What You Need to Know Before You Visit Hop Butcher
Price: Prices differ, but on average, you’ll see something like this:
$4 5oz
$6 10oz
$8 16oz
Food: No food onsite, but they’ve got a few BYOF recommendations
Family Friendliness: Pretty benign in this area. Nothing overtly unfriendly, but also nothing overtly friendly.
Doggos: There is an outdoor patio space
Parking: Street parking, but this is a walkable neighborhood, and the bus stop is 2 blocks away
What is Hop Butcher for the World Known for?
Inspired by true Chicagoan culture, in the poem “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg, he refers to this great city of Chicago as “Hog Butcher For the World.”
And though the literal meaning behind that moniker has faded since the closing of the Union Stock Yards in 1971, it still embodies and inspires who we Hop Butcher is and the beers they brew in three meaningful ways.
For starters, we love hops and we use them A LOT. The multitude of occasions to use hops within the brewing process is boundless and we explore and experiment relentlessly, forever in the name of incredible flavors and worldly aromatics.
The “Butcher’ portion of our namesake is thankfully less bloody than the history behind it, but there’s no shortage of inspiration drawn from those passionate and knowledgable bout their craft like the butchers we know and love are. We hope you find us to be that same brand of approachable, except with hops, grain, yeast and water in a brewery instead of a butcher shop and a meat filled counter.
Finally, at some point, you’ll refer to us simply as “Hop Butcher” (and we’re cool with that), but the “for The World” part is an important and meaningful element of our name. It inspires the ingredients we use, the characters on our labels, the balance of our beers, how we communicate and more. It guides everything from who we partner with to where our cans and kegs are distributed… and where they someday might be distributed.
In short, Hop Butcher is known for being Chicago AF.
As far as the beer is concerned, they’re really well known for having a wall of Hazy IPAs. The occasional West Coast, Pale Ale, or Festbier will wiggle their way in for a dose of approachability, but this is really the brewery for IPA nerds.
What’s the Atmosphere like at Hop Butcher?
The atmosphere here is super chill. The Midwestern charm starts the second you walk in the door. The tiny floor tile, exposed brick, and heavy duty community bench seating… All these details set the tone for something that’s clean and authentically Chicago.
My server, Cal, was just the right balance of attentive without hovering. I had to run to the post office to drop off a little package, and he was kind enough to let me leave my computer, duffle, etc,. I disappeared for a whole 20 minutes and still hadn’t paid my tab yet.
The overhead speakers softly jammed classic and yacht rock hits all afternoon.
It was perfect. I just sat here and wrote blogs, and designed a few books. It was a glorious afternoon.
Ironically, the vibes on the cans are a lot more intense and grungy than the vibes in the glass or the atmosphere. Chicago artist, Dan Grzeca’s uniquely layered hand-pressed art style adorns the cans and a few pieces of art throughout. He was one of the speakers at BOPP Conference, and he had a wildly unique approach not only to his creativity but also to the business side of things. As a creative myself, I was blown away, but that’s a story for another day.
The full Chicago poem is Below for Easier Reading and Broader Context:
Chicago
BY CARL SANDBURG
Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys. And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again. And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger. And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning. Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing! Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.
Is Hop Butcher for the World Beer Worth the Travel?
The taproom space is separate from the to-go space. For a split second it’s a bit disorienting. Then it becomes abundantly clear, that there’s a slew of cans ready to go. Freshness is key here, so don’t grab too much. You may experience some hop burn with a couple of their beers, but on the flip side, you don’t want to get too many that you’re aging them!
So, yes, once I knew there were cans to go, it was a solid yes.
Maybe even a heck yes. I’d recommend anybody that’s into IPAs to come through for traidbait.
Anthony's a Houston native, a Creative Strategist at https://ledgeloungers.com/, an adjunct instructor of Visual Communication at Lone Star College, and a UH Coog that loves good beer almost as much as he does his city. Anthony lives to help others and that's found a home helping some of the coolest breweries on earth with creative and marketing projects that can be seen on our Portfolio page. Fueled by hoppy lagers, sessionable IPAs, and gangster rap, he's ticked his way through H-Town, rocking the most unusual Nikes he can find. When he's not writing for us, he's with his family or very patiently rooting for the Rockets.
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