Emancipation Brewing Co.
13113 North 2500 East Road
Fairbury, IL
EmancipationBrewingCo.com

Thursday: 4-9 p.m.
Friday: 3-10 p.m.
Saturday: Noon-10 p.m.
Sunday: 1-5 p.m.

History in short: Lincoln Slagel began homebrewing with his dad and brother in law in the family garage back when he was just 21, and immediately fell in love with the recipe side of the process. Slagel’s mom was a chef and his dad a farmer, so he took some workmanship qualities from each when it came to creating beer.

“To this day, I’ve only made one beer that was not my own recipe,” Slagel tells us. “We weren’t exactly wading in the shallow end. We went right into the deep end, experimenting with different ingredients and high ABVs.”

As part of a project for an entrepreneurship class in college, Slagel chose to research what it would take to successfully operate a craft brewery. When it came time to present his project to the class, his professor told him he might just be on to something.

“To this day, I’ve only made one beer that was not my own recipe. We weren’t exactly wading in the shallow end (when we opened).” — Lincoln Slagel

After graduation, Slagel started working for his dad’s company, but before long, he got the itch to launch his own thing and, with suburban and Bloomington commercial buildings out of his budget’s reach, he had a conversation with his dad about the old cattle barn on the family farm that either needed to be torn down or refurbished.

“The worst-case scenario was that we’d have a cool spot to drink beer and hang out with the family,” Slagel says with a laugh. After a lot of hard work, much of it done by the family, Emancipation opened its doors three years later — in 2019 — with Slagel, his wife and parents as partners.

The space: Considering the barn previously housed beef cattle and dairy cows for almost a century, serious renovations were in order, but the end result is a cozy wooden enclave with tables of varying shapes and sizes, hanging light bulbs, steel beams and windows behind the bar to provide a glimpse of the tanks.

While the family may have had differing opinions when designing the space, the main focus was to upgrade the building while keeping it as authentic as possible (note the pulleys, once used to hold cattle in place, still hanging from the ceiling). There’s also an indoor/outdoor hybrid “lean-to” with a pair of 16-foot garage doors that can be used for private events. To the side of the brewery is the hop yard, where they grow their own hops, and sunsets are known to be quite impressive from the spacious beer garden, which offers fire pits, a standing bar and lawn games.

To the side of the brewery is the hop yard, where they grow their own hops, and sunsets are known to be quite impressive from the spacious beer garden.

Interesting note: Slagel’s great grandpa owned a hops farm in Oregon, where his grandma worked when she was growing up. “No one thought to tell me this until our grand opening,” Slagel says with a laugh. Relatives from Oregon found original pictures and signage and shipped them to Emancipation, along with animal yokes that were used to till the fields. “It’s neat to have some of that history come out, and most of it I wouldn’t know without taking on this project,” he adds.

What we’re eating and drinking: For a relatively small operation, Emancipation rolls out an impressive assortment of beer. Their Farm Fresh pale ale is made exclusively with hops grown on the farm, picked and in the tank on the same day. Even Slagel’s grandma helps with the harvest.

Also on the menu: Everything from Belgian strong ales to black IPAs and fruit beers brewed with blueberry and peach. In particular, we enjoyed Kim’s Irish Red ale, the Hayloft lager (inspired by both Mexican amber lagers and European Vienna lagers) and Azalea, a session IPA made in honor of The Masters golf tournament and released each spring. This well-balanced gem has a low ABV (4.5%), but it’s hopped like a double IPA and has some floral aromas to go with tropical and coconut flavors.

Emancipation’s Farm Fresh pale ale is made exclusively with hops grown on the farm, picked and in the tank on the same day. Even Slagel’s grandma helps with the harvest.

“I want it where everyone can come through here and find something they enjoy,” Slagel says. “I’m not interested in just trotting out some token beers. Hopefully people can tell we put some real thought into it. Our draft list is not just for the hard-core craft beer people. It would be easy to do that because I’m one of them, but a lot of our locals around here aren’t into double IPAs and imperial stouts, so it’s always been important for me to have a good selection for everyone.”

For food, Slagel and his wife’s Pop-Up Pizza Company creates handmade pizzas on site, and Bavarian pretzels and local snacks — as well as other food trucks on occasion — are available.

Emancipation’s beers are distributed from Champaign to Bloomington and Peoria to the west suburbs.

On the horizon: Emancipation hosts or sponsors a fair number of local events, like one in December that benefited the local fire department. They’ll be celebrating their six-year anniversary the second week of February, launching several fun new beers in the process and offering ingredient-based tastings. They’re also known to throw a big Cinco de Mayo party. Keep an eye out for a habanero beer and tequila barrel-aged option brewed with jalapeño and lime.

From the brewery: “The thing the makes me the most proud is when we get good reviews, they mention all of the facets of the business. Not just the beer, but the staff — made up of community people — the ambiance, the location and the food. It’s the whole thing.”

— Co-owner and head brewer Lincoln Slagel