Casa Humilde Cerveceria brings Latino flavor to Chicago's craft beer scene

CHICAGO - What better way to salute the start of Hispanic Heritage Month than with a cold, tasty beer?

That beer is coming from Chicago's only Hispanic-owned brewery, which just opened its first permanent location in Forest Park.

Jose Lopez, 37, and his 40-year-old brother Javier caught the craft beer bug in 2015.

"I told Javy we can make beer at home. We can buy kits, $600. You can have a very nice stovetop kit," Jose said.

The brothers began brewing for friends and family in their childhood home, located in a predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood on Chicago's Northwest Side.

Before long, they were investing in larger equipment to brew bigger batches with bigger dreams.

"We knew from the beginning we wanted to have a business," Javier said.

Even nine years ago, Chicago's craft beer scene was booming and competition was fierce. The brothers started brewing at District Brew Yards in West Town, a small beer incubator, and their beers began appearing on store shelves throughout the Chicago area.

"So the name of the brewery is Casa Humilde Cerveceria and it translates into ‘humble home,’" Javier said. "We called it humble because it's a good work that represents us and how we were raised by our parents, our grandma, our great grandma. How to be humble. Treat people. Be kind."

The brothers recognized a unique opportunity in a market that wasn't being served.

"We went to a lot of breweries, but there was really no one who looked like us. So there was a big market that no one was catering to," Javier said.

"Our dads, our cousins, our uncles weren't going to craft breweries," Jose said.

After years of searching for the right fit, the Lopez brothers opened their brewery's first permanent location last month in Forest Park, taking over a building that previously housed another brewery.

"Great reaction. A lot of great support from the community. We get people from all over. We're here in Forest Park, so we get a lot of people from Maywood, from Oak Park, from Berwyn, Cicero, Riverside," Jose said.

"We walk in sometimes and we're like… we did it! And it's just getting started," Jose said.

The brewery offers a variety of styles, including lagers, pale ales, porters, and IPAs, often infused with flavors that reflect their Latino roots, such as prickly pear cactus, hibiscus, and orange peel.

"Just going back to our childhood memories and using some ingredients that they use in our culture and in our cooking," Javier said.

Their most popular beer is Maizal, a Mexican-style lager brewed with corn—a grain often overlooked by craft brewers because larger breweries use corn syrup as a cheap substitute.

"Like, they use corn syrup. Us, we're actually using the actual grain. So it's a little different, a little more involved, a little more time consuming but at the end of the day, I think it's worth it," Javier said.

The brewery features a large outdoor patio, a stage for music, and a full kitchen offering traditional Mexican dishes, burgers, and pub fare.

Along with the beer, customers experience a taste of Mexico, from the art on the walls to the names of the brews, including a collaboration on a Frida Kahlo beer with the National Museum of Mexican Art.

Latino families from across the Chicago area are responding positively.

"It felt good because they're like this is a place where we feel we can bring our parents. We can bring our uncles. We can come have a good time and they're not too intimidated," Jose said.