When it comes to modern Chicago beers that have had an impact beyond the city limits, few can compare with Daisy Cutter, the flagship pale ale of Half Acre Brewing Co. Cut from the west coast cloth, the beer and brewery helped kickstart a renaissance in the windy city that can now be considered one of the finest beer scenes in the country.
Daisy Cutter celebrates its 15th anniversary this summer, and the brewery has planned a collaboration that will have folks lining up to get a taste. It is also a good time to look back at the brewery and how it has helped a generation of beer drinkers come to craft, and then coming back for more.
In the beginning, Gabriel Magliaro had an idea to bring a brewery to Chicago and he went to his friend Kevin McGillen with the idea.
“He said, ‘I think there’s room for another craft brewery in Chicago because at the time it was Goose Island, Two Brothers out of Warrenville, Illinois, and Piece had a brewpub,” recalled McGillen, who is now the brewery President and COO. “Gabriel delivered his vision of what his brewery was going to look like. And he was just throwing spades at me like it was everything that I had missed about the German beer culture, about inclusivity, about community and about beer. It was about makers and creators and artists to create something really special that people want to be around and want to gather around. And I was hooked.”
Half Acre opened in 2007 with a lager and brewing out of a contract facility in Wisconsin, before putting down roots in a brewery, taproom, and retail space opened in Chicago on Lincoln Avenue the following year. Daisy Cutter would first be brewed in 2009.
Back then, the brewery says, “there were some local pale ales that hit with natural power. But not many. Daisy Cutter’s lush and dank characteristics carved out a place within the Chicago brewing landscape. Today, Daisy Cutter is a call brand that we continue to keep raw and relevant. Blended pine, citrus, papaya and mango. Dank. Apparent biscuit, lingering, obscenely dry.”
As interest in the beer grew, so did its distribution footprint. McGillen says that Philadelphia is Daisy Cutter’s second biggest market outside of Chicago, based largely on the brewery’s relationship with 31st and Wharton.
“They have just been unbelievable in terms of caring for our brand, making sure they ordered the right amount but that it’s never out of stock. They keep the beer cold, they treat it right. All these things are so important, and without caring for it, or pushing it, we can’t be the brewery that we are. I am so grateful for our distributors,” he says.
As Half Acre began to think about the 15th anniversary of Daisy Cutter, the brewery wanted to do something special to mark the occasion and thought back to the beer’s start and inspiration.
“Our love for hoppy beer can be traced directly back to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. We hold
that beer and the people at Sierra Nevada in the highest regard,” the brewery says.
Magliaro reached out to Brian Grossman of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., to see if the venerable craft brewery would be interested in a collaboration. He quickly agreed.
Daisy Cutter Select, the 8% ABV double India pale ale collaboration will be available this summer. It’s a “scaled up West Coast Double IPA version of Daisy Cutter” with Yakima Valley hops – Centennial, Cascade Cryo, and Simcoe – that were freshly harvested specifically for the beer. With 2-row, Victory, Abbey, Special Roast, and Carapils as the grain bill, it pours a clear deep golden orange.
“We’re proud to share the label with Sierra Nevada as we celebrate 15 years of brewing Daisy Cutter.”
That collaboration as well as the excitement around the beer speaks to the culture of comradery the brewery has brought to the brewing space – both between professionals and consumers.
The brewery sold its Lincoln Ave. space in Chicago a few years back. It had been brewing in a large facility on Balmoral Ave., the space that allowed it to become a regional brewery. Still, the fans come out and whole it’s fun to drink Daisy Cutter at home, there’s something to be said for enjoying it at the source.
He notes that customers “really have to make a decision to go there. There’s a cemetery to the north, there’s a steel mill to the east, and there’s a nursing home to the south. You’ve got to drive and make a conscious decision to come hang out and they are doing it a lot.
“What encourages me about our brand, and about Half Ace is that our taproom business continues to just thrive,” says McGillen. “People want to come and drink at the source, they want to be inside our beer garden, they want to be inside the building. They want to be part of this makers’ world. And it shows up in art, it shows up in the design of the taproom, our woodworking is fun to be around, our stained glass. It’s just in the architecture of the building inside is really fascinating and cool to look at and a nod to Chicago.”
Half Acre is about more than just Daisy Cutter. The brewery’s other brands perform well and have loyal followings and gain new fans each day. McGillen says that when consumers see Half Acre they can count on quality and creativity.
“We have such talented, creative brewers that continue to make delicious beer for folks,” he says. “It’s just a brand that continues to hang on. And I think our employee’s commitment and our aesthetic are something that people want to be a part of. And that just hasn’t gone away, we continue to make enough tweaks to keep it interesting and fresh. And that was by keeping true to who we are as a company.”
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This article first appeared in Heady Times, published by Origlio Beverage.
John Holl is the editor of All About Beer Magazine.
JohnHoll@allaboutbeer.com