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Veteran breweries Marz and Solemn Oath opening Logan Square taprooms less than 1 mile and a few weeks apart

Chicago Tribune - 4/23/2021

Two brewery taprooms in planning long before the COVID-19 pandemic are finally about to open, less than 1 mile and one month apart in the Logan Square neighborhood.

The pandemic nearly torpedoed one of the projects. But as spring arrives and vaccines do too, Marz Community Brewing and Solemn Oath Brewery are preparing to launch Logan Square outposts in a part of the city flush with breweries.

Marz opens first, on Friday, at 1950 N. Western Ave., along a bustling section of Western Avenue beside the iconic Margie’s Candies. In mid-May, Solemn Oath will open about seven-tenths of a mile west, in a 3-year-old building with apartments above at 2919 W. Armitage Ave.

Marz founder Ed Marszewski announced plans to build a snug North Side taproom two years ago, complementing Marz’s production brewery and far larger taproom in McKinley Park on Chicago’s South Side. He initially hoped to have the space open by summer 2020, but the pandemic slowed those plans — and almost derailed them.

Marszewski said he considered breaking his lease because it seemed “the world was collapsing.”

“But a few months later, I changed my mind,” he said. “We realized we could make things work.”

The new Marz location opens Friday at 4 p.m. as the Life on Marz Community Club, a pastiche of eye-popping colors and textures with a retro bent meant to evoke neighborhood social clubs of years past — while also looking forward.

“We want it to be a 21st century social club — a great place to chill, another third space,” Marszewski said. “Like a VFW hall with a more contemporary use of color and material.”

Life on Marz has 14 taps — arranged in a smiley face because “we wanted a little joy and we want you to smile when you see it,” Marszewski said — mostly pouring beer made at the Marz production brewery. But a one-barrel brewing system in back will make “weirdo experimental stuff” available only there and on draft. A small kitchen will serve a menu with local roots: Makowski’s Real Sausage hot dogs and polish sausage, Tony B’s Steak Chips and Red Bear salami.

The space is intimate: 1,300 square feet and accommodating 48 people without COVID-19 restrictions — “a mini Marz,” Marszewski said. He said it’s likely “the smallest nanobrewery in Chicago.”

Marz and Solemn Oath are opening a short walk from several other breweries. Bungalow, the pizza-making brewpub for Middle Brow Brewing, sits between them. Pilot Project Brewing is a bit north, and the Revolution Brewing brewpub is just beyond that. Hopewell, Ravinia and Maplewood are all at the north end of Logan Square.

The new Marz location appealed to him, Marszewski said, because he lived in the neighborhood after moving to Chicago after college, when it was a radically different place. Though the neighborhood has been gentrified since he lived there, he said he was heartened to see neighborhood institutions such as Arturo’s Tacos and Lazo’s Tacos endure across the street.

“It could have been wherever, but this seemed right,” he said. “I saw Arturo’s and was like, ‘If we could get a pneumatic system under the street to ship burritos to us, this would be the perfect place.’”

Though Marszewski is often thought of as a champion of the South Side — he lives in Bridgeport — opening on the North Side, amid a dense population of craft beer drinkers, was important, he said.

“We were always looking for ways to establish a presence, because not a lot of people like to drive south of Roosevelt Road,” he said. “Giving them an outlet to stop by more frequently was the intent.”

Solemn Oath had a similar motive when looking to grow beyond its home base in suburban Naperville. Its taproom, called Still Life by Solemn Oath, at 2919 W. Armitage Ave., is expected to open May 15.

It’s a much larger operation than Life on Marz — a capacity of 160 without COVID-19 restrictions in about 4,000 square feet that also includes a sizable to-go shop attached to the taproom.

Compared to the more intimate social club vibe Marz is offering, Solemn Oath will host a more conventional experience, including a bar seating about 18 people (once COVID-19 restrictions are fully lifted) and a pool table.

Eric Hobbs, chief operations officer at Solemn Oath, said the original plan was to open Still Life by last spring, but “as we were rolling into February and getting close, the world came apart.” The brewery started construction in spring 2019, paused in spring 2020 and started again last fall.

When opening in 2012, Solemn Oath was one of the first major production breweries to plant its flag in the suburbs. Hobbs said Solemn Oath started looking for a Chicago outpost shortly after he joined the brewery five years ago, and looked in various neighborhoods.

“We’ve always done well in the city, and I do think it’s important to be there,” Hobbs said.

Still Life will serve from 20 taps, including a few year-round staples including Snaggletooth Bandana IPA, End All hazy IPA and Be All hazy pale ale, plus a steady rotation of new beers — “usually one a week, if not more,” Hobbs said. It plans to sell its easy drinking (and quite tasty) Lu kolsch for $4.

A handful of other Solemn Oath brands will also be sold: cans of City Water hard seltzer, a line of City Spritz cocktails (made with the unflavored, non-diluted carbonated base of City Water) and a forthcoming brand called Hidden Hand, which will focus initially on IPAs and double IPAs: “The freshest version of the most refined beers we are able to make,” Hobbs said.

Solemn Oath’s new wild ale project, Dust Music, will also be available at Still Life, debuting with the opening of the taproom. It includes collaborations with several well-regarded breweries including Santa Fe’s Rowley Farmhouse Ales; Alesong Brewing & Blending of Eugene, Oregon; and Seattle’s Holy Mountain Brewing. Solemn Oath won’t brew beer at Still Life, but will age wild ales in oak barrels in a back corner.

“Part of what we’re able to do with a location like this is the hospitality and environment we’re able to create,” he said. “This is what we do extremely well, and it’s a nice way to showcase not just the beer and seltzer we have, but the crew and the culture we have.”

Like Marz, Solemn Oath felt a need to reach beyond its home base to Chicago’s North Side, and Logan Square felt like a natural destination.

“Reaching more people, getting more eyeballs and more people in your space, it’s the best non-marketing marketing,” Hobbs said. “I look at who our neighbors are and how many people walk by, and we want to be a good neighborhood spot.”

jbnoel@chicagotribune.com

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