Half Acre Beer Company
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| Location | Chicago, Illinois United States | ||||||||||||
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| Opened | 2007 | ||||||||||||
| Annual production volume | 43,000 US beer barrels (50,000 hL) in 2017[1] | ||||||||||||
| Owned by | Gabriel Magliaro | ||||||||||||
| Website | halfacrebeer.com | ||||||||||||
| Active beers | |||||||||||||
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Half Acre Beer Company is a brewery in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The company was founded by Gabriel Magliaro in 2006, with its office located in Chicago. The recipes for the beers were developed in Chicago and the beer was initially brewed at Sand Creek Brewery in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. Half Acre's first beer, Half Acre Lager, debuted in August 2007.[2]
History
[edit]In March 2009, Half Acre Beer began production in its own brewery on Lincoln Avenue in the North Center neighborhood of Chicago.[3] Building upon its growing popularity, a tap room adjacent to the brewhouse opened in 2012.[4] A 2013, Chicago magazine annual poll named the Half Acre tap room the city's eighth best bar.[5] Because of its continued success, a kitchen was added in January 2016, completing the transition to a full service brew pub.[6] In 2015, the brewery expanded by opening a second, larger brewhouse and pub on Balmoral Avenue in the Bowmanville neighborhood of Chicago, approximately a mile and a half from the Lincoln Avenue facility.[7] In 2021, they consolidated operations into the Balmoral Avenue location, closing the Lincoln Avenue facility.[8]
Since 2007, the company has sponsored the local bicycle club Half Acre Cycling.[9]
To minimize waste from brewing, the company challenged engineering students from Northwestern University to find the best ways to reduce or reuse byproducts.
Beer
[edit]Half Acre brews six year-round beers, three seasonal beers,[10] as well as monthly special releases and small batches for its taproom and beer garden.[11]
When asked about the citrus flavor of Half Acre Lager, Magliaro has said that the only thing in his beer is water, yeast and "lots and lots" of German malt and Saaz hops.[2]
In October 2014, Half Acre Heyoka won a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival in the category of American-style IPA.[12] In January 2015, Heyoka was renamed Senita after members of the American Indian Movement objected to the term "heyoka" being used for commercial purposes.[13] In June 2015. the beer was renamed again, to Gone Away, after another brewery claimed that the name Senita infringed too closely on the name of one of its beers.[14]
| Name | Style | ABV % | IBU | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daisy Cutter[15] | West Coast pale ale | 5.2 | Available year-round | |
| Akari Shogun | Wheat ale | 5.5 | Seasonal | |
| Lead Feather | Black Ale | 6.0 | Seasonal | |
| Pony Pilsner | Pilsner | 5.8 | Available year-round | |
| Gone Away | India Pale Ale | 7.0 | Seasonal | |
| Alpenglow | Winter dark ale | 5.0 | Seasonal | |
| Baumé | Rye stout | 7.0 | 60 | Seasonal |
| Beer Hates Astronauts | India Pale Ale | Seasonal | ||
| Big Hugs | Imperial stout | 10.0 | Seasonal | |
| Bodem | India Pale Ale | 5.7 | Available year-round | |
| Callow Knife | Pale ale | 5.0 | Seasonal | |
| Canyon of Heroes | India Pale Ale | 6.1 | Seasonal | |
| Chocolate Camaro | Stout | 6.0 | Seasonal | |
| Chub Step | Porter | 6.0 | Seasonal | |
| Smoking Gull | Hazy pale ale | 5.2 | Seasonal | |
| Crystal Norde | Baltic porter | 7.0 | Seasonal | |
| Double Daisy Cutter | Pale ale | Seasonal | ||
| Ginger twin | India-style red ale | Seasonal | ||
| The Grotto | Extra pale ale | 4.5 | Seasonal | |
| Half Acre Lager (Fader) | Lager | Available year-round | ||
| The Hammer, the Bullet, & the Vise | English brown ale | 5.0 | Seasonal | |
| Lager Town | Oktoberfest | 6.0 | Seasonal (fall) | |
| Mr. Ouroboros | German pale ale | 6.0 | Seasonal | |
| Navaja | Double India Pale Ale | 9.5 | Seasonal | |
| Over Ale | Brown ale | 6.0 | Seasonal | |
| Quakerbridge | Barley wine | 10.0 | Seasonal | |
| Space | India Pale Ale | 6.7 | Seasonal | |
| Sticky Fat | American dark ale | 6.3 | Seasonal | |
| Thunder & Son | Brown ale | 10.0 | Seasonal | |
| Tome | Hazy Pale ale | Available year-round | ||
| Tend | Unfiltered American Ale | 5.8 | Seasonal (winter) | |
| Vallejo | India Pale Ale | 6.7 | Seasonal (spring) |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Marotti, Ally (2015-04-23). "Foreign beer drinkers are craving Chicago brew. Hard". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 2015-10-28.
North Center-based Half Acre Beer brews about 15,000 barrels a year and is focusing on expanding at home before it goes abroad.
- ^ a b Bayne, Martha (August 23, 2007). "A Chicago Beer, Brewed Right Here in Wisconsin", Chicago Reader. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
- ^ Kannenberg, Liz (October 21, 2008). "Craft Brewer Bucks Trend by Moving Production into Chicago". Medill Reports. Archived from the original on 2008-12-22. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
- Benderski, Ari (June 25, 2009). "Chicago's New Wave of Microbrews". The New York Times. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
- Stedt, Zach (October 13, 2010). "Citing Environmental Advantages, Microbreweries Turn to Cans". Medill Reports. Archived from the original on April 27, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2014. - ^ Noel, Josh (May 3, 2012). "Half Acre to Open a Brewery Tap Room This Summer". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
-Baldacci, Jason (October 31, 2012). "A First Look Inside Half Acre's New Tap Room". Chicagoist. Archived from the original on November 19, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
- Wetli, Patty (January 22, 2014). "Half Acre Beer Co. Won't Open Restaurant Next to Taproom, Owner Says". DNAinfo. Archived from the original on April 27, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2014. - ^ "Best Bars in Chicago: The Top 10 Bars in the City", Chicago magazine, January 11, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
- ^ Noel, Josh (January 7, 2016). "Half Acre to Open Kitchen Next Week". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
- ^ Noel, Josh (March 24, 2014). "Half Acre to Open Second Brewery". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
- ^ Selvam, Ashok (May 7, 2021). "After 13 Years, Half Acre Beer to Leave Lincoln Avenue". Eater Chicago. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
- ^ Half Acre Cycling official website. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
- ^ "The Beers". Half Acre Beer Company. Archived from the original on April 27, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
- ^ "Half Acre Beer Company". RateBeer. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
- "Half Acre Beer Company". Beer Advocate. Retrieved April 26, 2014. - ^ Montoro, Philip (October 13, 2014). "A GABF Silver Medalist for Your Fridge: Half Acre's Heyoka IPA". Chicago Reader. Retrieved October 16, 2014.
- ^ Noel, Josh (January 5, 2015). "Half Acre Beer Renames Heyoka as Senita After Complaints". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
- ^ Noel, Josh (June 16, 2015). "Half Acre Changes Name of Award-Winning IPA Again". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
- ^ Noel, Josh (April 19, 2019). "A Decade of Daisy: How Half Acre's Iconic Daisy Cutter Pale Ale Changed Chicago Beer Culture". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 20, 2019.