Revolution Brewing (2024)

From FB:

Almost 15 years ago, we threw open the doors of our Milwaukee Avenue brewpub and launched Revolution Brewing to the world. The brewpub is where the first Revolution beers were served and where we first brewed beers like Anti-Hero IPA which would change the shape of craft beer in Chicagoland. Today that chapter of our story starts to wind down as we announce that we are permanently closing the doors of the Logan Square brewpub, with our last day of service on December 14th. Sharing this news brings knots to our bellies and tears to our eyes, but we know that 15 years is also a good run for a restaurant and we are thankful for all the great moments along the way.

Starting on day one in early 2010, a community formed at the brewpub around great food and exceptionally crafted beers and we are forever grateful for the support we received from so many of you. Those were exuberant days, with creative new beers coming out almost weekly to the delight of our mug club ‘members of the party’ who crowded along our curved wooden bar. At the end of year one, our event space opened and it has been our honor to host hundreds of lovely weddings and important fundraisers upstairs. We will never forget those wild Oktoberfest weekends partying in the street with some of our favorite bands, so many pretzels and a thunderstorm or two.

You could count the number of other breweries in the city on one hand back in the day. Our experience definitely inspired others to take their shot and now there are close to a hundred different places brewing beer in the city. Our business slowed as that massive wave of craft beer growth naturally crested a few years ago, but it was really the pandemic that dealt the biggest blow to our brewpub operations. The pub never came close to recovering the energy and customer traffic from its heyday, and worsening operating losses the last few years gives us no choice but to wind down our business at this location. In the new year, we expect to put the building up for sale and hope a new owner and concept will bring more joy to the neighborhood. Logan Square has grown and changed tremendously since we opened and we have to salute all the other small businesses who keep it a unique place to live, work and play.

Many of the faces changed over the years, but our pub staff’s dedication to their collective work was always strong, especially when times were tough during the pandemic. It pains us to have to say goodbye to so many hard-working members of our crew, but we know the experience and friendships we all share will last a lifetime. We are helping our team deal with the burden of this closure on their lives with severance packages and extended benefits, and we sincerely wish them the best as they take on their next challenge.

Our Kedzie Avenue production brewery and tap room opened just two years after the pub and that’s where our business thrives now and where we will remain fully operational and open to the public. We’re making investments at that location to retain jobs, increase our sustainability and keep our overall business strong, even in the face of increased competition for craft brewers.

The brewpub will be open five more weeks for you to get all nostalgic over some cheese curds, smash burgers and frothy pints. We hope to see some familiar faces come raise a glass to a 15-year run on Milwaukee Avenue. Our deepest thanks to everyone who stopped in over the years, it was a pleasure to serve you.

 

Boo

I don’t want to discount the challenges to business during the pandemic, but it’s been several years since restrictions lifted and I’m sick of hearing it as an excuse for today’s brewery closures. Consumer habits may have changed but it’s not like no one is going out at all. I think it’s more that businesses have not been able to adapt and draw new customers. The brewpub could have been a place where they offered a different ways to engage with customers and keep their (my) loyalty - special experimental/collaborative beers, special guest taps, special events, special whatever - not just the de facto tied house it became at the end.

I hope Kenzie continues to be sustainable but I’m afraid it too will fade as time goes on. As a whole the industry is past the point where simply visiting a brewery is a novel experience. I don’t have the answers, but it seems like anyone who wants to succeed will have to find ways to offer unique experiences.

 

You may be correct with the pub element getting itself into a rut, or perhaps. Forgotten about and just a number to be counted.

 

It isn’t the pandemic restrictions that are still causing fall out for beer and restaurants, it’s the associated consumer behavior from the pandemic that isn’t going anywhere. The stupid restaurant owners that continued to pass health insurance charges on to customers via line item fees, tipflation (everyone everywhere asking for tips), and the increased prices of goods and services have all turned off consumers. Throw in the addictive nature of social media like TikTok that probably kills a lot of what could be social free time for people to go out and about has kept them home and perhaps using food delivery services. I for one eat out at restaurants less because it seems like the value is less than it used to be. Eating out has always been more expensive than making stuff at home, but it seems like the price of eating out has way outpaced the price of grocery goods making the rate between eating at home and out even bigger. Also, historically people didn’t go out to eat as much as we do in modern society. We are probably moving closer to the norm.

