The smell of the mash

. It’s what I miss most about not having brewed a beer in just under a year. The grains steep in 150 degree water (temp depending on the style of beer of course) to extract the sugars and proteins over a period of 45 minutes. That process produces an amazing smell. It smells like it’s a Sunday afternoon and someone has made a gravy (us Italians call pasta sauce “gravy”) that has been cooked for hours. The aroma permeates every inch of the house. Now, I get it, grains steeping in hot liquid smelling like old bread isn’t for everyone, but man oh man, I do love it. And during my homebrew days, that smell was what engulfed my 3 bedroom condo every other Sunday on Wilson Ave in the uptown neighborhood of Chicago. My wife and 2 kids would have probably preferred a delicious gravy. Sorry y’all, I love making beer.

I graduated from a small school in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. My major was theater. How I wound up being a Client Integration Engineer for a start up tech firm is a whole different story. All I can say about that is, like brewing, I found something I liked and did everything I could to work in that industry. It’s been quite a ride from teaching kids in West Virginia how a bill becomes a law by performing School House Rock live in their gymnasium, to teaching myself web technologies, to integrating a tech platform into all of the Delta Airline digital properties. The thing I learned most about on my journey from theater to tech was customer service. It’s the main focus for everything I do. And customer service is what the brewing industry is all about. I still do the tech day job. It’s a must to support my family and accomplish everything I want to in life. I don’t mind working two jobs, especially two jobs I love, but it’s time to pick one and gotta tell you, brewing wins hands down. I know I’ll need to maintain both for a bit, and that’s ok. My goal is clear: I miss going to my brewery every damn day and I want that again.

I closed the Howard Street Brewing taproom on Dec 16, 2023. I’m never going to forget that night. I rolled into the taproom at about 6pm, and the place was packed. The room was filled with regulars, trivia buffs, karaoke singers, commuters, and well wishers. I recognized all 45 faces, most of them strangers just two years before. We all sang the theme from Cheers and that night and everybody did know my name. I couldn’t have been more honored.

The bar hadn’t changed much from opening day. It was still only 600 sq ft with 37 seats. A newer addition was a mural painted by a local artist, spanning the entire 10x20 foot wall. He incorporated HSB flagship beer names like Better Late Than Never (Pilsner) and Red Rye Redemption (RyePA) interwoven in the intricate, urban design. There was an array of deep blues, reds, and yellows with Howard Street Brewing in the center, in case anyone needed reminding of where they were. The tables and chairs were industrial, but decorated in warm wood. Upon each table sat an LED candle which the bar staff and I would cast, “Lumos!” when we turned them off and on with the remote control during opening and closing. The beer menu was a custom made sign that used marquee letters with gleaming white subway tile cascading up the wall around it. Custom wood inlaid tap handles sat atop a glimmering, long metal tube of taps. The taps were the centerpiece of the room and carried that weight effortlessly. They were my favorite thing to look at in that place. The brewery itself was a 1bbl system made up of 5 fermenters and 2 brite tanks. That brewhouse wasn’t very big, but as the first room I ever tiled, my aching muscles would say it was much larger. The bar itself was a U shape which forced interaction between the guests and invited the conversations that made the place home. Deep, meaningful debates like, if Indiana Jones was a woman, who would play her? And of course, which Star Wars movie is the best (Out of the main stories, Empire, no question. Rogue One was the best one off of any movie series, ever. Buy me a beer and we can fight about it)? But my favorite part about that place was the regulars.

The Friday night crowd was always when most of the regulars were together. We had about 10-15 that would show up right around 5pm and hang out until around 8. Everyone would catch up on the work week. They would ask about my family and the business. It was warm and cozy. While everyone was always friendly, the best part was watching real friendships form beyond pleasantries. Not too long after I opened, I made a promise that I was going to tap a new beer at 7pm every Friday. And I stuck to that promise. It wasn’t necessarily a new recipe, it could have just been a fresh batch, but every single person in the bar got a shot of freshly tapped beer. It gave them something to look forward to every Friday. I got to raise a glass with everyone in that bar every Friday night. Not only was it an outstanding tradition, it was also a way to get instant feedback about the product. More than that, it was a way of building community. The Howard Street Brewing community. And I can tell you, that was a great group of individuals. It was a community that every single brewery should strive for.

The beer bubble for the tap room model popped pretty soon after the doors opened. I signed the Howard Street Brewing lease pre pandemic and opened post pandemic. As everyone knows, a lot changed in those two years. Industry trends shifted. People emerged from quarantine wanting options. They want to look at a menu and decide if they want a signature cocktail, a glass of wine, a cider, an NA beer, a mocktail, or a beer crafted in house. They may want a combination of any of those throughout the night. They want exceptional customer service and a full menu. A menu where chef and brewer meld flavors together. A menu that adapts to seasonality, just as beer does. A menu to choose between steamed mussels steeped in A Cat Name Poodle IPA or a short rib thoughtfully braised in Dark Link Stout. A chef that can produce that perfect pub burger, but can also serve a crispy duck confit. All followed by a limited, yet delectable dessert menu. The final menu is of course yet to be determined, but elevated pub fare intertwined with the beer menu will be the focus.

Menu, atmosphere, and the business model are incredibly important, however none of it means anything without establishing a community. A community built through trivia nights, holiday parties, Oktoberfest, homebrew competitions, private events, a rooftop with live music during the summer, wedding beers, and even a crawfish boil (Had one at Howard Street, sold out, and we ran out of craw within 2 hours). We will have a mug club for those regulars who want to drink out their very own mug and get discounts on events and merch. I want to tap a new beer every Friday night at 7pm again (ambitious goal). I want to watch new friendships form and have a gathering place for friendships of old. I want to watch the local games with local people. I want to be part of the community again through food and drink. I want to make beer again.

There were a multitude of reasons that I closed Howard Street Brewing and I’m happy to discuss those over a pint, but here is what I know: I closed it on my terms and I couldn’t have been prouder of what I did. Of what WE did together. Thanks for the memories HSB (raises a Howard Street Brewing 16oz pub glass - if you know, you know) and here’s to the new memories. I can’t wait to open the doors to Ale & Ember and welcome you all inside.