DRYHOP BREWERS

Brewery and Restaurant
Lakeview East, Chicago

There’s something extra cool about creating a brewery WITHIN a converted industrial space, and DryHop Brewers is a real highlight! Amongst a 3,100 SF parking garage, located in an urban and active neighborhood on Chicago’s north side, DryHop came to fruition as a hip restaurant and brewery on the first floor. The Epic team worked closely with owner Greg Shuff, Axios Architects, and Kaper Design to fulfill every requirement and desire in this compact and fast-paced location, including a high-end environment without sky-high costs.

The two main challenges? Carving out sufficient space within the operational and busy garage’s confines, as well as getting the mechanicals from the 3-story roof to the ground-floor location of the brewpub. But, overcome them we did! The resulting achievement can be seen with a 10-barrel brewhouse, 10 barrel fermenters, 10 barrel serving tanks, and a full commercial kitchen. A stunning piece of craftsmanship can really be seen in the unique and beautiful 50-foot bar … created by local craftsmen out of a majestic white oak tree that had fallen in the area. Wow!

SCOPE

Collaborative design-build of full restaurant and brewery
Innovative logistics for culinary and brew space within busy, operational parking garage
Establish all mechanicals and routes from 3-story roof to ground floor space
10-barrel brewhouse, 10 barrel fermenters, 10 barrel serving tanks
Full kitchen
Custom designed and crafted 50-foot bar, using fallen white oak tree

"We began our first project with Epic Builders in late 2012. In short, they have been fantastic to work with. At pre-construction meetings, they provide valuable constructability insight and layout solutions. During build-out, they work quickly, have an excellent network of subcontractors, and save you money by avoiding costly change orders, design conflicts and rework. Finally, once the project is complete, they make themselves available for casual consultations and valuable introductions for long-term building maintenance. Epic understands the needs of an operating brewery, and their supporting infrastructure, just as well as they understand electrical, structural, ADA compliance, and all of the other components necessary to a brewery or brewpub build-out.

Now, in 2015, we've started our second brewpub project (Corridor Brewery & Provisions) with Epic, and they have already done a great job keeping us ahead of schedule. I'll continue to work with them for as long as they're in the game. I can't recommend them more highly."

-Greg Shuff, Owner of DryHop Brewers, Roebuck Pizza, and Corridor Brewery & Provisions