Ravinia Brewing: 5 Things To Know About Brewer Taking Over Finch/Breakroom

IRVING PARK — It just got a whole lot easier to visit Ravinia.

Ravinia Brewing Co. is coming to the former home of Finch Kitchen/Breakroom Brewery, 2925 W. Montrose Ave.

Chicago Eater broke the news Wednesday. Here are five things to know about the newcomer:

• First things first, when will Ravinia open?

The goal is late summer, owner Kris Walker told Eater. 

• Why is it called Ravinia?

Walker lives in Highland Park, home to the popular Ravinia Festival, and has been planning to open a brewery in the town's Ravinia District since late 2014.

• Why not a new name, to go with the new location?

The Montrose brewery is being developed in tandem with a Highland Park Ravinia brewhouse.

• So two breweries? Why?

Walker explained his strategy in a Facebook post: The Highland Park brewery will serve as Ravinia's "innovation laboratory" to develop new flavors and small batch brews.

"This provides us with the ability to provide constant variety to our customers," he said.

The Montrose outpost will double as a brewpub and cannery, offering "the space we were looking for to put some of our delicious offerings into cans for broader availability," Walker said.

• We can't wait for summer, where can we get our hands on Ravinia beer right now?

Well, nowhere at the moment. Walker posted that Ravinia would participate in HornerFest, scheduled for July 14 in Horner Park, 2741 W. Montrose Ave.

But you may have unwittingly sampled a Ravinia brew last summer.

Without a home of its own, Ravinia has been producing small batch collaborations with other brewers, including Finch. Any Finch fans who sampled the Cave of Chauvet saison in July 2016 got a taste of Ravinia.

Ravinia Brewing also collaborated with Urban Legend Brewing (now known as Myths and Legends) and Aleman Brewing on beers that were released at the Ravinia District Artisan Market last summer.

Offering a teaser for what to expect: The Urban Legend collaboration beer, Witte Wieven, was Belgian-inspired and brewed with orange peel and coriander. The Aleman partnership produced a pale ale brewed with Motueka hops and Indonesian hibiscus flowers "to give a nice pink hue creating a tart figgy quality."