Pollyanna Brewing to Bring Back Alarmist's Sauganash Taproom and Its Award-Winning Beers

Northwest Side beer drinkers who mourned the loss of Alarmist Brewing in February won't have to wait much longer to get their hands on Le Jus again.

Pollyanna Brewing and Distilling, based in suburban Lemont, has purchased Alarmist's recipes and its taproom at 4055 W. Peterson Ave. in Sauganash, according to Ryan Weidner, Pollyanna's president, CEO and co-founder. Weidner said the taproom will be renovated and reopen before the end of the year.

Alarmist closed in February after almost a decade in business, a casualty of the same slump that has hit craft breweries across Chicago and the country. Pollyanna's purchase includes the recipes for Le Jus, the hazy IPA that won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2018, along with the Crispy Boy German-style pilsner and the Pantsless pale ale.

"That brand really means something. It put Chicago IPAs on the map," Weidner said. "We think it's really important for the legacy of the Alarmist brand to live on."

The beers will keep the Alarmist name and will be brewed at Pollyanna's Lemont facility before production eventually shifts back to Sauganash. Weidner said the beers should start showing up again in bars and stores this fall.

Gary Gulley opened the Alarmist taproom in 2017 inside a Sauganash warehouse that once housed the Siebel Institute of Technology. Getting the doors open required lifting a decades-old liquor moratorium that had kept bars out of the neighborhood. Without other bars or restaurants nearby to draw foot traffic, Gulley said the business struggled for years before finally turning a profit in 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Gulley said drinking habits took "a real nose dive" after the pandemic, a shift that has squeezed breweries and wineries nationwide. Alarmist wasn't alone. Shortly after its closure was announced, Norwood Park's Illuminated Brew Works and Whiner Beer Company in Back of the Yards both announced they were shutting down. Weeks later, Half Acre Beer Co. and Maplewood Brewery & Distillery announced a merger, citing a "rapidly changing craft beer and beverage market."

Pollyanna itself started as a single Lemont taproom in 2014 and has grown to four suburban locations. Weidner said the company is "not immune" to the pressures reshaping the industry, but has found ways to keep taprooms busy through live music, trivia nights, private events and a craft cocktail menu.

The Sauganash renovation will add roughly 4,000 square feet to the existing space and is expected to take about four months once city permits are secured, Weidner said. The rebuilt taproom will seat 200 to 225 people and include a private event space with its own bar. Garage doors will connect the taproom to the beer garden, turning the space into an outdoor courtyard.

The location will also mark Pollyanna's first taproom to serve food, with a menu built around artisanal pizzas, salads, flatbreads and other shareable plates.

Gulley said he expects the kitchen addition to help fill a gap in the area, which has few other dining options nearby.

"I think this is going to be a huge, huge plus for the neighborhood," Gulley said. "Everyone's going to be happy they're going to have a place to go back to."

Gulley said the response to Alarmist's closing announcement caught him off guard, with regulars packing the taproom in its final weeks. Many had become friends with the staff over the years, and there were tears at the goodbye party held before the doors closed for good on Feb. 1.

Pollyanna still needs to secure city permits before construction can begin. Weidner said the four month renovation timeline is meant to get the taproom open by the end of the year.