How Half Acre Beer Got Here

Half Acre Beer Company began in 2006 with no experience and loads of optimism. Humble beginnings and no brewery landed us on the doorstep of the Sand Creek Brewing Company in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. With a 20 bbl brewhouse and plenty of tanks, Sand Creek was able to help us get our first batches going, and by August of 2007 we were brewing in Wisconsin, and trucking our beer back to Chicago for sale in the bars that would take us.

After about a year, our understanding had grown, and we gathered up our ambition to build a unique brewery in Chicago. We worked out a deal with the Ska Brewing Company in Durango, Colorado to buy all their old gear, signed a lease on our dream, neighborhood brewery space, and off we went to Colorado to dismantle a brewery. In about a week's time, we had loaded four tractor trailers worth of stainless steel, and were ready to head back home to build our brewery.

October of 2008 was when we began our build-out, and by February of 2009, after countless hours of hard work, community approvals, zoning changes, moratorium lifts, permitting and inspections, we found ourselves with the exact scenario we had hoped to create: a production brewery & store, located smack-dab in the middle of one of Chicago's great neighborhoods, where beer could be brewed, packaged, and taken into the world either by the truckload or by the growler fill.

Since then, we've come a long way and have had the chance to expand our skills and grow our brewing company. On August 10, 2011 we purchased our building and cemented our place in the mix of it all. At Half Acre Beer Company, we brew beers we want to see made, enjoy ourselves as much as possible, and encourage the interesting experiences this ride has to offer.

Half Acre is a reflection of those that keep it alive, the people that hoist the beer and the places where its found.