This content was originally published by The Hop Review, a digital magazine that joined the Hop Culture family in March 2020.
This piece was written by Tom White.
In this week’s Hoplinks, a staple Chicago beer destination closes shop, a brewery and a chef get together, a border war commences, beer goes underground, and a famed brewer is profiled. Let us know what else we missed this week in the comments.
JEFFERSON PARK, CHICAGO — Beloved craft “slashie” Fischman Liquors unexpectedly announced they’ll be closing around July 17th. While the store was extremely popular among fans of craft beer, a rent dispute with family caused the owners to walk away from their home of 20 years. They did leave the door open for a possible future, however, so keep an eye on their site for updates. [Fischman Liquors & Tavern]
NEAR WEST SIDE, CHICAGO — Goose Island and famed chef Paul Kahan have collaborated to create Petite Matilda, a Belgian Style Session Ale brewed to mark the 26th annual James Beard awards, being held in Chicago. The beer is a smaller version of the flagship Matilda and was inspired by Kahan experience with monk’s table beers at the Orval Trappist brewery in Belgium. [THR Wire]
LAKEVIEW, CHICAGO — Craft cafe Beermiscuous launched their “U. Pour” system this week in their private event space. Parties renting the downstairs lounge can now avoid the trek upstairs for their next beer by simply pouring it themselves out of the self serve taps. [THR Wire]
KENOSHA, WI — Does Wisconsin or Illinois have better beer? We’d say it’s all good and it doesn’t really matter but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t want to drink beers from both states at the same time. Kenosha is the site of this year’s June 27th Border War Beer Fest and features 27 breweries (as of today) from both states and an award to the winner by popular vote. Tickets are on sale now. [THR Wire]
BRUGES, BELGIUM — Bruges, one of the more beautiful towns in Belgium, is building a beer pipeline below city streets. Being built by Xavier Vanneste, owner of Brouwerij De Halve Maan, it connects his brewery to the new production facility a couple miles away. It’s being partly funded by investors buying lifetime supplies of his beer which sounds like a great investment to us. [Wall Street Journal]
GREENSBORO BEND, VT — In a beautifully done video (below), Shaun Hill, founder of famed brewery Hill Farmstead is profiled. Hill talks about how the recent awards the brewery has earned hasn’t changed their approach and speaks to their philosophy behind the beer. Now, if we could just get our hands on some of that beer…. [Huffman Studio]
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Photograph by Tom White, during a 2015 visit to Brouwerij De Halve Maan in Bruges, Belgium