• Smylie Brothers Dunkelweiss, Porter, Cali Common, Pale Ale, and IPA

On June 24, former chef and commodities broker Mike Smylie and his four younger brothers opened Smylie Brothers Brewing Co. at 1615 Oak Avenue in Evanston. (Why is it so hard not to type “Slymie”? Come on, brain.) Their brewpub occupies a building that was formerly an Illinois Department of Employment Security office, a grocery called the Oak Street Market, and a gas station and body shop.

The aforementioned barbecue includes pulled pork and chicken, baby back ribs, and brisket smoked for an alleged 14 hours. You can get wood-fired pizzas too, in half a dozen styles—I made note of the truffled mushroom, fennel sausage, and “white pissaladiere” (admittedly, I wrote that last one down because I was having a Beavis and Butt-Head moment). What else? Trout, steak, poutine, mussels, vegetarian risotto, a variety of salads . . .

  • Please don’t tap on the glass. It disturbs the brewers.

For the time being Smylie Brothers is brewing a selection of down-the-middle, easy-drinking traditional styles: IPA, pale ale, porter, dunkelweiss, farmhouse ale (tapped out on my visit), and California common (an American-born hybrid fermented with lager yeast at ale temperatures, most famously exemplified by Anchor Steam). Everything is between 5 and 7 percent alcohol. Half-gallon growlers cost $18 with the glass, $16 for a refill.

  • This picture is in case you don’t yet know what fermentation vessels look like.

I drank quite a bit of the dunkelweiss, because the banana flavor that fatigues my palate so quickly in most weissbiers agrees with me much better alongside dark wheat malts. (Also, look at the size of that glass. I couldn’t even finish it.) This beer tastes a lot like a toasted Nutella-and-banana sandwich, except imagine the bananas have been pan-fried first with a little brown sugar and lemon. I don’t mean to make it sound cloying and sticky—it’s nicely attenuated if not exactly bone dry, and a winelike yeast note cuts through the richer flavors. Plus at 5 percent alcohol it won’t exactly leave a film on your teeth.

In other words, it looks like the folks at Smylie Brothers have started with straightforward, familiar beers to prove they can be trusted—then it’s off to the races.