If you’re curious about what sets Half Acre Brewery’s beer apart from other microbreweries, then spend a few hours with owner and brewer Gabriel Magliaro. On any given Saturday, he walks small groups through the basics of making beer (steep cereal grains in water, then ferment with yeast), answers questions for home brewers, and drops tidbits about how he got started in the business.
You can quaff free samples of Half Acre brews like Daisy Cutter, Gossamer Golden Ale and Over Ale as Magliaro walks and talks through their new, but already overgrown space. He even stops and encourages refills at various points. Easter eggs lie hidden in this otherwise sleek and functional site — a Slayer sign here, a logo in wet concrete there, a goat head coat-of-arms overlooking the operation. Personality abounds in both the space and the brew, and discovering both is a great way to spend a snowy afternoon.
Tours are free, but remember to bring a sticker for their fermentation tank and leave a little personality of your own. Register here. Also remember to save a little time and extra cash to spend in their storefront where you can purchase everything from growlers of beer to t-shirts to truffles made with stout brew.
Half Acre Beer Company
4257 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 248-4038
