{"id":11372,"date":"2013-06-04T10:00:31","date_gmt":"2013-06-04T15:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/?p=11372"},"modified":"2021-08-31T08:26:12","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T13:26:12","slug":"the-gdb-qa-michael-mcavena-publican-beer-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/the-gdb-qa-michael-mcavena-publican-beer-director\/","title":{"rendered":"The GDB Q&A: Michael McAvena, Publican Beer Director"},"content":{"rendered":"
It was during a recent Publican brunch that I looked around at dozens of people drinking fancy beer at noon on a Saturday that I thought, “For as long as this place is around, it’s been focused on craft beer, and yet no one seems to talk about them as much as other places.” And it’s true.<\/p>\n
For as much as beer guys like myself casually throw around destinations like the Map Room, Quenchers, Local Option, Bad Apple, the Rev Brew and Goose Island locations along with all the other places that have become the knee-jerk suggestions for beer drinking, Publican has been doing it for nearly 5 years now, which should place them somewhere in the city’s craft beer firmament, right?<\/p>\n
Is it sidelined because it’s associated with an even-more famous Chicago chef, Paul Kahan? Is it because it’s on West Fulton Market, a restaurant-centric area and not a drinking destination? Is it because Publican spawned a meat market first and not, say, a craft beer store? For whatever reason, as we approach the 5th anniversary of Publican’s opening (opened October 2008<\/a>) we wanted to try to rectify that.<\/p>\n Michael McAvena has been leading the charge for Publican’s beer program since the very beginning. Since starting their efforts in 2008, he’s had a unique perspective on how the role of a beer director has changed, and also how the city (and beyond) have grown up as beer consumers.<\/p>\n