In November 2020, after a bit of time off, we reintroduced Riot Bohemian Keller Pils to Rev fans as a new entry in our small-batch can program. The name Riot carries a lot of of weight with it, and it's one we don't apply lightly.
Riot Bohemian Keller Pils honors the story of Chicago’s first civil unrest -- the Lager Beer Riots of 1855. Following the election of a temperance-minded Mayor from an anti-immigrant party, Chicago found itself caught between a working class of German and Irish immigrants laboring six days a week and a political class pushing hard to close down drinking on Sundays.
When tensions reached the boiling point, tavern owners and beer drinkers from neighborhoods across the city marched downtown to protest the enforced closing of bars on Sundays and the sixfold increase in the price of liquor licenses.
As marchers approached the Chicago River, the Mayor ordered the swing bridge on Clark Street closed, temporarily trapping protesters over the Chicago River. A skirmish ensued near City Hall soon after.A year later, Chicago beer drinkers ousted the slate of anti-tavern candidates at polling places across the city.
Working-class immigrants and tavern-owning community leaders had found common cause, and became a political force in the city for years to come.Our present times feature more than the usual share of unrest, but our city's story has always been defined by those who organize for change.
A riot tends to be the flashpoint, and the thing we remember first. But the slow burn of building community, organizing, and standing up with one voice -- that's where real change happens.
Read up on the Lager Beer Riot today and the bridge incident tends to grab the most attention. But the lasting change to Chicago came through neighbors of different origins and different backgrounds building bridges with each other.
A clash in the streets is the thunderclap of a moment, but the power of community speaking as one is a clarion call. When we brew Riot, we recognize a moment but honor what came next.