been great to stay the night, but we felt like we got our money's worth and got to experience the overall scene as best as we could.  We're definitely excited to return in the future for a tour and sample their new brews to come.


Salud,

Jen & Meg