Touring Metropolitan Brewing Company.

Tracy Hurst has an enthusiastic love of beer and lust for life. She and her husband Doug own Metropolitan Brewing Company, which I visited last week, accompanied by iconic Chicago photographer and Flickr user Joe M500. In January I posted about the way Metropolitan has opened an honest, engaging dialogue with their customers. My first visit to their brewery only reinforced this opinion.

As Doug, Tracy and an attentive volunteer staff wrapped up a brew day in their Andersonville factory, Tracy talked with Joe and I about everything- beer, music, Chicago and the direction their new brewery is going. The brewery atmosphere reflects their passion- the majority of the labor is provided by volunteers working for the love of the craft. Everyone seems thrilled to be there despite the long, hot day of work.


Joe M500: "Having visited over 100 breweries, I can tell you that you can usually find a cool, friendly, interesting person within 30 yards of a fermenting tank like this one."

Craft lagers are a microscopic segment of the micro-brew market, which makes Chicago lucky have the Metropolitan. We talked about their two beers, Dynamo and Flywheel, and why craft lager is great.

BTSIC: Who in Chicago or the Midwest has something awesome out now and what beers do you most look forward to?

TH: Speaking strictly for myself, I really look forward to Dog Days, the Dortmunder Export made by Two Brothers Brewing. I'm well known as a "lager snob," a title I proudly wear, so I often will go for lagers made by Midwestern breweries: Lager of the Lakes from Bell's and Dortmunder Gold from Great Lakes are 2 of my favorites. I tend to stay away from imports because they are often stale so if I drink "outside" the Midwest, I like Lagunitas Pils and Victory Prima Pils. And when I break my no-imports rule, it's typically for Reissdorf or Gaffel Kolsch. Doug's Krankshaft Kolsch is the best, but these 2 imports are true to style and ridiculously delicious, so... you know... props to them for sure.


The command center.

Having Joe along for the tour was invaluable. He not only took all of the photos in this post, but created a Flickr set with insightful commentary and details. Do yourself a favor and click through the set (especially if you enjoy Star Trek).

Metropolitan has an undeniable "metal" feel to it. I'm not talking about some cheesy marketing ploy- there's a righteous, fist-pumping enthusiasm for beer emanating from the place like a sludgy, chugging bass line under a blazing desert sun. We ended up talking about the music they listen to while working.

Tracy Hurst: Right now my favorite band is the Melvins. On brew days, we tend to like The Sword, Modest Mouse, Mastodon, Melvins (of course), Fu Manchu, High on Fire, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Rage Against the Machine, and Red Fang. On bottling days we
start out a little more mellow (Midlake, The Besnard Lakes, The Black Angels, Neutral Milk Hotel) and ramp it up to stuff like Beastie Boys, Motorhead, Rush, and Cake.

We've always been into music; we've seen shows together ever since the early days of our relationship in 1995. Everywhere we've moved across the country the first things we seek out are music clubs and good beer bars. I don't really see a direct relationship between the beers and the music. We just like both and have dedicated ourselves to work that incorporates all of our
favorite things. And, well, because the brewery is ours, we can blare whatever tunes we like. Although, I do save the 6-hour Rush marathons for when I'm alone in the brewery.


Seabull. Joe M500: "Doug & Tracy's friend Larry made this for the brewery. I'm guessing the name is a play on Siebel (World Brewing Academy) here in Chicago. "

Like any new business, Metropolitan is figuring things out and carving a name for themselves. Tracy and I discussed their aspirations for the future.

TH: The most overriding goal at the moment is to break even and become profitable. We definitely plan to grow in terms of barrelage produced each year. We plan to offer seasonal beers as well as our Urban Evolution series of beers - which are beers created/produced when we unshackle Doug and let him do whatever he damn well pleases. These may seem like relatively loose goals, and they are. We're learning as we go. We've found that keeping our eye on a general goal and workingout the details day by day is the most sane way to go about this whole brewery thing.

BTSIC: Thanks Tracy, Doug, Joe, Jess and the guys who's names I forgot! We had a great tour and look forward to more from Metropolitan in the future.

You can read more from Doug and Tracy on their blog and Twitter account. Dynamo and Flywheel can be found in better shops throughout Chicagoland.