Beer

Baderbräu Returns; See Goose Island’s Craft Beer Week Miniature Golf Course

The original Baderbräu, c. 1990.
The original Baderbräu, c. 1990.

The 1990s are back! What, did they remake Flatliners or something? No (though surely it’s only a matter of time), but Chicagoist’s dedicated coverage of Chicago Craft Beer Week includes two stories which bring back the earliest days of the craft brewing revival. The first is about Baderbräu, which may not sound like it, but was a Chicago beer, one of the very first craft beers made here. The brainchild of former police officer Ken Pavichevich, Baderbräu set out to imitate classic German ales precisely, following the strict dicta of the reinheitsgebot (purity law). As is often the case for pioneers, however, Pavichevich had to struggle mightily against the beer industry as it existed, and despite relative success in getting his beer into bars, he closed his brewery in 1997 and sold the brand to Goose Island, who made it until 2003. The trademark eventually lapsed, and two fans, Rob Sama and Joe Berwanger, snagged it and found one of the original brewers and got his help in recreating the beer. The new Baderbräu will debut Thursday at Binny’s South Loop and at a series of launch parties next week. Will there be enough of a nostalgia contingent to make Baderbräu a hit at long last, or has the craft beer scene moved past something as simple as simply trying to make German beer as accurately as possible? [Chicagoist]

Chicagoist also has pictures of a bit of Craft Beer Week whimsy: the miniature golf course Goose Island built inside its barrel warehouse. Which is a bit of an historical irony, because where Goose Island sits was once the location of a famous miniature golf course. In 1988 a couple of artists put up a Chicago-themed miniature golf course as part of an Art Institute of Chicago exhibit. That sort of high-art-pop-culture-irony thing was new then, and it was a big hit among people who didn’t typically go to art exhibits. A couple of years later, when the former Turtle Wax factory on Clybourn was developed as a kind of arty mall with galleries and crafts shops, the art golf exhibit moved there under the name “Par Excellence.” Alas, the arty mall concept died a fairly quick death and soon after, most of the former factory was demolished to make way for more conventional shopping spaces. The only part of the factory that was saved was the part holding one of Chicago’s first craft breweries: Goose Island. [Chicagoist]

Baderbräu Returns; See Goose Island’s Craft Beer Week Miniature Golf Course