News

'It's our public house'

Posted August 27, 2016 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

This is the small business concept that America was founded on.

Molly's Pint owners Nick and Molly Blew are "living the dream" by continuing to work steadily toward opening their brew pub at 12 N. 13th St. in Murphysboro.

"We are literally a mom-and-pop operation," Molly said. "Because we have a 4-year-old and we live above the the brewery that we own.

"We just bought the building and it's nice to have a piece of real estate in Murphysboro that we can fix up and make the city look a little bit better."

The Murphysboro City Council recently approved a new classification of liquor license, Class P, for the upstart business and the Blews are awaiting approval of their federal license before officially setting an opening date.

"A brew pub is a public gathering place or public house," Molly Blew said. "It's our public house so that we can bring the community together and everyone can have a meeting place."

Brew pubs are establishments that brew their own beer and serve it to their customers. Molly said they are exploring the possibility of offering food, but no decisions have yet been made.

"Four years ago, we lived above a fairly successful bar," Nick said. "We kind of wanted some of that of our own.

"I had been brewing at home for 10 years and wanted to try and make a business out of it in a space we could call our own."

The Blews both have full-time jobs and have been spending their spare time doing most of the renovation work themselves to a space that was formerly occupied by a bar on the first floor of the three-story building.

"I think the stars sort of aligned for us since the bar closed down and it was just kind of good timing," Molly said. "So we wanted to get in here, rent this space and start making beer of our own."

The building is the site of one of Murphysboro's pioneer restaurants, the Grotto Café, according to "The Daily Independent" - the city's newspaper at the time.

The Grotto Café opened on November 25, 1924 and remained a staple of local business through the 1940s with its prime location across the street from the Illinois Central Railroad depot that was built in 1912.

The building was also home to a Mason lodge and meeting and club rooms for the local chapters of the Eagles and Knights of Columbus.

"It's an old building," Nick Blew said. "It's a 100-year-old building. The space has an impressive ceiling, real tall with exposed metal. There's character in this place."

The Blews were asked how they decided on the name "Molly's Pint."

"I told Nick a long time ago when he was brewing beer up in our kitchen that if I was going to fund his hobby, he was going to have to name a beer after me," Molly said.

"We looked at some other names too and they just didn't fit as much," Nick chimed in. "We're doing this in our overtime, so I wanted to call it 'Overtime Brewing,' or something like that, but I named it after the wife.

"She'll be happy with what I do until the end of time now."

When asked about the renovation work, Nick said the building's character - while a positive - was also a challenge.

"A lot of that character is systems that don't work or weren't put in properly, or are too old to be viable anymore," he said. "New plumbing, all new electric, new floor, new bar. Finding contractors to work with us wasn't that huge of a deal, but the timing.

"We wanted to do it as quick as we could, but the money wasn't there all the time and spreading it out over three years made it that much easier."

The Blews suddenly found themselves pushed to the forefront with the announcement of the creation of a Class P license, which cleared another hurdle for Molly's Pint to join the list of 94 other brew pubs in the state.

"We were sort of surprised by the announcement from the city council meeting and the paper," Molly said. "It's certainly nice to be a part of history and Murphysboro's history.

"This building has a lot of history behind it too, so it's great to be a part of that history and bring back a little bit of Murphysboro history in restoring this old building."

The couple also thanked the city and Mayor Will Stephens for their help with the process.

"Will Stephens has been great every time I've talked to him about it," Nick said. "The folks at the city office just wanting to do everything they can to help us out and make it work for us."

Article Categories
News