New Brewery Opening Soon In Beverly/Morgan Park

CHICAGO, IL — Western Avenue in the Beverly/Morgan Park neighborhood is about to add yet another destination spot. The Open Outcry Brewing Company will open the popular street’s second brewery soon from a space on the west side of Western near 109th Street.

For owner John Brand, brewing beer started as a hobby but quickly turned into one he would find an extraordinary amount of passion for.

“It was initially a hobby but became much more than that. Combine that with an entrepreneurial bug I caught and I wanted to see if I could start my own business,” said Brand, who began brewing 12 years ago out of a space he lived with his family in downtown Chicago.

It was about four years ago when he decided to “transition” from a successful career in the futures industry to becoming a brewery owner. When he and his wife, Elise moved to Beverly in 2013 the couple decided that Western Avenue would be the perfect spot for the new endeavor.

“We looked at a few locations, but this property appeared to offer the best opportunity because it maintained an existing liquor license and enough square footage and a parking lot,” Brand said. “We love the neighborhood. It’s where we chose to settle and where we are raising our kids. If you are going to invest in a neighborhood like this, why not share this project with our neighbors.”

When Open Outcry opens its doors to the public for the first time at the former site of O’Brien’s Pub, regular Western Avenue bar-goers will hardly recognize it. The space takes up four additional storefronts in addition to O’Brien’s.

“We performed a complete rehab to the property,” Brand said. “Including the mechanicals, the roofing system, the façade and other building systems… everything.”

The brite tanks are right next to the tap, both prominently situated right behind the bar. There’s a cutout of a life-size beer truck, yellow metal stools and chairs at the tables and multiple TV sets.

“All the wood used in the interior and on the façade was hand picked by myself and a friend of mine who is a reclaimed wood furniture maker named Jered Zubaty,” said Brand. “Jered makes furniture and other interting design pieces using barnwood and other reclaimed materials. We spent much of the last two years hand making all of the tables.”

The process for serving beer to the customers couldn’t be more efficient.

“The bartenders will serve beer right off the brites,” Brand said.

A glass garage door will open on the Western Avenue side of the building.

Behind the beer truck cutout is the wood-fired oven, which will serve up delicious Neapolitan-style pizzas thanks to Chef Cesar Lopez.

Cesar is joined by Brand, Will Golebiewski (the brewer) and Joe Jorgensen (the bartender) on the team at Open Outcry.

Brand had a unique opportunity to engage with the community and learn the wants and needs of the clientele before the brewery was even under construction. After purchasing the property and during the zoning process, Brand operated O’Brien’s as its owner for a few months before closing it in the fall.

“It provided me a platform to meet a lot of people in the neighborhood, understand what the amenities the neighborhood desired and what type of beer and food they wanted, get to know them and get them to know me,” said Brand. “It turned out that the desires of the folks from the neighborhood I spoke with and the vision for the type of community-focused brewery and taproom we wanted, turned out to be pretty closely aligned. But the feedback that was offered, we certainly took and have tried to execute into the project.”

The plan, at first, is to brew ales instead of lagers.

“You are going to see a lot of different beer styles across the entire spectrum,” he said. “Will certainly a more experimental brewer and will get creative with the grain bill and hop schedule. Expect a lot of hops in Will’s beers. Whereas, I find myself gravitating to more traditional styles such as ESBs, stouts, porters and everything in between. We also spent a lot of time developing a cream ale because of its close relationship to the domestic light lager. We want folks that are still not interested in craft beer or favor macro light beers to have an option – we think the cream ale is a great offering to satisfy those folks.”

The brewery name is a tie-in to Brand’s previous career.

“I spent my entire career in the futures industry and the term ‘open outcry’ is used to describe the style of trading on the floor. It describes the traders who use the hand signals in the pit.”

“I wanted the name to help tell my story and describe who I am and my background.”

Brand may be relatively new to Beverly himself, having grown up in far south suburban Frankfort and graduating from Lincoln-Way High School, but his wife Elise (Styczynski) Brand is a native of the neighborhood. She grew up in the St. Barnabas parish.

The two look forward to starting “a vibrant business in the city we live and brew exceptional beer to share with our neighbors,” according to Open Outcry’s website.

With all the I’s dotted and T’s crossed, Brand says the only wait now is for the beer to be ready to serve.

“We hope to open soon,” he said. “We already started brewing and are just waiting for the beer to tell us it’s ready.”

Top photo: John Brand stands outside Open Outcry Brewing at 109th and Western in the city's Beverly/Morgan Park neighborhood / Photo by Tim Moran, Patch