More than two years after I first heard a rumor about its opening date—which at that point was supposed to be fall 2012—the Lagunitas Brewing tap room in North Lawndale is finally in business. Last Tuesday it held an unveiling party, mostly for the press (I wasn’t invited—a small blow to my already negligible professional pride), and on Wednesday, June 25, it will officially welcome the general public.
Second, and perhaps of more interest to beer nerds, was that the tap room’s 32 draft lines will pour not just year-round Lagunitas beers but also tap-only oddities and one-offs shipped from the brewery’s home base in Petaluma, California. (Eventually the Chicago facility will make those beers too.) If the current west-coast menu is any indication, we can expect a pomegranate pale ale and an unfiltered pils very soon. From here on out, the Chicago tap room will also get every Fusion beer—Lagunitas releases a new one almost every month, but so far we’ve only seen a few. (Fusion 16 won the session-ale trophy at last June’s Mash Tun Fest.)
- This stage won’t be hosting the Polyphonic Spree anytime soon.
With that in mind, what metal should I post? I’m thinking Kentucky, a 2012 album by brilliant Louisville band Panopticon. This confoundingly ambitious one-man project crossbreeds black metal with mountain music, especially bluegrass. The next Panopticon LP, Roads to the North, comes out later this summer.
