"In our gardens we have lots of native plants. We have lots of vegetables to show people what that looks like and we have hops," Christine Nye, horticulture manager at Shedd Aquarium, said. "The stuff that beer is made of."
The aquarium planted the hops there several years ago, but this year suddenly there was a bumper crop.
"They went crazy," Nye said.
But what good are hops without a brewery? That's like a penguin without water. So Revolution Brewery on Chicago's Northwest Side came into the picture. That's where the magic brews the hops - and water, malt and yeast - into beer. They're calling it Penguin Hops.
"That's the name the Shedd Aquarium came up with," Wil Turner, head brewer, said. "We were contacted by them and they said they were growing their own hops outside. And they asked if we would be interested in doing a beer with them. Absolutely."
Revolution has produced 30 half barrels of Penguin Hops.
"It's got a nice, tangerine like hop character to it in the aroma. It follows through onto the pallet with a bit of a dry malt character," Turner said. "There are no traces of penguin that I can perceive."
For every $5 pint sold, $1 goes to Shedd Aquarium .
Revolution Brewery
2323 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL 60647
773-227-BREW
revbrew.com
