The doors to Sebastian’s Ale and Whiskey House, the newest addition to downtown Brookfield, are slated to open soon at 8900 Fairview Ave., which for the past two-plus years has been home to the Brookfield Ale House.
The new tavern’s Facebook page states that it will launch its soft open on Feb. 28.
Brookfield trustees approved the liquor license for Sebastian’s earlier in February, and the new owner, Nichole Mucha, has been at work transforming the Ale House into her more sports bar-centric vision while waiting for the changeover to become official.
“I want to go to a high-end sports bar/community ale house where everybody in the local communities can come to and enjoy,” said Mucha.
Sebastian’s Ale and Whiskey House will have 56 beers on draft featuring local craft beer and will offer a “large, vast amount of whiskey” – to tune of 350 different choices ranging in price per drink from $6 to $450.
“In the local areas, there’s no other bar that has something similar to this,” Mucha said.
Sebastian’s, said Mucha, will offer a large variety of food items, from steaks to pasta, seafood to gourmet burgers. In addition to daily food and drink specials like Taco Tuesdays and Trivia, the bar will feature karaoke on Wednesdays, DJs on Friday nights and will highlight broadcasts of UFC and boxing events, with no cover charge, on Saturdays and NFL football on Sundays.
Mucha told village trustees that she has worked in the business for 18 years, starting out as a server and working her way up to bartender before being tapped to manage Overtime Bacon Bar in Lombard for the past 10 years.
In addition to the changes at the taps, behind the bar and in the kitchen, Mucha said she does plan on applying for a video gambling license from the village and the state of Illinois.
Because the establishment will run continuously during the changeover from the Ale House to Sebastian’s, the new establishment won’t count as a “new” business and Mucha will not have to wait 12 months before she can apply for a gaming license from the village.
The village board in 2018 had approved a video gambling license to Brookfield Ale House owner Steve Landrey, but he never installed any games in the business.
Unlike Mucha, who has had years of experience both in front of the house of a bar and in the back, Landrey was a newbie to the food/drink industry when he opened Brookfield Ale House in November 2016.
“It’s been an incredible journey,” said Landrey, who had envisioned the Brookfield Ale House as a restaurant first and a bar second. “I’m a better person than I was going in. It’s humbled me.”
Landrey said the business is in good, experienced hands with Mucha and her team, which has ties not only to Overtime Bacon Bar but Crazy Pour Sports Bar in Villa Park. A look at the websites of those establishments indicates Sebastian’s will be a sports bar along those lines.
“I see their operation and I think they are going to do very good there,” Landrey said. “I’ve learned more from them in the past three months than I did in two years running the restaurant.”
