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Hard cider, craft beer, wine offerings on tap
![[Owner Ed Seaman (left) and son Mike Seaman, manager, have been readying the Broken Brix tasting room inside the Home Brew Shop in downtown St. Charles.]
ST. CHARLES – A winery and tasting room offering house-made hard cider, specialties from regional craft brewers and on- and off-premise beer and wine sales are additions to the original Home Brew Shop at 225 W. Main St. in downtown St. Charles.
Completed this summer, the renovation of the 1910 building incorporated the total redesign of the space, including a production winery and tasting room, plus revamped retail section, owner Ed Seaman said.
While the initial Broken Brix wines won't be ready until summer, its hard cider is about to be unveiled.
Meanwhile, the eye-catching bar faced with random-cut stone is home to eight craft beers on tap. An elaborately carved, vintage cabinet from Bavaria provides an appropriate backdrop to the beer haven.
Seaman said brewers include BBGB from North Aurora, Energy City of Batavia, Noon Whistle of Lombard, Pipeworks, Half Acre and Revolution, all from Chicago, and Rodenbach of Belgium, featuring its grand cru with cherries. Beers also are available in can and bottle.](cfa0b8d8-3236-44dc-99ce-f7c47f81672f/image-pv_web.jpg)
[Owner Ed Seaman (left) and son Mike Seaman, manager, have been readying the Broken Brix tasting room inside the Home Brew Shop in downtown St. Charles.]
ST. CHARLES – A winery and tasting room offering house-made hard cider, specialties from regional craft brewers and on- and off-premise beer and wine sales are additions to the original Home Brew Shop at 225 W. Main St. in downtown St. Charles.
Completed this summer, the renovation of the 1910 building incorporated the total redesign of the space, including a production winery and tasting room, plus revamped retail section, owner Ed Seaman said.
While the initial Broken Brix wines won't be ready until summer, its hard cider is about to be unveiled.
Meanwhile, the eye-catching bar faced with random-cut stone is home to eight craft beers on tap. An elaborately carved, vintage cabinet from Bavaria provides an appropriate backdrop to the beer haven.
Seaman said brewers include BBGB from North Aurora, Energy City of Batavia, Noon Whistle of Lombard, Pipeworks, Half Acre and Revolution, all from Chicago, and Rodenbach of Belgium, featuring its grand cru with cherries. Beers also are available in can and bottle.
The seasonal beers now on tap include a few holiday selections, as well as New England-style IPAs among the choices, he said.
"We're trying to focus on obtaining [them] from local and self-distributing companies; it matches our business," Seaman said..
Catering to wine lovers are selections from the Black Oak label at $5 a glass for cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot grigio.
To create their effervescent hard cider, Seaman said he went to Michigan and purchased hundreds of gallons of apple cider.
"We brought that into the winery and started the fermentation process," he said.
He and son Mike, a manager at the shop, are in the process of manufacturing 500 gallons of cider in their fermenters. Featured will be variants of apple cider and cherry cider, which Mike Seaman expects to be a flagship product.
He said the Montmorency cherries are from Michigan, calling the pie-making variety the best of the best. Some of the cider is being aged in whiskey barrels.
"We have a lot of recipes we can't wait to show off," Mike Seaman said, as he pointed out the new fermenting tanks in place.
For the wines, Ed Seaman said he is working with a local farmer in Sycamore, who will produce French hybrid grapes for red and white wines.
"The French hybrids are northern climate hardy and can handle our winters," Ed Seaman said, noting extensive research has been done through Cornell University, the University of Illinois and in Minnesota, developing strains that work well in this region.
A test batch of white and rose is in the works, mainly for in-house consumption. Red wines will be included in the coming season.
"With next year's harvest, I'll be going full production," Ed Seaman said. "Each batch has the ability to produce about 100 cases."
While bricks are part of his building's facade, the name for the new winery, like his products' flavor profiles, is more complex.
"I've trademarked the name Broken Brix," Ed Seaman said. "Brix is another name for sugar. It's how you measure the percentage of sugar in a juice."
After final equipment is in place, he anticipates expanding weekend hours.
[Owner Ed Seaman reconfigured the retail area of the newly renovated Home Brew Shop.]
While the tasting room does not offer food, the intention is to add packaged snacks, and patrons are welcome to carry food items in. Perimeter seating is available near the bar, with more planned.
The Home Brew Shop, which launched in 2001, continues to offer classes by appointment: twice a month for beer and once monthly for wine.
The beer-making instruction is offered from 9:30 a.m. to noon Sunday, and winemaking from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. The cost is $30.
The retail store is a destination for customers from the Fox Valley to DuPage County and beyond, Ed Seaman said, adding, "We have a loyal base from all over the area."
If you go
WHAT: Broken Brix winery and tasting room at the Home Brew Shop
WHERE: 225 W. Main St. (Route 64), downtown St. Charles
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, with weekend hours expected to expand
INFO: info@homebrewshopltd.com, homebrewshopltd.com, 630-377-1338