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NYC’s Other Half Brewing to put beer into historic Chicago theatre

03 November 2023 By Jessica Mason

Brooklyn’s Other Half Brewing has revealed plans to create a craft beer destination inside Bridgeport’s historic Ramova Theatre.

The plans, which according to The Chicago Eater, will have about 80 tap lines overall, with about 20 in the taproom, is part of The Ramona Theatre’s renovation.

The Ramova dates back to 1929 as a movie theatre and has remained closed since 1985, but with an estimated 1,500 capacity, the opportunity for the Bridgeport venue to become reimagined as a destination full of South Side pride could not be overlooked.

Speaking about the move, Other Half co-founder Sam Richardson told local press: “When we when started in New York, one of our big goals was to bring IPA to the East Coast. There wasn’t a lot of it at the time, and that’s kind of been our wheelhouse the whole time. We make a lot of different beer styles, but I think that the expectation is we’ll have IPAs, and in a venue like this also, we’ll be making lagers.”

According to Richardson, the team from the Other Half holds a deep respect for the city’s brewing community and had been hesitant to accept the proposal due to not wanting to overstep the craft beer community that already exists in Chicago.

However, the crux became that Other Half was reportedly best equipped to handle the US$23 million project since it also has breweries in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

The brewery replaces a second-floor gym and Other Half Brewing co-founder Matt Monahan has described the area as a “super clean, modern looking space”.

Now, the goal is to make enough beer to support the venue and not to brew beer to stock at Chicago liquor stores so as not to impede on local craft beer businesses in the area.

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