Business is booming at The Beer Cellar in Glen Ellyn after move

GLEN ELLYN – Less than a year after moving, The Beer Cellar in Glen Ellyn is stronger than ever.

"Business is booming," owner and Wheaton resident Dave Hawley said. "I think we might be able to do double what we did last year, which is awesome."

In November, The Beer Cellar moved from its location under the store Enchantments at 534B Crescent Blvd. to a vacant space at 488 Crescent Blvd. a few blocks away. With the move, Hawley was able to add a tap room with eight taps and free up space. The Beer Cellar about doubled its square footage, going from a 650-square-foot space to 1,200 square feet.

In addition to the eight beer taps, The Beer Cellar also has a nitro line dedicated to Tugboat cold-brew coffee and a nitro line dedicated to beer. The nitro bubbles are designed to give coffee or beer a "soft creaminess," Hawley said.

In deciding to open The Beer Cellar in the first place, Hawley said he wanted to fill a void.

"It was hard to find fresh beer out in the suburbs," Hawley said. "You were stuck with the big chain stores that order in bulk, and their beer sits there in giant piles for weeks. So I was finding myself driving into the city for some of the more craft-focused beer stores. I thought, 'Why not open my store where I can get my customers the freshest beer in the suburbs?'"

With the move, the store was able to triple the amount of cooler space for those customers who wanted to get beer to go and add draft beer.

"That was my goal with the new store, to have the tap room and add more cold beer to go," Hawley said.

The Beer Cellar sells about 300 different beers.

"We don't like to overdo it," Hawley said. "We don't need to give you 2,000 different beers. We narrow it down to the best 250 to 300 beers."

The Beer Cellar carries Hawley's own beer, Neckbeard Nectar, an Imperial Stout beer brewed by Michigan-based Transient Artisan Ales. The beer is brewed with such ingredients as cinnamon, vanilla, coconut and molasses.

The beer is only sold on Black Friday, and a few bottles are kept in reserve. Last year, demand was so great the store sold out of the beer. Neckbeard Nectar is sold exclusively at the store, along with beer brewed at Afterthought Brewing Company in Lombard.

"Everything touches oak barrel," Hawley said, in talking about why the beer is unique. "So he uses gin barrels, wine barrels or fresh oak barrels."

The Beer Cellar also carries beers from other local breweries, including Lombard-based Noon Whistle Brewing and Solemn Oak Brewery in Naperville. He is excited about the fact that Two Hound Red brewpub is set to open later this year in the former Schmid Gifts and More store on Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Glen Ellyn.

"Breweries bring people in from other towns," Hawley said. "I'm excited for them to come and open up."

And surprisingly enough, Hawley hasn't always been such a beer enthusiast as he is today.

"I hated beer for a long time," he said. "Because all I had ever tried was your Budweiser, Miller and Coors. And then when I tried craft beer for the first time, the first beer that I ever liked was from New Belgium Brewing Company. It was called La Folie, and it's a sour brown ale. Before then, I didn't know beer could be sour, and I didn't know what sour beer tasted like. It just blew my mind."

Down the line, Hawley said he would like to open additional locations. Even though the store is no longer located in an underground setting, Hawley decided not to change the store's name.

"The name and the brand recognition is already there, and that's very hard to restart," he said. "And you can cellar beer. You can age beer. The name still works."

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If you go

WHAT: The Beer Cellar

WHERE: 488 Crescent Blvd., Glen Ellyn

WHEN: Noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, noon to 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and noon to 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday

INFO: beercellarchicago.com