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Crowdfunding Brings Ale Syndicate Closer to Opening Logan Square Brewery

By Victoria Johnson | December 18, 2013 9:34am
 Brothers Samuel Evans (left) and Jesse Edwin Evans pose at the future site of Ale Syndicate Brewing in the Green Exchange Complex, 2601 W. Diversey Parkway.
Brothers Samuel Evans (left) and Jesse Edwin Evans pose at the future site of Ale Syndicate Brewing in the Green Exchange Complex, 2601 W. Diversey Parkway.
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Ale Syndicate

LOGAN SQUARE — Thanks to a good bit of crowdfunding — $15,000 worth to be exact — Logan Square's Ale Syndicate is one step closer to actually having a brewery in Logan Square.

The brewery, technically based out of the Green Exchange building at 2601 W. Diversey Ave., has been working out of friends' breweries — the Galena Brewing Company in Galena, Ill., and Big Chicago Brewing Company in north suburban Zion — since opening in March.

So owners and brothers Jesse and Samuel Evans did what a lot of small business owners are doing these days and turned to crowdfunding to raise $15,000 to buy a slew of fermenters, tankers and  other brewing paraphernalia.

Offering gifts like shirts, parties and a "brewer for the day," the brothers announced this week that they successfully raised the funds though an Indiegogo campaign and about 150 donors, and plan to have their Green Exchange facility open soon after the new year.

"It is so immensely exciting," Jesse Evans said Tuesday. "We have been so lucky to work with the people we have at the other breweries, but there's nothing like being able to control the whole process, and also having a home that we can invite people over to."

Though he said it would likely be another six months or so before a planned tasting room is open, Evans said Ale Syndicate will soon begin rolling out its new specialty beer line, starting with a foreign extra stout dubbed the Omega Midnight Stout.

With a hefty 9.5 percent alcohol volume, the Omega Midnight Stout is so named because of a collaboration with namesake mad beer yeast scientists Omega Yeast Labs.

We wanted to do a collaboration with them so we came up with the recipe for everything except the yeast," Evans said. "So we kind of have a proprietary blend of yeast that we created together."

Ale Syndicate will start turning out Omega Midnight — from its Green Exchange facility if all goes well — within the next two to three weeks, Evans said.

In the meantime, its Municipal India Pale Ale, Sunday Session and Richie Imperial Porter can still be found in bars across the city.