5 Rabbit Brewing, which has had its Latin-influenced beers made at six different breweries since launching last spring, will open a brewery of its own in the southwest suburb of Bedford Park later this year, co-owner Isaac Showaki said.

The 25,000 square-foot facility, about one mile southwest of Midway Airport, will extricate 5 Rabbit from the business of contract brewing, which has led to its beer being made in three different states during the last year.

5 Rabbit gets its name from Aztec mythology.  It’s very common for pre-Columbian personal names to have numbers in them.  The numbers usually refer to some kind of calendrical name.

Five in particular is a number that was associated with days that represented a loss of control.   There is 5 Rabbit, 5 Lizard, 5 Vulture, 5 Flower, 5 Grass, and each one of those represents a different type of excess. One  could say they are like the seven deadly sins in Christianity.

Showaki said the new facility should be running by August, with a taproom to follow in late 2012 or early 2013. He and co-owners Andres Araya and Randy Mosher are in the process of looking for a brewmaster.

The brewery will be a little more than a mile from the Toyota Park soccer stadium, in Bridgeview, whose patrons could be a natural audience.

“As soon as we are open, we want to get our beer to the Fire games,” he said. “We definitely want to a have a bus come in before games and then go to the stadium.”

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/stew/chi-5-rabbit-5-rabbit-to-open-brewery-in-southwest-suburbs-20120514,0,4500246.story

http://northandclark.net/2011/08/craft-beer-with-a-latin-flair-an-interview-with-randy-mosher-feature-for-extra/