Davis Street and Sherman Avenue in downtown Evanston. Photo: Ndshankar / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
World of Beer opened its downtown Evanston bar on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013, at 1601 Sherman Ave., a short walk from Fountain Square. It is the franchise’s second Illinois location.
Doors opened at 3 p.m. The menu runs to about 500 beers in all, with 50 on draft and the rest in bottles from American and international brewers. The bar also sells five-ounce pours and flights for customers who would rather sample than commit to a full pint.
A year of back and forth with the city
The bar first came before Evanston officials in January 2012 as a beer-only operation. The City Council stalled the application because city ordinance requires establishments that serve alcohol to serve food as well. The franchisee revised the plan to add a kitchen, and aldermen approved it unanimously that April.
The result is a small menu of light bites such as hot dogs, and patrons may also bring in food from other restaurants. The space had sat empty for many months before the bar moved in.
Who gets in, and when
General manager Mark Damas set a few house rules for a downtown spot close to Northwestern’s campus. Customers under 21 are not admitted after 7 p.m., staff check IDs at the door, and bartenders check anyone who looks under 35. Thursdays were designated University Night, with select drafts at half price.
Damas said the bar would show selected sporting events, such as the Super Bowl, but did not intend to become a sports bar. Ahead of the public opening, a preview party for the bar’s Facebook fans drew about 400 people, roughly half of them Northwestern students, and a tasting for Kellogg School of Management students was scheduled for the Wednesday after opening.
The Daily Northwestern noted that, unlike the franchise’s other locations, the Evanston bar was built with a kitchen so that it would satisfy the city’s food-service rule. The space was the franchise’s answer to a local requirement that had held up the project for months.
The opening added another craft beer destination to a downtown where new restaurants and bars had been filling in around Sherman Avenue and Davis Street.
Details from the Daily Northwestern’s coverage of the opening.
Rachel Lindqvist covers community life, the lakefront, dining and the arts for The Evanston Edge.
