I haven't seen an official thread for Une Année, and thought it might be appropriate given the recent update regarding the delays to their barrel house/program:
I know this news is kind of unfortunate, but I also think it is pretty exciting. I think they have been improving batch-over-batch, and their Le Seul series is pretty tasty sans barrel-aging. I also think the Airing Of Grievances is underrated and delicious.
Their progression/evolution reminds me of Pipeworks, but with a flair for Belgian beers. I'm excited for what the future holds for Une Année, despite a lot of the "meh" sentiments that I have been hearing. But I am curious if anyone else has bought into their 'Le Grande Monde' program, or if anyone enjoys their beers. I don't hear much about them on the boards.
Once again, thanks to all members that have signed up for Le Grand Monde. Your support in getting the taproom open will not be forgotten. For those of you who have signed up after October we will be getting those out to you in a couple of weeks.
As I write this, we are waiting on a major corporate entity to sign off on our use of part of a shopping center that they are part of. This corporate entity has the right to refuse our use of a space to sell beer because they also sell beer and per their contract with the landlord, they do not want our business to compete with theirs. During the lease negotiations in October they were asked if they would approve of our use and they said yes. After the lease was drawn up, they were sent a letter to formally approve of our use with signatures. Because they are a large corporation this is taking time. The last I heard they were supposed to be signing the document last week. This could have happened and may be on the way to my landlord that is in New York, or it may still be on someone’s desk. I have been told I will receive the landlord’s signature right away and the lease will commence.
I am writing this now because I do not want another week to go by without some response from us to the numerous comments we are receiving. Being that this is not our first rodeo I know how this process gets stretched out unintentionally and I am being patient. I know as a member it must seem like nothing is happening. As I mentioned earlier after our first space fell through in July, we scrambled to find a second space through August and September. The initial negotiations for this space were complete in October, and then we were approved financially to lease the space by the end of November. December and January were sucked up in writing and rewriting the lease a few times during holidays and then I first signed the lease 01.25 only to be told it was not done on the correct paper. Alas the lease was sent to me printed on lovely watermarked paper, and my portion was signed on 02.01. Now the wait.
In the meantime we really have been preparing for the move and have been filling barrels and tanks with beer fermented with a variety of wild yeast and bacteria. As I write this we have 4,000 gallons of beer in the brewery with a sub 3.5 pH, and will be adding another 12 wood barrels in the next month that will add another 800 gallons to the total. The variety and volume is needed to produce the different blends of beer and to not have them all taste the same. You can see this in our Le Seul series. Needless to say I am very busy right now as I continue to operate by myself primarily.
Once the lease is signed I believe that we will be open in about 4 months because we are an operating brewery and the federal license will just need to be transferred to our new location. With the minor build-out required the city we are moving into has assured us that we will get a liquor license in three months. I believe I will get the finals signatures this week but, as with life, there are no guarantees.
Thanks again, Jerry Nelson
Une Année Brewery LLC
1640 W Hubbard St Unit F
Chicago IL 60622
I know this news is kind of unfortunate, but I also think it is pretty exciting. I think they have been improving batch-over-batch, and their Le Seul series is pretty tasty sans barrel-aging. I also think the Airing Of Grievances is underrated and delicious.
Their progression/evolution reminds me of Pipeworks, but with a flair for Belgian beers. I'm excited for what the future holds for Une Année, despite a lot of the "meh" sentiments that I have been hearing. But I am curious if anyone else has bought into their 'Le Grande Monde' program, or if anyone enjoys their beers. I don't hear much about them on the boards.