OP_021617

22 | February 16, 2017 | The orland park prairie life & arts
opprairie.com
Rock Bottom celebrates 10 years
with anniversary dinner, more
Rock Bottom brewer Iain Wilson (second from left)
poses for a photo with three of his former assistant
brewers, (left to right) Jason Cook, Rebecca Grant and
Ray Gonzalez. Photo submitted
With the assist
Make no mistake: Iain Wilson has things covered when
it comes up to brewing for Rock Bottom in Orland Park.
But his job undoubtedly has been made easier by the
assistants he has had over the years.
The 10th Anniversary Dinner held Thursday, Feb. 9,
welcomed back each of his former assistants still
working in the brewing industry, with their price of
admission being a keg of beer apiece to share with
everyone at the event.
The Orland Park Prairie caught up with three of them
to find out what they are up to now, what they brought,
and what it was like being part of Rock Bottom’s
history and anniversary celebration. As they appeared
on the menu, they appear here in the order they
worked for Rock Bottom Orland Park.
Rebecca Grant
Where now? Off Color Brewing in Chicago
Brought what? Off Color’s Bare Bear Finnish-style sahti
Experience in OP? “It was my first brewing job. It was
great.”
Coming back? “It’s great to see people who I haven’t
seen in a long time and celebrate.”
Ray Gonzalez
Where now? Rock Bottom Chicago
Brought what? Rock Bottom Warrenville Saison
Experience in OP? “Working with Iain was a great start
to my career. … A lot of my techniques are Scottishinfluenced.”
Coming back? “It’s so cool. I’m saying ‘hi’ to everyone I
know. I feel like I’m home.”
Jason Cook
Where now? Rock Bottom College Park
Brought what? Rock Bottom College Park Altbier
Experience in OP? “I feel like I learned [a lot].”
Coming back? “Iain has a big following here. It’s
awesome to be back here.”
Bill Jones, Editor
The past few years of La-
Grange Road construction
took their toll on Rock Bottom
Restaurant & Brewery,
like any other business along
the thoroughfare, but General
Manager Berta Higgins said
she had no doubt she would
see this day.
“We never thought we
wouldn’t last,” she said.
“During that construction,
we were 5-10 percent down
in sales, but we were planning
to ride that wave.”
Ride it they did, and this
February Rock Bottom Orland
Park kicked off a series
of celebrations, starting with
the Feb. 1 tapping of the Powerhouse
Pale Ale, designed to
celebrate the establishment’s
10-year anniversary.
Higgins started just a few
months after the opening, but
she is joined by four servers,
a brewer and a manager who
all have been there since the
very beginning.
“It’s amazing,” Higgins
said. “It’s great to work with
people who have been with
our company for that long,
because it means they care
about the company.”
To celebrate the occasion,
Rock Bottom has announced
an already-underway series
of 10 tappings over 10 weeks,
with proceeds from two going
toward charitable causes;
a slate of events surrounding
the annual Fire Chief Ale;
and an anniversary party slated
to take place March 22.
But none of those events
are likely to be quite as
elaborate or bombastic as
a 10th Anniversary Dinner
held Thursday, Feb.
9, which drew nearly 100
guests, marking the biggest
turnout since the
restaurant’s famed bacon
dinner.
Celebrating with a meal,
family
For most of its 10 years,
Rock Bottom has thrown
three or four dinners a year
that pair brewer Iain Wilson’s
libations with the plates of executive
chef Shawn Murphy.
With more than 20 in the
bank, diners have plenty of
opinions when it comes to
their favorites. From baseball
to bacon, Oktoberfest to
successful invasions of England,
Pat Rodgers, of Tinley
Park, said he has been coming
to the dinners for roughly
seven years, having missed
only the first two of three. He
said “good beer and food” are
what have kept him coming
back, and he was delighted to
see an old favorite of candied
bacon kicking things off Feb.
9 alongside the welcome beer
of an Erik the Red.
“I would pay a lot to have
candied bacon on a regular
basis,” he said.
Roberta Higgins said the
dinner was designed to be
something of a “greatest hits”
collection.
“Almost everything is an
item that was popular in other
brewer’s dinners,” she said,
noting in particular the pairing
of a beer-braised short rib on
a chipotle and parsnip purée
with the Fallen Angel Belgian
Dubbel that was a Brewpub
Shootout winner for best food
and beer pairing. “A lot of
them are classics.”
But Wilson said he was
most excited for the dessert
of a triple chocolate
stout cheesecake from when
the restaurant first opened.
He said it was taken of the
menu six or seven years
ago.
“It caused an uproar,” he
said.
Rodgers said as much as
he likes revisiting favorites,
he also has enjoyed being
surprised by the dinners over
the years. He is not “a seafood
person,” in general, but
he has found a few he loves
through the dinner.
“It gets me out of my comfort
zone, somewhat,” he said.
His wife, Ann, noted the
dinner has had a similar effect
on her beverage selection.
“When I met him, I didn’t
ever drink beer,” she said,
noting she has learned since
then how well beer can pair
with certain foods, similar to
wine. “Now, I enjoy it.”
But as much as Pat and Ann
Rodgers may enjoy the food
and beer pairings, it is even
more of a thrill to learn with
whom they will be sitting at
each dinner, which they said
has always changed.
“We always meet people,”
Pat said. “The beer is probably
the main thing, but it’s
such an eclectic group of
people that come in here.”
The people are important
to Wilson, too, which is why
he decided there was no way
he could be part of a 10th anniversary
celebration without
welcoming back his former
assistant brewers. In particular,
he asked the ones still
working in the brewing industry
— Rebecca Grant, of Off
Color Brewing; Ray Gonzalez,
of Rock Bottom Chicago;
and Jason Cook, of Rock Bottom
College Park — to bring
a keg of their beer to the party.
Meanwhile, Higgins made
sure the four servers working
that evening were the
four originals, including the
mother and daughter duo of
Karen and Jenny Cooper, of
Homewood.
Karen knew a manager and
came to Rock Bottom from
another restaurant the day it
opened. She brought Jenny
with her.
Karen said the afternoon
before the dinner she was
simply “proud” to be part of
the restaurant’s history and
its celebration, and Jenny
agreed.
“There’s 95 people coming
here tonight, and those same
people come here on a weekly
basis” Jenny said. “It’s like
a Cheers.”
“We’ve spent more time
with these people than our
families,” Higgins said.
“It’s like a family,” Karen
added.
10 years and counting
Berta Higgins has been with
Rock Bottom for a total of 13
years, having started with the
franchise’s Warrenville location.
But she has been with
Rock Bottom Orland Park
nearly since its inception, and
she said little has changed
since it opened a decade ago,
save for a renovation.
“The feel of it is still pretty
much the same,” she said.
Echoing her earlier comments
about the importance
of the people, she said the
customers are truly who
made Rock Bottom what it is
in Orland Park.
“The regulars that we
have, being that place people
can go and be comfortable
and get good beer,” she said
when asked what kept the
restaurant afloat for a decade.
Higgins said coming up
she is most excited about the
Fire Chief events, which benefit
the 100 Club of Chicago
— a cause the Orland Park
business has championed
for the past seven of its nine
years involved in the Fire