Skeleton Key Brewery
Skeleton Key Brewery started with a simple idea tucked right into its name: a skeleton key opens many different doors. Siblings Emily Slayton and John Szopa, along with Emily’s husband Paul, launched the family-run microbrewery and taproom in Woodridge in 2016, with John running the brewhouse as head brewer. From the start, the plan was bigger than beer alone. They built a classroom into the space, taught homebrewers and aspiring pros, and helped give a couple of fellow Chicagoland breweries, Brother Chimp in North Aurora and Bubblehouse in Lisle, their start.
Pull in off Lemont Road (look for the neon key) and you’ll find an 8,500-square-foot space with a 15-barrel steam-fired brewhouse, three seating areas and two separate bars. The Lounge has a midcentury-modern feel, with a wood-clad bar and a wall mosaic of reclaimed doors painted in coral, brown and beige. The Family Room is lined with framed gig posters, and there’s a patio for warmer evenings. The calendar leans toward live music, live radio plays, classes on everything from beer styles to charcuterie boards, and the occasional hushed Quiet Time Tuesday.
“One key, many doors: great beer, good company, and probably a lesson or two along the way.”
Skeleton Key doesn’t hang its hat on a single style. The taproom pours everything from a crisp Kölsch and a toasted coconut golden ale to a black lager, a classic pale ale, hazy IPAs and seasonal lagers like its Oktoberfest Märzen, plus collaborations with friends around the region. Resilience is part of the story, too. An EF-3 tornado tore through Woodridge on Father’s Day weekend in 2021, ripping part of the roof off the taproom just months after an expansion. The Illinois craft beer community rallied, a GoFundMe raised $135,000, and after a year of rebuilding and 13 collaboration beers brewed at other breweries, the taproom reopened in June 2022.
Come for a Migratory, stay because the staff is genuinely good at steering you toward the right pour for your mood. You can bring in outside food or catch whichever food vendor is on site, join the mug club, sign up for a class, or just settle into a booth with friends. Families are welcome to sit in the Family Room, though pets (service animals excepted) stay home. For anyone exploring the I-55 corridor’s growing craft beer scene, Skeleton Key is a friendly, creative and community-minded stop that’s worth the trip.