Turner Haus Brewery
Brewery · Bronzeville ·
Black-owned brewery with unique beers named after family women
Black-owned brewery with unique beers named after family women
"Operations are paused for the time being at this Black-owned brewery, which shares a 47th Street space with coffee chain Sip & Savor and opened its taproom in 2023. While it will still host private events, the team says the break will allow the family to reset, refocus, and continue building toward the long-term goals and vision for Turner Häus Brewery." - Jeffy Mai
"Turner Haus is one of a handful of Black-owned breweries and their specialties extend to many different beer styles. They’ve partnered with local coffee shop chain, Sip & Savor, to give a Bronzeville space life at night. The space gives Turner Haus its own taproom, the only such venue owned by Black brewers in a predominantly Black community. Those pioneering traits aside, the beers are unique and include a stout aged in Uncle Nearest bourbon barrels." - Ashok Selvam, Naomi Waxman
"Chicago’s only Black-owned taproom is located in Bronzeville, sharing space with Sip & Savor, a coffee mini chain. Highlights in this small and cozy space including Lola, an IPA made with basil, jalapeno, and peanut butter. Queen’s Legacy is aged in Uncle Nearest whisky barrels, it’s a Caribbean-style stout." - Ashok Selvam
"Opened at the end of 2023, this brewery was noted as Chicago’s only brewery located in a predominantly Black area and has been highlighted as a recent piece of local commercial growth following newer hospitality investments." - Ashok Selvam
"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