Chicago’s District Brew Yards (DBY), the unique, four-in-one brewery and dining experience that opened in West Town in 2019, has plans to expand to Wheeling, IL by spring 2022. The new location will maintain the same four breweries and add a brewer local to Wheeling who is interested in joining forces. According to Steve Soble, one of the founding members of DBY, the Wheeling location will be a food-hall-meets-beer-hall experience; he says the team has plans to develop three or four new food concepts with Charlie McKenna of Lillie’s Q to accompany the beer.
“DBY is a unique beer experience where craft beer enthusiasts (and others) can sample 40 different beers from 4 unique breweries, enjoy amazing food and get cans of the freshest beer around from our shop,” Soble shared in an email with What Now Chicago.
Allowing patrons to sample such a diversity of beers means the team behind DBY had to get a little creative. DBY allows patrons to pour their own beers and the brewery collective charges by the ounce rather than the glass. “Customers can pour as little or as much (within reason) as they want,” Soble says. “We are a no tipping facility so customers can simply drop their card off when they leave…We have staff in the beer hall to help guests with pouring or to give help with beer choices.”
You could say this innovation was derived from necessity. “Because it is very expensive to start a brewery, we thought it would make sense to work with other start up breweries to build DBY,” explained Soble. “This helped us to better utilize our tank space and allowed our brewing partners to get started or grow with us without having to make an enormous investment.” DBY houses Burnt City Brewing, Around The Bend Beer Co, Bold Dog Beer Co, and Casa Humilde Cerveceria.
As far as the plans for DBY Wheeling go, Soble says the company is currently in the process of financing the project. Ideally, construction will begin on the proposed site in March.
DBY Wheeling is expected to open at 700 N. Milwaukee Avenue, in the space that recently housed Ram Brewery. “They operated for close to 20 years so there is a great deal of brewing infrastructure in the location,” said Soble. “It also lays out beautifully for a DBY. Ram was very successful for a long time so we believe the location will work great for what we do.”
Like all new restaurant ventures in the time of COVID-19, opening plans remain contingent on the supply chain. Soble says he hopes to have the beer flowing at DBY Wheeling by late May 2022. We suggest you keep an eye on DBY’s social media for all updates and to learn more.
