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Bier Omakase

@bieromakase

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Stories and experiences about fermentation, curated for you. Leave it to us • Subscribe to our Substack for pop-up dates • Chicago, IL.

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The Beer Culture Center heads to @musicboxchicago on April 30th for a special screening of everyone’s favorite dive bar epic: Road House. Step into its smoky, beer-soaked, neon-lit world where fists and beer bottles do the talking, the philosophy lands just right, and the line between good and evil is real. It’s the quintessential dive bar movie experience where every barstool is a front row seat to the chaos.

Before the first punch is thrown, we invite you to join us for a public (21+) beer tasting inspired by the rowdy spirit of the Double Deuce - drawing from the rituals, characters, and charm of dive bar culture. Our good friends at @bieromakase will present four tastings rooted in the kinds of places where stories unfold over a beer and spill out onto the big screen.

Be nice. Have a beer. Enjoy the show. 🎟️ 🔗 ⬆️ 🍻 taken in Music Box Theatre by @bieromakase

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6 months ago

We took Bier Omakase on the road to Evanston last night—an intentional setting, as the city was once a stronghold of the Temperance movement and a fitting backdrop for our menu exploring “loopholes”in the world of brewing and distilling. Thanks to everyone who came out and to Liminal for hosting. More to come on the Substack! by @bieromakase

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7 months ago

Getting excited for our next Liminal event, a collaboration with @bieromakase

These storytellers craft each event around curated fermented beverages. Give them a follow and check out more info about the event at the link in bio.

Wednesday, March 25th
6:30-8:30
In the studio of A.DeLane Design
must be 21+

A portion of the proceeds benefiting @beerculturecenter by @bieromakase

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7 months ago

Sometimes you have to pivot to survive.

Join us Wednesday, March 25 when we present Loopholes: an exploration of creativity in the face of restrictions.

Tickets available at the link in our bio. taken in Evanston, Illinois by @bieromakase

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7 months ago

Come hang out….

*edit*
Loopholes is with Bier Omakase

Workshop with Velvet Stitch House is needlepoint, not cross stitch by @bieromakase

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8 months ago

Surprise zine drop - a hint of what’s to come?

2026 dates announcing soon. Sign up for our Substack to be the first to know. taken in The WasteShed Evanston by @bieromakase

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8 months ago

Pfäfflin and Solarte met at the peak of Chicago’s craft beer movement when they both worked for the Cicerone Certification Program in Ravenswood. Back then, there was a vibrant social scene centered around the craft beer and home-brewing movement, where drinkers gathered at beer dinners every time a brewery dropped something new, major events like the Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beer, or monthly “First Thursday” brewer talks at the erstwhile Goose Island Brewpub.

“When we first landed in Chicago, there was this robust, lively, and social beer community,” says Pfäfflin, who came here after graduating from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a degree in agricultural journalism. “There was a lot of social interaction around beer at that time—and just excitement. It was beer that brought us together, but also being at this place that we met was probably key to our accumulation of professional experience.”

“We organically became drinking buddies,” says Solarte, who came to Chicago after teaching English for two years in Spain. “We had a lot of similar interests. We’re both really interested in the culture around beer, and drinking, and bar culture.”

Things look a lot different today. COVID shut down breweries and taprooms, and much of the social momentum in the scene shut down with it. This coincided with a general downturn in the craft beer industry that continues today. In 2025 alone, at least a half dozen local breweries and brewpubs closed their doors, not to mention the imminent relocation of the Siebel Institute of Technology, the more than 150-year-old brewing school whose alumni have included August Anheuser Busch III, August Pabst, John W. Stroh Jr., and countless brewers from all over the world since.

Read the full article at the link in our bio.

📸 Kirk Williamson
✍️ Mike Sula by @bieromakase

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10 months ago

For me, growing up in Chicagoland, the Chicago Reader was my teenage bible.

Just about every Thursday, I’d head to the Tower Records on Army Trail Rd (Glendale Hts–raised, baby!) and pick up a copy—back when it was a four-section broadsheet and weighed about five pounds. I’d spend the next few days poring over it section by section, dreaming about all the cool music clubs, art galleries, film houses, and restaurants I’d get to go to when I was older. If you’d told my teenage self that one day I’d be in the Reader for a fun thing I get to do with one of my best buddies, I never would’ve believed you.

Thank you to Mike and Kirk from the Chicago Reader for capturing an evening at a Bier Omakase—what a treat to cap off the first year of this project. Shana and I sat down a few days ago to riff on ideas for 2026, and we’re so excited to share what’s next very soon.

Head to the link in our bio to read the Reader piece by @mikesula and support independent journalism.

See you next year!

—
jp by @bieromakase

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10 months ago

To wrap up year one of Bier Omakase, we pulled from the archive and retold some of our favorite stories of 2025.

Check out the full menu from our latest event on our Substack.

Photo by @mulvatronn taken in Hammy Wammy by @bieromakase

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Thank you to everyone who joined us for the final Bier Omakase of the year, and shared a frosty mug of Old Style (it’s a beautiful sight). See you next year! taken in Chicago, Illinois by @bieromakase

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10 months ago

Let’s wrap up the first year of Bier Omakase together where we started—with an Old Style. We’ll be knocking a couple, two, tree back after we wrap up our final Bier Omakase menu of 2025, and if you happen to find yourself in the neighborhood, we’d love to share one with you.

Bier Omakase: Year One After Party
Thursday, December 11, 8-10pm-ish
Max’s Place, 4621 N Clark Street

If you can’t join us this time, we’ll see you in 2026 with six more Bier Omakase events.

Happy holidays and all that,
JP & Shana

Photo from Bier Omakase: A-Ha Beers by Steph Byce (@mulvatronn) taken in Max's Place by @bieromakase

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10 months ago

Things have been a little quiet around here lately — JP’s been deep in Oktoberfest season, and Shana’s been out covering the hop harvest in the Pacific Northwest — but we woke up to some amazing news on Sunday: the North American Guild of Beer Writers named Bier Omakase its 2025 Emerging Voice of the Year!

Thank you to our peers who recognized Bier Omakase, and the journalists, writers, essayists who continue to tell the everlasting stories around beer.

We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with new stories, upcoming Bier Omakase dates, and more :)

Also pictured: The menu from our last omakase, GARAGE BEERS.

Thanks for following along this year,
JP & Shana by @bieromakase

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a year ago