The Brewed started off, partly, as a way for co-owner Nick Mayor to show off his horror collection.
“All the toys and memorabilia and all the posters; posters are my particular Achilles Heel," he said.
Scattered throughout the shop, you’ll notice dozens of posters, figurines, DVDs for sale and other collectibles from the horror genre.
Everything belongs to Mayor, his wife Jen Lemasters and their friend Jason Deuchler. They decided to open the coffee shop after the pandemic. Mayor and Lemasters wife own the record store next door, Bric-a-Brac, and had been looking for a coffee source closer to the store.
“We had always kind of joked about the idea of opening a coffee shop close to the record store," he said. "So, we approached Jason with the idea of opening a horror themed coffee shop, and it went off without a hitch."
A nod to David Cronenberg’s 1979 horror film ("The Brood"), The Brewed opened at 2843 N. Milwaukee Ave. in 2022. And while Avondale has no shortage of coffee shops, Mayor said there was something about a horror-themed coffee shop in Chicago that just made sense.
After all, famous horror flicks like "Child’s Play," the third installment of the Poltergeist franchise and "Candyman" all have direct ties to Chicago.
“There's also just a big fan base here overall," Mayor said. "There's multiple horror conventions every year for meet and greets, like Comic Con style conventions, and certainly around Halloween season, there's no lack of options for fans to do horror-themed stuff."
At the same time, Mayor said, he wanted The Brewed to be a space for everyone, not just horror fans.
“You don't have to be a horror fan to appreciate it," he said. "I feel like what we've done here with our design has made a coffee shop that's just as approachable if you don't like being scared watching movies. There are some colorful elements, very bright, very open.”
And, of course, there’s the coffee. Mayor said while crafting the menu, he wanted to avoid super “punny,” corny drink names, so you’ll find a lot of your traditional coffee shop drinks, along with a few rotating specials.
“I think our by far our most popular is the Skull Island, which is a King Kong reference, and that's a banana mocha," Mayor said. "The Firestarter, obviously a Stephen King book and '80s movie, is a proprietary ancho chili and tangerine flavored syrup, because Tangerine Dream did the music for the original fire starter movie."
And beyond the coffee, Mayor said, The Brewed has also become a sort of gathering space for the Avondale and Logan Square communities. The shop regularly hosts horror-themed events, like trivia, Monster Marts and movie screenings.
“We have a really loyal regular customer base, and I think we do our best to really provide a place for the community," he said. "We work really closely with a lot of the neighborhood politicians and community groups … I’m heartened to see that it's come to fruition in that way."
He said he hopes The Brewed can also serve as a space where fans of coffee and fans of horror can “cross-pollinate” and even discover other local coffee shops.
"If you're here because of TikTok and it's 'spooky season,' maybe you make an effort somewhere else, where it's not a horror-themed coffee shop, but it is a local coffee shop, and they put more intention and effort into the drinks that they serve than a national chain," he said. "Maybe you make that personal effort."