Inside Turner Haus, Chicago’s only Black-owned taproom | Eater Chicago
"After more than two years of preparation, I watched Turner Haus Brewery open in Bronzeville as Chicago’s first Black-owned brewery taproom, launching in November in the middle of the holiday season in a 70-seat storefront shared with the Sip & Savor location. The space functions as a coffee house during the day and transitions into a beer bar in the afternoon and evening (open 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday). Founders Steven Turner, Blair Turner-Aikens, and Nathaniel Aikens describe the opening as a testament to persistence after a complex rezoning of an entire city block and alcohol-licensing nuances stretched a hoped-for six-month timeline into years. They’ve secured a home for beers named for prominent women in their families — Helen, a grapefruit lager; Lola, a peanut butter, basil, and jalapeño IPA; and Eliza, a cherry oak-aged saison — and are pouring a special Caribbean-style stout called Queen’s Legacy aged in Uncle Nearest whiskey barrels thanks to a partnership with Tennessee Brew Works, named in honor of Victoria Butler, Uncle Nearest’s master blender and the great-great-granddaughter of Nearest Green. I see the taproom as an important, hard-fought benchmark in an industry that remains overwhelmingly white (a 2021 Brewers Association survey found 93 percent of brewery owners are white and just 0.4 percent are Black), and as the only brewery in a predominantly Black neighborhood it adds to Bronzeville’s culinary choices while reflecting the founders’ pragmatic approach to controlled, marginal growth and their long-term vision for a much larger facility." - Naomi Waxman
