- Don’t be misled by the Weight’s unassuming appearance.
I realize that Piece can be a tough place to spend much quality time, especially if you’re old and cranky and prefer to be able to talk to people rather than hollering at their ear holes from point-blank range. (I like loud bands, not loud bars.) It’s a noisy cavern of a restaurant, and its multitudinous flat-screen TVs attract yahoos who like to yell at sports in groups. But here’s the thing: Piece also runs a damn fine brewery. Maybe pick up a growler to go?
Cutler devised the recipe for Marketing Ploy in 2010 with his friends at Three Floyds, but it’s not brewed in Munster—he uses Piece’s seven-barrel system (seven barrels is about 220 gallons, in case that helps you picture the scale). The Weight, on the other hand, is entirely Cutler’s doing. He first brewed it in spring 2012, after Levon Helm, beloved drummer and vocalist for the Band, died of throat cancer. Helm played and sang on “The Weight,” and though it wasn’t a huge hit in the States when it came out in 1968, it’s since become a favorite of fans and critics; Pitchfork named it the number 13 song of the 60s in 2006, and it’s number 41 on Rolling Stone‘s 2004 list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Six other Illinois beers won WBC medals too, and most of them are available in Chicago: 5 Rabbit’s 5 Lizard (bronze, Fruit Wheat Beer), Cheval Deux by Horse Thief Hollow (silver, Field Beer or Pumpkin Beer), Two Brothers‘ Domaine DuPage (gold, Belgian- and French-Style Ale), Devil’s Thumb by Rock Bottom Orland Park (gold, Belgian-Style Pale Strong Ale), Triptych’s Dirty Hippy (silver, English-Style Mild Ale), and Haymarket‘s the Defender (gold, American-Style Stout).
