Take a look into the wild world of Pipeworks Brewing Company in this 75-second video featuring music from Chicago’s own Jumpsuit.
When Pipeworks Brewing Company founders BeeJay Olson, Gerrit Lewis and Scott Coffman started production at 1675 N. Western Ave. in a 2,500-square foot building, they were like a lot of Chicago’s fledging craft breweries: A couple guys working hard to get their own beer out there.
Now—three years later—the crew is nearly 20 employees strong and is slowly transitioning over to a new, much bigger space (16,000 square feet) to brew at 3912 W. McLean Ave., just 2.5 miles west of their current facility.
They hope to be fully operational by the first week of June, canning their popular Ninja vs. Unicorn, a double India pale ale at 8.5 percent ABV, alongside a different beer every week and a brand new beer every month.
More Top Picks Best Adjustable Bed Tables For Reading
“We didn’t have enough physical space for a canning line [in our current space], so now we’ll be able to make four packs of 16-ounce cans and get more into the lower ABV session beers,” said Mike Schallau, operations manager and “master of barrels,” appropriately printed on his business card. “We mostly use our [job] titles as jokes,” Schallau said laughing.
Schallau also riffed about the crew wanting their new brewery space to resemble a giant “Mario Kart track,” but said he realizes that wouldn’t make them much money.
“We want to at least do a canned vending machine with all our canned beers inside,” he said. “Or just some PBRs. We also want to eventually feature art from local artists on our walls, similar to the old garage door at our current space.”
But their current space won’t go empty. The gang plans to brew sour beers at the facility and will open a bottle shop next door (1673 N. Western Ave.) to feature growlers and other bottles, too.
Nearly half of the new facility’s 16,000 square feet will be used simply for housing barrels used to age beers over a longer amount of time.
For more information on Pipeworks Brewing Company, head to pdubs.net.