Preview: Haymarket Pub & Brewery

Photo: Nicole Radja

WHAT Haymarket Pub & Brewery
WHEN Mid October
WHERE 737 W Randolph St (312-638-0707)

In a city overrun with brewpubs, how will Pete Crowley’s Haymarket Pub & Brewery stand apart? For the former Rock Bottom brewer (pictured), one answer is his focus on Belgians and IPAs—specifically, a “single” pale table Belgian, a “double” seasonal spiced Trappist ale, a “triple” Trappist-style Belgian golden, a witbier, a Belgian-style IPA, and up to three American IPAs, all of which will be brewed in seven fermenters and 11 serving tanks in view of patrons.

No doubt the beer is impressive, but Crowley has a few other things up his sleeve he hopes will draw legions to his West Loop brewpub:

THE CELLAR Underneath the brewhouse and restaurant, Crowley is building out a cellar “almost like a winery or distillery would have,” he explains, but with “80 oak bourbon barrels aging beer at any given time.”

THE HISTORY “The whole May Day movement—organized labor, right to free speech…all happened right here on DesPlaines just across the street from our brewery,” Crowley explains (hence, the brewpub’s name).

THE THEATER Haymarket’s back room, which has its own bar and entrance, will host the Drinking and Writing Theater, run by Neo-Futurists Sean Benjamin and Steve Mosqueda. “Their show is intellectual…and it’s funny, and it’s edgy, so it fits with this whole ‘real beer, real food’ [project],” Crowley says.

THE COFFEE SHOP That same back room will be open from 7–11am and will serve Metropolis coffee, Rishi tea, pastries and breakfast sandwiches. “We’re trying to really be a part of the neighborhood,” Crowley says.

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Check out the other sections in our 2010 Fall Preview: RESTAURANTS & BARS | SHOPPING & STYLE | AROUND TOWN | ART & DESIGN | BOOKS | CLUBS | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | GAY & LESBIAN | KIDS | MUSIC | OPERA & CLASSICAL | THEATER