Alex Makowski
Head brewer
93 Octane Brewery
St. Charles and Elmhurst, IL

The last really good beer I drank was… at the Bavarian Lodge in Lisle this fall. I had several really good beers that night. However, the first one that comes to mind was Allagash’s Haunted House, a hoppy dark ale. It was delicious. It was a perfect balance of roasted malt and piney hops, and it had great body with a pillowy, off-white head. I would like to send some more love to the Bavarian Lodge. Not only are they big supporters of Illinois craft beer, but they have the best German food outside of Bavaria.

What fellow Illinois breweries and specific beers have impressed you lately?

Riggs Brewing out of Urbana. I attended brewing school (Doemens Academy) at the same time Matt Riggs (owner/brewer) was. He was in the German language speaking course, and I was on the English side. I ran into him at the local beer garden, the Wilder Hirsch, a common meeting place for post-class beers. Over the course of several lagers, he explained to me his brewery plan — a true grain-to-glass brewery, using his family farm to grow grain for brewing. It was a very romantic idea, but in the back of my mind I had my doubts. We both graduated and went our separate ways.

Several years later, I stumbled across Riggs Brewing 4-packs at a local bottle shop, now that they have distribution in Northern Illinois. Their American lager is delicious by any causal beer drinkers standard. Being a professional brewer, I thought it tasted amazing. I think people forget that beer is an agricultural product.

What are you most proud of at 93 Octane?

I’m most proud of our growth. I started brewing for 93 Octane in July of 2020. The brewery itself was 400 square feet with a two-vessel, 10-barrel brewhouse and 50 barrels of fermentation capacity. We mobile-canned on Mondays when the taproom was closed. We would run the can line through the brewery into the taproom with our finished pallets being staged at the entrance of the taproom. Then we would pallet jack them around the property to the back of the brewery.

Smash cut to today. Our St. Charles taproom has undergone two expansions, tripling our indoor seating and adding a three-season patio. While the original brewhouse is no longer there, we now have a two-vessel, three-barrel pilot system. This gives us the ability to turn out small-batch, one-off beers.

I’m most proud of our growth. Our St. Charles taproom has undergone two expansions, we opened a 7,000 square-foot production facility in Warrenville, and a second taproom and brewery in the former Elmhurst Brewing Company location. … And we are planning on tripling the size of our barrel program.

In late 2023, we broke ground on a 7,000 square-foot production facility in Warrenville. In April of 2024, we brewed our first batch in our brand-new four-vessel, 20-barrel, American-made brewhouse. I remember it was April 8, because it was the same day of the solar eclipse. We only had one pair of the eclipse glasses and would take turns looking while the others watched over the brew.

This past July, we opened our second taproom and brewery in the former Elmhurst Brewing Company location. We kept the brewing equipment — a two-vessel, 15-barrel brewhouse with 75 barrels of fermentation capacity — but remodeled the taproom, putting our 93 Octane spin on it.

What do you have coming up that people should know about?

We had our annual KITT Black IPA release on Black Friday, but we brewed a large enough batch to last through much of the winter. We also brought on the talented Victor Navarro to take the helm at out Elmhurst location. From there, you can expect a pale ale, helles lager, and barleywine to be released throughout the winter at both locations.

I’m excited to have Victor on staff. He was the former head brewer at More Brewing in Villa Park, and with his extensive knowledge of barrel aging, we are planning on tripling the size of our barrel program.