The brand identity of the new Half Acre Beer—which launched its first brew, a lager, last week—is all about Chicago. The label’s dominated by the silhouette of an iconic Chicago water tower. The company has office space in the meatpacking district. And the marketing slogan touts the label as “growing in Chicago”—eliding the fact that Half Acre Lager is brewed in Wisconsin, by Sand Creek Brewing up in west-central Black River Falls.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Now, contract brewing is nothing new—did you know that Samuel Adams Boston Lager has been made, variously, at large regional facilities in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Rochester, and Portland, Oregon? But the idea of farming out business across state lines doesn’t quite jibe with the image of craft brewers as hands-on artisans, back in the garage geeking out over hops into the wee hours.
Until last year Magliaro was the ad director for Chicago Life, the glossy magazine supplement to the local edition of the New York Times, and his beer-making experience was limited to home brewing and a couple courses at the Siebel Institute, on North Clybourn. He’s spent the last 18 months or so developing Half Acre Lager, working with brew-masters at Siebel and then at Sand Creek to fine-tune the recipe. (His partners are mostly money men.) Along the way he also inked a distribution deal with Chicago Beverage Systems—after many, many meetings. “We’re a unique client for them,” he admits, but the “adult beverage” industry is changing so fast, with the booming interest in small-batch and artisanal products, that it’s in the best interest of outfits like CBS—which was the subject of some unflattering press last year when Bell’s pulled out of the Chicago market as a result of a conflict with the distributor—to figure out how to deal with the little guys.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Gabriel Magliaro photo by Jim Newberry.
