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 During her time in the arts world, she has met musicians, actors,
directors, and has worked on the city and state level in arts
organizations. During her stint as director of community events at
the Atlanta Public Library, Maciariello initiated a unique program
called “Behind the Scenes."
“Behind the Scenes” calls on her background in the performing
arts community and the friendships she has forged there to entice
renowned members of the arts world to travel to Atlanta and talk
about themselves, and often to perform. Maciariello has had actors
and directors come to Atlanta, and a member of a symphony orchestra.
The programs are always interesting and the presenters a diverse
slice of the arts world. Most are from an entirely different
environment than tiny Atlanta.
When the director of the Tony Awards came to town, she remarked that
her tiny apartment in Brooklyn was so much smaller and more
expensive than the house in Atlanta where Maciariello lives. So
folks attending the programs get a view of the world not common
around here, and many of the presenters get a small town view of
America that they may never have had.
 That is what has happened in the past. For last Saturday’s event,
Maciariello, now co-director of the Atlanta Public Library, took a
decidedly different path. For the first time, attendees traveled
outside of Atlanta for the presentation which was a “Behind the
Scenes” tour of the Distihl Brewery Production Facility in
Bloomington. The Distihl Brew Pub is a well known brewery and
restaurant in Normal, one of two in central Illinois. The other is
in Champaign. Each restaurant has its own stand alone brewery
on-site and its own brewer.
The production facility for Normal is an industrial site on GE Road
that produces beer for sale to restaurants and package liquor
stores. It is a huge space in a warehouse with the latest equipment
to make beer.
At the production facility there is a brewmaster and three brewers,
and no restaurant. It has full of two storey high fermentation tanks
where water is mixed with grain, hops, and yeast and other
micro-flora to produce unique beers with unusual flavors. It has a
canning line and a new bottling line that will soon be filling 500
milliliter bottles. Kegs of beer stand ready to be shipped.
This is a unique business that has been added to the
Bloomington-Normal scene. While the CEO and brewmaster of Distihl,
Matt Potts, got his start with a home brew kit, he expanded his
skill going professional with the Elmwood Brewing Company in the
Chicago area.
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The current Distihl 20,000 square foot production facility is
state-of-the-art with computers and digital monitors for the
brewing process. A question from the “Behind the Scenes” group
concerned where the water that is used in the brewing process
comes from. Katy, the Distihl representative for the evening’s
program, said that they do use water from the Lake Bloomington
water treatment plant, but that Distihl treats the water before
using it to make beer, adding minerals to give their beer the
right flavor. The facility also grinds its own grain. The large
shining steel tanks are everywhere. Step through a large door
into another part of the facility and there is an entirely
different vibe.
Placed on racks from floor to ceiling are wooden barrels filled
with aging specialty beers. Some of these casks once held bourbon,
wine, and cognac. The remnants of those liquids worked into the wood
will flavor the beer.
All of the beer at Distihl is unfiltered. Each cask has a tiny hole
in which a nail has been driven. The brewers pull the nail from time
to time in order to sample the slowly aging beer.
Distihl ships beer across the Midwest and as far west and north as
Arizona and Washington, and east to Pennsylvania, thirteen states in
all. That number is sure to rise as Distihl, which has been gaining
a national reputation as an innovative and award winning brewery,
becomes better known. They are very knowledgeable about what beers
are in demand for their different markets.
 The members of the “Behind the Scenes” group were treated to a
delicious array of appetizers and a different beer was paired with
each. Katy indicated that the tour was one of the first done at the
production facility. After the tour, members were also able to
sample an entirely new line of beers, a so-called sour beer, which
is proving to be wildly popular in the Chicago area.
The future “Behind the Scenes” programs are listed on the Atlanta
Public Library website www.apldinfo.org and information is always
available by phone (217)648-2112. The next one will be November 14
at the Palms Café. Stay tuned to see what Maciariello comes up with
next!
[Curt Fox] |
