SlapShot Brewing Co.’s Brian and Steve Miller
Craft Beer Week is winding down, but there may be one local brewer that isn’t done serving. In a tradition not nearly as old as the Stanley Cup Playoffs themselves, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel made a bet with Mayor Tait of Anaheim on the outcome of the Western Conference Finals for the National Hockey League. The bet includes sending him foods and beverages local to Chicago if the Chicago Blackhawks should lose the best of seven series that continues tonight at 7pm at the United Center.
Unlike Mayor Tait’s generic counter bet of “beers from local brewers,” Emanuel stayed true to the Best Sport on Earth by putting up a case of beer from SlapShot Brewing Company, a Chicago brewer named for the hardest shot in hockey made by bending one’s stick into the ice and using the energy coming off the bend to launch the puck fast and hard toward the net.
When asked about the bet, SlapShot’s co-founder Steve Miller suggested that, “We may have to send Mayor Tait a case of beer as a consolation prize, because there is no way he wins this bet.”
Them thar are fightin’ words, but who better to utter them than a true Chicago hockey-playing, beer-making, Blackhawks-cheering small businessman? The boys know their hockey AND their beer. Their love for the sport has the company fielding teams in amateur ice hockey tournaments, using recycled hockey sticks in their signage, and selling hockey sweaters alongside the other, more traditional beer logo merchandise on their website.
SlapShot also pays homage to the sport through the names of some of their beers like Triple Deke and 1926. 1926 is named for the year the Blackhawks joined the NHL. Triple Deke is named for a play used at the end of the Walt Disney film The Mighty Ducks, a movie that led The Walt Disney Company to establish The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, later to be named the Anaheim Ducks. These seem the most fitting beers to send to our friends in Anaheim—Chicago’s beer about NHL history and tradition, and Anaheim’s beer about fairytales and Emilio Estevez.
If all of this has you wanting to shake Steve’s hand and try some of his beer, don’t fret. West Loopers will soon have their chance to say hello to the gents of SlapShot and try some of what Mayor Tait will be receiving as Steve’s kind gesture—tickets are now on sale for the Neighbors of West Loop’s Craft Beer Fest which takes place from 12-5pm on June 13.
Check back soon—this is the first in a series of entries about our great local brewers who are participating in the Neighbors of West Loop Craft Beer Fest! Click here for a current list of participating brewers.