When the Berghoff brewery in Fort Wayne was sold in 1955, Berghoff kept its name and recipe and arranged to have the Joseph Huber Brewing Company in Wisconsin make its beer in four styles: regular, dark, light and bock. Huber continues to bottle and distribute beer under the Berghoff name.

"Five years ago we got interested in the micro concept," Marquardt says, "and this place is the result. Here we have a Chicago base, and we can make all kinds of specialty beers on a small scale. And we have a ready-made clientele for them." The restaurant occupies most of the ground floor of the brewery, with the gleaming copper of fermenting kettles in full view.

Like many microbreweries, Berghoff's makes its beers seasonally. "Fall and winter are the big beer-drinking seasons," Marquardt said, "and they are the best times for our porter and stout, which are heavier, more robust beers. In the spring we'll switch over to double bock and weiss beer, then in the summer we may go to light lager."

"May" is a key word; in a brewery of this size -- with a maximum production of 7,000 barrels a year -- plans can change overnight, depending on the weather and the market. Besides, the entire staff is three people: a brewmaster, a brewer and a cellarmaster.

At present, all the beer made at the Chicago brewery is consumed in the two Berghoff restaurants. "We can hand-bottle here if someone wants it," Marquardt says, "but any bottled beer you see under our label comes from the brewery in Wisconsin."

Connoisseurs insist on fresh beer. Unlike wine, most beer deteriorates rapidly, even in the bottle, if it's not refrigerated. Which presents no problems to microbreweries that brew and serve their beer on the premises. A glass of beer poured here or at the Adams Street Berghoff's may not have existed three weeks ago. "Ale takes two weeks," Marquardt says, "lager a bit longer: one day for brewing, seven days for fermenting and 28 days for aging. Then it's ready to go."

The same schedule holds in most brewpubs as well. Brewpubs are usually the only outlet for their beer, although many will bottle what they make for individual customers. The brewpub, incidentally, has revived an old American custom known as rushing the growler. That was the practice of sending an office boy out to the local tavern for draft beer. The beer was usually carried in a growler -- a deep tin pan with a tight cover. The advent of canned and bottled beer seemingly caused the demise of the growler, but the brewpub, which serves only beer on tap, has given it new life.