About Us

Grossdale Brewing is an experimental yoctobrewery in Brookfield, IL. We have been brewing enthusiastically but sporadically since 2019. Enthusiastically because we love beer and sporadically because we have a toddler.

Brewmaster Pete first started homebrewing in Maryland in 2006 after having been gifted a homebrewing kit for Christmas 2005. His passion for homebrewing really kicked off while living in Munich, Germany. At the time, Munich beer culture was pretty conservative. So while the beers they did brew in Munich (such as Helles, Dunkles, and Weißbier) were excellent, variety beyond those styles was hard to find. Especially anything hoppy. So Pete and his friend Steve bought a 50 liter Braumeister brewing system and spent several years brewing way more beer than they could consume. Luckily they had plenty of volunteers to help drink their concoctions. Steve is now in California and Pete in Illinois, and the craft beer scene in Illinois means Pete isn't hurting for variety anymore, but the itch to brew beer still needs to be scratched every so often.

When we first started brewing here, Brookfield was not home to any commercial breweries. Buckledown Brewing (a favorite) is only a block and a half past the village boundary and Imperial Oak (another favorite) has since opened a second location in Brookfield. Since we are glad to call Brookfield our home, we wanted a name that would reflect that. But we also felt that anything like "Brookfield Brewing" should be saved for anyone who actually wants to start a commercial brewery in town. When Brookfield was first founded in the late 1800s, developer Samuel Gross named the village Grossdale, a name that lasted all of 16 years before residents voted to change it. Seems like a perfect name for a sporadic home brewery.

We currently do all-grain brewing using an eight gallon kettle and the Brew-In-A-Bag method. When possible we brew with water from the magic Schiller Woods water pump. Of course we dream of bigger and better and who knows what the future holds. Keep an eye on this site to stay informed!

Our beers, should you happen upon them, can be checked in on Untappd.

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