 

The closure isn’t suprising given the trends. FFF didn’t reopen their brewpub post pandemic and I don’t think they will despite what they said about planning to redo the space and reopen. Half Acre got rid of one location. Revs focus needs to be on competing in their distro markets and expanding into new markets if they want to scale. The brewpub was a luxury hobby for them at this point as it doesn't further the goals of distribution.

 

I've got a glass half full view of this...I prefer going to the Taproom, personally. Way more relaxed vibes, they always seems to have Deep Wood on tap (often older vintages), tons of space and a great staff.

Hopefully this means expanded hours / days at the Taproom and some of the staff from the brewpub can come over there.

And if this helps Revolution stay viable as a business that can keep great barrel aged beers flowing into my veins, then so be it!

 

That's a bummer for the neighborhood for sure, since it's such an anchor business on that block - this is less of a blow personallly than the Half Acre Lincoln closing, but it sucks for locals in Logan Square, and I"ll just say.... it was nice to jump off at California on the El coming in from ORD to grab a pint and burger there .... fingers crossed for Kedzie.

 

Focus for the benefit of all, hopefully.
I haven't gotten in to either location enough, and while I liked the food at the pub, I prefer the Kedzie tap room.

LETS GET THERE!!!

 

If you go to say goodbye, make sure to take care of the Rev team!

 

If anyone has been meaning to pick up Pragueress (or wants to get more as well certainly), Binny's has it on sale for 9.99 ($2 off) with store card until the 4th I think.

 

Shit news

 

This is going to be a FAR bigger blow than Half Acre what with Hop Butcher able to take on the space. I very much doubt the same fate is coming for the very purpose built to make beer and food space Revolution inhabited. We can only hope that there is someone that is looking that can turnkey it. Doubtful with the level of saturation for choice.
Locally. I kind of see it as a seismic shift for the neighborhood. But, I live a block a way form the brewpub, and also worked there for its first year or so. Back when it opened, there really wasn't that much. And now. There's almost TOO much.

 

i live and work in logan square. it’s a fairly transient neighborhood that is more subject to changes in nightlife trends than, say, a north center or a ravenswood. craft beer isn’t trendy anymore, which was especially exacerbated by the pandemic in my opinion. rev set the tone for the shift in the hood back in the day, but a lot of those early patrons got older, had kids and left for the burbs (or hoods perceived as more family friendly in general). the people taking their place have very different interests than what rev offers these days. again, my opinion.

 

Board games and boba tea?

 

Rev needs to get licensing rights so they can brew the next big thing: Ozempic Beer- get drunk AND lose weight. That would cut into the light beer market.

 

This sort of couples with my question about their league of heroes decision this year to go all in on just one. What else is going on to the cash flow. Abandoning a shoot fish in the barrel money maker like having events booked over 6 mos in advance in a paid off space is just odd imho. That was the intent of creating that entire floor of operations in the first place.

 

It isn’t so black and white as to say it is a shooting fish in the barrel money maker. As a standalone venture maybe, but it isn’t worth the time and hassle of tying up Rev decision makers on something that doesn’t further their broader goals. It’s the trend for those larger distro craft breweries. Pipeworks is looking to be geniuses right now with eschewing taprooms and brewpubs for close to 15 years in favor of growing distro (though if they wanted to take over Revs Logan space fans I wouldn’t complain). Do you want to be Budweiser and focus on getting your beer out and letting others worry about the hospitality aspect of bars and restaurants or do you want to have multiple locations to scale and have to make your focus beer AND food or do you want to scale by being like a Twisted Kilt with a franchise model and have to worry about others screwing up your brand? Rev does beer great and wants to focus on what they do great. Not to mention I’m sure the property value in Logan has increased substantially over 15 years and the revenue from a sale will help fund expansion in other areas at the taproom (unless it’s set up as a personal ownership by Deth rented back to Rev and then that would allow Deth a nice bonus without having to sell out the distro side).

This article offers some good commentary from Josh Deth on the situation: https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddr...are-brewpub-after-nearly-15-years/ar-AA1tozPZ

 

i agree with this, more or less. the bigger you get in distribution, a taproom/brewpub becomes less vital by definition. that, combined with dwindling sales and the challenge of operating a restaurant, makes it a no-brainer for rev IMO. it’s just not worth the headache for a brewery of that size.

 

This article is unbelievably hard to read. Filled with so many grammatical errors.