Business & Tech

Western Springs Resident, 5 Rabbit Brewmaster Talks Craft Beer

Resident John Hall was with Goose Island before making the move to 5 Rabbit, a newer Chicago brewery that makes craft beers with a Latin twist.

Hate your job? Grab a beer and relax.

OK, many of us probably do that. But Western Springs resident John Hall took beer as a hobby (home-brewing) and turned it into a career, first with Goose Island and now with the up-and-coming Bedford Park brewery 5 Rabbit. 

"It wasn't that serious, I just did it for fun," Hall said. "But I hated my old job enough that I decided to go for it."

Hall was at Mainstreet Wines & Spirits in Countryside a couple of weeks ago for a Chicago Craft Beer Week event, touting the brewery's latest release, Missionario. 

He decided to attend the Siebel Institute in Chicago to learn professional brewing and then started at Goose Island in 1997. He worked his way from cellarman to head brewer in five years. 

Over his 15 years, Hall’s recipes helped the brewery win medals in prestigious competitions, including the Great American Beer Festival, World Beer Cup and Stockholm Beer and Whiskey Festival.

Then he was ready for a new challenge with another local brewery that had a fresh idea: becomes the country's first Latin-themed craft brewery. Andres Ayara opened 5 Rabbit in 2011, and now Hall is making its beer as brewmaster.

"It's definitely inspired by Latin culture, but the main thing is we want to make really good craft beer," he said. "We want to take a really good brown ale and make it a little different."

Araya is from Costa Rica, and the previous and current owners are from Mexico. He travels in South America in search of new flavors. Every beer has something different, and food pairings are kept in mind, Hall said.

He said the ingredients are key to give it the Latin twist, such as lime peel over orange peel in the 5 Lizards wheat beer, or the roasted ancho chile in the 5 Vulture dark ale.

The Missionario beer at the Mainstreet tasting also plays on that theme, using wheat and muscat grapes, along with other flavors prominent in the missions settled along the west coast of the Americas. 

Learn more about 5 Rabbit Brewery. 



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