Lunchtime diners at Piece, Wicker Park’s busy pizzeria and brewpub, occasionally spot a man in in coveralls and rubber boots through the brewery window. “Essentially, I’m a janitor,” quips Jonathan Cutler, Piece’s brewer, as he hoses out the 217-gallon copper tanks. Much of his job involves cleaning–filters, pumps, three tanks for every batch of beer–but his serious attention to sanitation is critical: the cleaner the equipment, the less likely the beer is to be cardboardy or skunky. “Our beer is ridiculously fresh,” he says: Piece goes through a tankful in two to three weeks, faster than most standard beers even get to market.
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Cutler, 29, is responsible for keeping seven varieties of beer on tap at all times to wash down the restaurant’s signature east-coast-style thin-crust pies. Most of his creations are ales–the refreshing West Side Wheat, the hoppy, extrapale Gentrification Ale, an English ale named Worryin’, and the newest in the lineup, J. Diddy’s Extra Special Bitter. “An ale can go from grain to glass in two weeks,” says Cutler, whereas lagers take more like a month to make. He complements his own selection with a thoughtful list of international bottles, including Belgian, Czech, and Japanese brews.
“Beer is a social thing,” says Cutler. “It lends itself to hanging out and the free exchange of ideas.” He promotes this loose alliance by regularly inviting his beer-making buddies to create guest brews. Jim Cibak of Indiana’s Three Floyds Brewing Company and Dan Vasa of the Great Dane brewpub in Madison helped him make Piece’s very first in-house brew, Prodigal Porter. Nick Floyd (of Three Floyds) helped him concoct Dolomite, an unusual choice since it’s a malt liquor, a beverage usually sold in 40-ounce bottles at convenience stores. And recently Cutler and three bartender pals from the Map Room got together to create the “huge” Four Reverends Imperial Stout, a dark, malty brew with a pleasantly metallic tang that tops out at 9.5 percent alcohol (most beers hover around 4 percent).
