In about a month's time, this inventive trio pulled some long nights and even longer brew days to create four separate homebrew recipes and food pairings based on the history of the Great Chicago Fire. As the legend goes, Mrs. O'Leary's cow started the fire that ripped through the city in 1871 with a simple kick of the barn lantern, igniting over three square miles and killing hundreds. While devastating, the fire was also an unexpected rebirth for a city poised to become one of the 20th century's greatest architectural marvels. You might say a similar metaphor has played out in Chicago's beer history, with decades of buyouts and acquisitions clearing the ground for another kind of uprising — but I digress.