There’s lots more than one thing going on at One Lake Brewing, located at 1 Lake St. in Oak Park. Barrel aged stout, euchre nights, a mug club and a new chef are just some of the things popping at the brew pub.
Each fall owners and Oak Parkers Shawn Stevens and Jason Alfonsi, along with their staff, craft a new batch of Imperial stout they call Been Czar, Done That. The fresh stuff goes on sale, but some gets special treatment, stashed away in barrels to age for a year.
“We get rye and bourbon barrels from Quincy Street Distillery still wet with whiskey,” Steven said. “When the liquor was in them barometric pressure forces the liquid into the wood and then out of the wood; it almost breathes in and out of the wood. So then when they empty all the liquor out there is still some in the wood.”
That residual rye and bourbon flavors the stout over the course of a year. For the fifth year, this November they uncorked barrels and poured the results for both customers and their mug club, called One Lake League – a social, beer appreciation group.
The other audience for the aged stout is the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild annual festival of barrel-aged beer that takes place at the University of Illinois at Chicago on Nov. 22 and Nov. 23. One Lake hasn’t won the competition yet, but they keep trying.
Each barrel gives the beer a distinct flavor. The rye grants a spice-filled taste with notes of carraway, anise. The bourbon is more mellow.
“It’s more caramel, a little bit of toasted marshmallow. From the wood comes a vanilla taste,” said Stevens.
Their aged stout is available in the restaurant and for takeaway in 22 ounce “bomber” bottles, intended for sharing. The alcohol content is 10%.
“It’s great around a fireplace or a fire pit. It’s really a communal type of beer because it’s more about sipping,” said Stevens.
Watching over the kitchen is a new chef, Oak Parker Mike Carroll. His storied career has spanned the country and a good bit of the world. Locally, he has worked at Alinea, Half Acre Beer Co. and Band of Bohemia. Carroll was happy to down shift to a less stressful pace at One Lake Brewing.
“I’m making food that is approachable and non-complicated,” Carroll said. “Food that Oak Parkers like. When it comes to the burger, fish and chips, fried cheese curds, it’s nothing else. Really kind of keeping it easy.”
Keeping it fresh is important too. The walleye used in the fish and chips is never frozen, direct from Lake Superior. That same eye towards quality is kept on beef products, which come from Slagel Farms. And locally made Knockout Pickles provide the pucker.
The menu has an extensive “sharables” section, as well as sandwiches, salads and a robust kid’s menu. Along those same lines, the full bar can whip up a cocktail or a glass of wine for non-beer lovers too.
It’s that appeal to the crowd that owners Alfonsi and Stevens had in mind when they opened. To that end they host monthly euchre card playing nights for experienced players and novices alike. And each month there is family bingo on a Sunday afternoon that regularly fills the seats. They want to build a community hub.
“That is fundamentally what’s inside of me and Jason and why we built this place,” Stevens said. “And you know, we opened five months before COVID, and it destroyed the whole idea of what we were trying to build. But we’re not giving up on that. We’re just trying harder and with different ways and with more ideas, because we all want to get back to that comfort of being around friends and neighbors, meeting new people.”
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More info:
onelakebrewing.com
quincystreetdistillery.com