Drew Fox

Founder and Head Brewer, 18th Street Brewery.

- Paul McMorrow

When Drew Fox launched the 18th Street Brewery, its location was met with skepticism. Who would go to Gary, Ind., to drink beer, people wondered, when they could just drink in Chicago? Three years later, 18th Street has torched any skeptics. The brewery is growing at a blistering pace, quadrupling its square footage (a second production facility and pub opened in nearby Hammond last year) and beating Fox’s five-year business plan projections by year two. Fox has brought a hard-charging, heavy metal brand of brewing to northwest Indiana, turning out a huge variety of hop-forward IPAs, Pale Ales, Stouts, and sours. “If you take care of beer and treat it right, [it’s] never one-dimensional,” Fox says. “That’s always been intriguing for me.

1. Discover something

There was a time when Drew Fox drank the same macrobrewed lagers that once defined the upper Midwest: Miller Lite and High Life. That all changed a dozen years ago, when Fox took a trip to Belgium. At an abbey around the corner from his Bruges hostel, an unfiltered wheat beer opened his eyes to what beer could be. He dove deep into the brewing culture of Bruges and Ghent, tasting every local offering he could. Upon Fox’s return stateside, an introduction to Saison Dupont at Chicago’s Hopleaf Bar sealed the deal. “It blew my mind,” he recalls. “It still does.”

2. Get cultured