As soon as you walk in the door an aroma hits you resembling a flower bed on a warm summer day. As you inhale you can seemingly taste what’s brewing. The building still reflects its past life and creates a warm atmosphere for patrons.
Brewing day, and any other day for that matter, at the Flossmoor Station Restaurant and Brewery is a memorable experience.

The building that now houses the brewery and restaurant was originally a train station built by the Illinois Central Railroad in 1906. Once rendered obsolete, the building remained unused for years until Dean and Carolyn Armstrong decided to open their brewery in 1996.

Located in downtown Flossmoor, the brewery has become a staple in the community.

“The village of Flossmoor, they feel very proud about this place,” Head Brewer Eymard Freire said. “When I was here for the first time, that’s what sold me. You come here and it’s such a great history.”

Freire’s passion for beer has allowed him to move the brewery forward by updating recipes and keeping up with the trends in the craft beer industry.

Breweries continue to open and expand throughout the country. Freire believes the key to tapping into the craft beer trend is about creating novel tastes while avoiding gimmicks.

“It’s got to be multiple dimensional, the beer, the depth of flavor, the depth of aroma, what you get out of it, the experience of drinking beer, and that’s the trend,” Freire said. “It’s not about gimmicks. It’s not about adding peanut butter to the beer. It’s about the fine line between novelty and gimmicky, and I tend to be on the novelty side.”

Aside from the variety of craft beers offered, Flossmoor Station offers a bar menu that pairs wonderfully with their beer options. The menu includes salads, soup, steak, sandwiches, flatbreads, wraps and much more.

Once you’re ready to depart, the front door of the Flossmoor Station Brewery  leads to a welcoming downtown area and is only a few steps away from a  Metra station.  

“Few people know about this place in Chicago and the city,” Freire said. “More people should know about this place.”