brewery
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
. The brewery opened in January 2012 by founders Beejay Oslon and Gerrit Lewis. Pipeworks began their brewing different from other microbreweries in that they initially brewed their beers entirely as a series of 'one off' beers that were aimed specifically to the
niche market
A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focused. The market niche defines the product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that it ...
of beer connoisseurs. The brewery's stated goal is to release a new beer every week. This approach gave the brewery and its beers somewhat of a cult status among beer enthusiasts, with its offerings selling out relatively quickly. After seeing significant growth, both in output brand and identity, Pipeworks has since augmented their one-off beers with several of its 'core' beers in 16 ounce can 4-Packs now regularly available widely throughout the Chicago area.
History
Pipeworks began as the brainchild of Oslon and Lewis, who were homebrewers that met while working at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago. The two were educated in larger scale brewing at the De Struise Brewery in
Oostvleteren
Vleteren () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Oostvleteren, Westvleteren and Woesten. On January 1, 2006, Vleteren had a total population of 3,636. The total area is 38.15&nb ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. In 2011, the pair began an online fundraising campaign to raise the capital needed to build the brewery, which would be located in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood. Oslon and Lewis planned specifically to build a smaller brewery that veered from the conventional course followed by most commercial breweries: they would not make the same exact beer twice. This concept, which is known in the industry as ''gypsy brewing'', became conceptualized as somewhat of a hybrid at the fledgling brewery, that style of brewing is usually done on borrowed equipment. The duo also took an unorthodox approach in the building of the brewery, raising over $30,000 (USD) through internet donations via
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
. In late January, 2013, Pipeworks was awarded
RateBeer
Beer rating is assessing and evaluating beer using a point system. The process is similar to that used in beer judging competitions, such as those organised by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) in America, though the participants are cons ...
's 'Best New Brewery' distinction for 2012.
In June, 2015, Pipeworks purchased a larger facility in the West Side, 3912 W. McLean Ave., near Pulaski Road and Armitage Avenue. They planned to move production to both bottling and canning. Their original facility has since been vacated and is set to be demolished to make way for condominiums.