Haymarket Brewing Nods to History with Defender Beer

By Tia Carol Jones, NNPA Newswire

The Chicago Defender, one of the premier newspapers in the Black Press, recently announced the end of its print edition and a move to the Web. To honor its historical import, a Chicago-based brewer has created a beer named after the publication. 

Haymarket Pub and Brewery is located at 737 W. Randolph St.  It’s not too far from the site where a labor demonstration for an eight-hour work day resulted in a massacre known as the Haymarket Riot. With a nod to that history, there is the Mathias Imperial IPA, named after Officer Mathias Degan, who was killed in the Haymarket Riot. And Lucy’s Belgian Triple. named after Lucy Parsons, whose husband was executed for his alleged involvement in the Haymarket Riot.

“We created the beer, then we came up with a name for it,” said Peter Crowley, co-founder and brewmaster. “We pow-wowed and came up with names.”

The Defender American Stout has coffee, chocolate and orange flavors which come from amarillo hops. “I found out about the Defender periodical and we tried to match flavors,” Crowley said. “We wanted a big, bold flavor. It’s a powerful beer, it’s a powerful newspaper.”

The beer is brewed in Michigan, where the other Haymarket is located, and it takes four-and-a-half weeks. Crowley said they had been working on the stout since 2000, and in 2011, it was first brewed. Since then, it has won two gold medals at the World Beer Cup. Crowley said the beer only wins gold.

Crowley said the aim is to get the name out there so people will want to learn its namesake’s history. The can, which has the classic Defender script and image of a paperboy with his satchel of newspapers with one in his hand, was a collaboration between artist John Airo, who does all Haymarket’s creative artwork; and Haymarket’s designer Sarah VonderHaar.

“The Chicago Defender was the biggest thing to come out of Chicago in 100 years,” he said. “What the newspaper accomplished in that time is amazing. It is one of the most influential newspapers in the country.”

This article originally appeared in the Chicago Defender.