In one (oft-contentious) school of thought, society is shaped by two entities, the base and the superstructure. The base is made of up the people, relationships, materials, and resources of production. The superstructure, an expression of the values of the base, covers everything not directly related to production – including media, art, culture, and education. The base shapes the superstructure, which in turn maintains the base by reinforcing its values. Neither can exist without the other.

We think that the established producers and the new vanguard of craft beer relate to each other in much the same way, so we’re introducing a collaboration we’ve built with Hop Butcher for the World – a newer brewery that’s turning heads and redefining the conversation around craft beer with some amazing recipes, indomitable determination, and a staff of five. 

A History of Upstarts 

Craft beer is molded by what precedes it. The future of beer is forever being written in reaction to its past, even as new ideas and fresh perspectives take it where it’s never been. Anchor Brewing and New Albion laid a base for Sierra Nevada to reinvent the idea of American beer. Revolution was built by a pair of brewers (Josh Deth and Jim Cibak) fresh from that influence, and almost ten years in, we’ve gone from a Brewpub in Logan Square to the largest independent brewery in the state. 

A few decades into the American craft beer renaissance, we’re seeing another evolution in local brewing – true startup brewers, often in shared spaces, turning heads with a huge hop focus, bold artwork, and diehard following. They’re a tiny portion of the overall beer market, yet they set the tone of conversation for a lot of the industry. What these new brewers are doing feels different, but in that same exciting way that your first West Coast IPA made you feel after a lifetime of light beer. Our own Jumpy Juice/Northeast-Hero project was very much driven by the way these new brewers made beer fans stand up and pay attention. 

As a relatively new brewery that grew from a scrappy startup beginning, we’re continually enthralled by new up-and-coming brewers – their passion, their brewing styles, and the risks they take. We’ve decided to team up with Hop Butcher because they’re one of our favorites.

Hop Butcher for the World

Hop Butcher for the World (a play on Chicago’s previous identity as ​“Hog Butcher for the World) is the passion project of cofounders Jeremiah Zimmer and Jude La Rose. Their origin story is a familiar one – craft beer fans turned homebrewers turned commercial brewers. They took the leap into professional brewing four years ago, and have leveraged unique recipes and a memorable look into sold-out releases and wide acclaim from beer fans.

“We grew up drinking beer from breweries like Revolution, Half Acre, Three Floyds,” Zimmer said. ​“And as we began to step up our game as homebrewers, it eventually blossomed into what was a crazy idea, an entrepreneurial idea – what if that was us? What if we made beer that people bought and enjoyed on the regular?”

One fifteen-barrel tank and an alternating proprietorship agreement (an agreement where a company brews their beers into tanks they own, but which are located at someone’s else’s brewery) later, they were brewing on nights and weekends while working their existing full-time jobs, and navigating the steep learning curve between at-home brewer and commercial-scale brewer.

“You’re ordering 50-pound grain bags instead of buying a one-pound grain bag that was packed by a guy down the street. You are talking about $400 yeast pitches rather than $20–30-50 here and there,” Zimmer said. ​“You’re learning every last nook and cranny of running a business, from the actual making of the beer to having to sell it, to the retailer relationship. There are just so many different facets of running a brewery and beer related business that are way beyond brewing – curating your line up, not doing too much of one thing, being experimental, being hands-on with customers.”

Four years later, they’ve hired employees, regularly drop sold-out can releases, and have continued to push the envelope on creative and compelling use of American hops. Their beers and brewery are regularly name-dropped by national publications as world class. They’re on the way up, and we can’t help but see a lot of ourselves in the drive and passion they bring to brewing.

Base | Superstructure

Zimmer and La Rose came into craft drinking Revolution beers. Our recent innovations have come from a revolution that breweries like theirs started. We’re both hop-forward breweries that grew up in different eras of IPA. Teaming up on a beer isn’t just a great fit – it’s the ultimate expression of what we all do as craft brewers. The establishment defines the terms of the game, while the new guard take their shot at redefining it for everyone. Without one, the other stagnates and the system stops innovating. 

“We happened to be at the right place at the right time when our personal interest in beer aligned with a lot of the changes moving quickly through the industry. We were captivated by the flavors, the atmosphere, and the ethos of the breweries we were seeing and it made us decide to give it a go,” La Rose said. ​“We’re a brewery seeking really expressive and interesting flavors, mostly hop-driven, and working hard to get the beer out, do good, make the right decisions”

On August 17, Revolution Brewing and Hop Butcher for the World will be releasing two collaboration beers – Base and Superstructure. Both are very different beers that nonetheless show the resonances between them, and are built on two different runnings of the same wort. 

Superstructure reflects the current trends in IPA brewing – a big, hazy, imperial-strength IPA with aggressive use of Mosaic, Citra, El Dorado, and Sabro for juicy, fruit-forward flavors. 

Base, a second-runnings beer and a take on the evolution of the West Coast IPA, uses a lineup that includes Amarillo, Cryo Centennial, Chinook, Citra, Cryo Citra, and Cashmere hops packed into the beer at seven pounds per barrel.

Both will be available in four-packs in the Revolution Taproom on Saturday, August 17. We’ll also have them available on draft, along with a special lineup of Hop Butcher and Revolution beers. Join us for the release of Base | Superstructure and see how two IPA philosophies came together to create an exciting pair of beers.