HoppinBreweryTour.com

Tour Stop 23 - Half Acre Beer Company - 4/21/2017

Experience before you go............

The boys are back in town!!

Now the temperature was climbing into the upper 90 in Tucson and I had a pretty good suntan even though my dermatologist will lecture me when he sees me next month but all and all a pretty good Tucson visit.....but now it's time to head back to Naperville for a beautiful Midwest summer.

"Brad, how you doing"? "Did you miss me"? "When's the next Hoppin Brewery Tour"? Well, I mentioned a few tour stops ago that my beer drinking buddy Brad went ahead and jump started his career and got a job working at a University and Medical Center in downtown Chicago as an IT guy. I know, crazy isn't it!! So now we need to plan our brewery tours like every other non-retired, hard working employed person.....so that we did. The plan began to take shape. It was Friday and the weekend was upon us so I jumped on the 5:03 Metra train out of Naperville bound for Union Station at 5:45 where I'd meet Brad and we'd either hop a cab or uber to Half Acre Beer Co. located by Lincoln and Montrose. There we'd meet up with Brad's son Matt....who is a HoppinBreweryTour.com newbie.

Chicago Cabby Pierre from Haiti picked us up in his Toyota Prius and we were on our way.....$33 later, a couple jokes, spouting off about our favorite whiskey, Pierre talking about a little something something he used to smoke that grew in Haiti, and boom, we pull up in front of Half Acre Beer Company. Did Brad just pay $33 to get us to the north side......guess we should of Ubered!! Well the Brad and Clyde team is back together and we waste no time in snapping the out front signage selfie and we head for the door. It's definitely Friday night in downtown Chicago and the place was Hoppin!! No chairs, no tables, no hi tops, no bar stoops open at this time so we work through the crowd heading to the bar and run into Tap Room Manager Josh. I've got promotion card in hand and Brad and I give Josh both barrels on the HoppinBreweryTour and we get an affirmative head nod followed by a "Very cool"! Brad asks, "Is it alright if we take some pictures"? I'm thinking Josh thought we had a full production crew behind us with cameras, light stands, a little clapperboard thing, you know, all the goods. I thought that because Josh was a little hesitant in granting the picture taking request but realized quickly that we were somewhat harmless and we weren't going to mess up the good flow he had on this beautiful Friday night.

There's Matt, hunkered down on a corner bar stool with a big smile on his face. Matt, Brad's son is a Production Manager for events at Navy Pier and also McCormick Place. Pretty big gig with a lot of pressure and when you're dealing with the unions and you have 4 major events in the last 2 days with some over-lapping issues, well Matt was ready for a good brew. Matt rode a city Divvy bike from Navy Pier which I thought was way cool. Matt already has a cold pint working as Brad and I belly up to the bar with the standing room only. I look at Brad, Brad looks at me, we both look at Matt and we all get the, "This place is cool" smile on our faces and Brad and I realize it's time to order a beer. Matt's working the Daisy Cutter - Pale Ale (5.2%) blended pine, citrus, papaya and mango, dank with lingering biscuit and obscenely dry. Brad is up to bat with the Spirit Place - IPA (7.4%) brewed with a different yeast strain, dry hopped with Citra dust and very enjoyable. Being the beer flight guy that I am, I put my order in and up pops 4 - 4 oz beauties. Space - House IPA (6.7%) big Nectarine/Apricot, fleshy Mango, slight shortbread malt sweetness, balanced bitterness throughout, overripe soft stone fruit. Next up was Spirit Place followed by GoneAway - IPA (7.0%) big Grapefruit, green Strawberry, resin, Pine, dank, light Honey (you can call me honey) cracker, tropical Mango/Guava, assertive bitterness, Pine sap, clean and dry.....oh my!! And bringing up the rear we have Humanimal Stasis - Double IPA if I may.

To my right we have Cameron who swears by the Daisy Cutter! Cameron lives in the neighborhood, works from home designing websites and he comes here so often that his smart phone freely offers up Half Acre as a frequently visited location.....Cameron is somewhat of a fixture here at Half Acre. He points to a painting hanging on the wall. "That's my favorite painting, it's called Plausible Deniability and it could be hanging in Kid Rocks house, but here it is at Half Acre...I love this place"! Cameron's a great guy and it was way cool meeting and talking with him. Cameron grabs Manager Josh as he walks by, "What adventure are we doing this summer"? Come to find out Cameron and Josh went skydiving last summer...got to luv it! Hope life brings you many adventures Cameron and I wish you endless future pints of Daisy Cutter.

"So Brad and Matt, where's the next brewery"? Cameron overhears us and says, "You've gotta go to Dovetail Brewery". "Where is it, can you walk there"? Before you know it, Matt picks up the tab and we're walking out the door and Siri tells us to take a left and you will arrive at Dovetail at 7:38..... short little 10 minute walk. You got to luv downtown Chicago!

We throughly enjoyed Half Acre and can see why Cameron's smart phone is always telling him to come here.....that's why they call them smart!!

Until next time and remember.........

Go get'cha one!!