[indistinct chatter]
-Arthur, what's up, man? -Hey, Jason, how you doing?
[Jason] Doing all right. [Arthur] Pleasure.
[sighs] Mind if I record?
Oh, yeah, no problem, man.
Cool, cool, cool, cool with that. Let me get that there.
Boom.
-You gonna get something to eat? -Yeah.
-There's some good food here, man. -I'mma get somethin'...
Uh, so, Hoop Dreams. Twenty years, man.
-[exhales heavily] Twenty-plus years, man. -Twenty-plus years?
[chuckling] Yeah. Can't believe it, man.
Every... Yeah, everyone's doing great, man.
-I can't complain. -Yeah?
What you been up to?
Uh, just still out speaking.
Uh, teaching the Hoop Dreams educational curriculum
to high school students and, uh,
still trying to get my clothing line a licensing deal,
-you know? -Yeah.
Have you done any coaching, high school coaching?
-Oh. Staying away from coaching. -[Jason] No?
I think, I... If I ever coached high school, I'd probably be fired.
-For what? -For probably hitting a kid in his head.
'Cause kids, nowadays, for real, they talk back to you, like,
"Oh, I'm not coming to class, and I still think I'm supposed to play."
-Well, not on this team. -Yeah.
"Well, yes, I am. Uh, you need me."
No, no, I don't need you.
I'll play with the last guy at the bench. You know what I'm saying?
-[laughs] -Yeah.
So, what, you know, a lot of these kids now, they...
Favoritisms, and, you know, the fundamentals of the game,
they done lost it.
So, coaching? Me, I stay away from it.
Now, teaching, yes. I teach the game to kids.
[Jason] Yeah.
[R&B music playing]
[man] You ever see this? That logo?
Um...
I don't know this logo, but it looks like a Don't Fret design.
This artist does some stuff around the city.
-Cool. Cool. -Yeah.
So, I was at this party last night,
and, uh, some guy brought that for us to taste,
-and it's pretty good. -Yeah?
But, uh, what made him interesting to me was he was telling us that...
apparently it's some kind of underground brewery,
which is something I've never heard of before, and that it's illegal.
You wanna bust up their operation?
And then you're gonna start your own brewery?
-[laughs] No, you know-- -I work for you. Let's do it.
No, no, the... You know, I think there's a story,
and, uh, I'd like you to try to get inside it and tell the story.
Okay. So...
Where is it? Who is it?
-[man] Well-- -When is it happening?
That's the rub. I don't know.
The, uh, the guy who brought it, though,
I think he said he worked at Dark Matter, which is some coffee place.
-I'll get on it. -[man] All right.
Yeah.
[R&B music playing on stereo]
[indistinct chatter]
-Hey, how's it going? -It's going all right. How you doing, man?
-Good. I'm Matt. -Matt, Jason. Nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you. -Yeah.
Uh, how'd you hear about us?
I heard about it from a friend, man.
-All right, cool, man. Well, come on in. -Yeah.
[stammers] We got three beers on tap.
All right, thank you.
And, dude, we're, uh, we're fermenting this awesome brown ale right now.
Come back in a couple weeks. Check it out.
-Yeah? All right. -Thanks. You guys are the best.
-Yes! Enjoy. -Thank you.
[Jason] How much do I owe you for the beer?
Um, you know what? This one's on the house.
-Appreciate it. Thank you, man. -Yeah? Absolutely.
So, here's my card. Just, uh, hit me up some time.
-We'll do a story. -Yeah.
-Yeah? Bye. -All right. Take care. Drive safe.
-Hey. -[Matt] Hey.
Who was that?
He's actually this, uh... He's a reporter from... from New City.
That guy's from New City? What did he want?
Uh, he just wanted to check out the brewery.
And what did... what did you say?
-Did... did you tell him anything? -Relax.
No. Dude, this isn't good that he knows we exist, man.
That's...
[Noelle] Babe, have you... have you met Lee and Megan?
-[Jeff] No. -They're both at Half Acre.
Oh, you guys are at Half Acre? Hey, Jeff. It's nice to meet you guys.
[Noelle] He's one of the brewers, and she's the assistant.
[Jeff] I can't believe we haven't met before.
-Yeah. And you're the assistant tap... -[Megan] Tap room manager.
Awesome. Awesome.
-Yeah, awesome. -Dude, we love your guys' shit.
Like, seriously, you fucking inspire us.
-That's true. -[Megan] He's the one that brews it.
[Jeff] If we don't talk to him, if we fucking cut this guy out,
he's got no story, right? What's he gonna say?
[Matt] Whatever he wants.
Exact... But what, like, what? "Oh, hey, there's this--"
"There's an illegal brewery happening down here.
It's all the rage. Everybody's talking about it.
[stutters] Um, those growlers you're seeing with the Don't Fret logo,
that's... that's where it is.
It's so and so."
At least if we play ball with him, we can kind of control the message.
If we play ball with him, you... you do realize, like, this is done.
Whatever we have here, this is, like... no more.
Nothing lasts forever, buddy.
-You know? Like, come on. -It feels like we just started.
-[Matt] If we're gonna-- -What do...
[Matt] Eh, we started a while ago. It's time.
We could expand to ten times this capacity in a month if we wanted to.
[stuttering] Can we clean up? I don't wanna talk about this anymore.
-Yeah. It's fine, man. Hey. Just, like... -Okay.
Let's just go look at some spaces, right?
Let's, let's just drop...
Let's just go look at spaces so we cover our asses, right?
Okay, all right. Let's just...
-[Matt] Let's just... -Can you grab the...
[Matt] Yes, of course. But, you know...
I just don't wanna see us get fucked. That's all.
[Jeff clears throat]
[Matt stuttering] I think... he would be willing to help us out.
[Jeff] Okay.
All right. I'll take 'em.
Were you guys trying to have a baby, or did it sort of just happen?
Oh, yeah. No, we were trying. [chuckles]
We tried for a couple months...
and, you know, I actually think I know the exact day...
-Really? -...he was conceived.
-Yes, I do. -[chuckles]
It was a special moment.
Were you nervous when you ended up finding out?
Uh, yeah.
But I was also nervous that I couldn't get pregnant
'cause you don't really know if you've never had a baby. [chuckles]
-But you wanted to be a mom, then? -Yeah, I've always wanted to be a mom.
I mean, we'll see how good I do, but... [chuckles]
I like this guy.
Oh, it's pretty.
And we will be following up with you as soon as everything arrives
-to set up delivery. -Great.
And if I could just have you swipe and follow the prompt.
[printer whirring]
-[man] Okey-dokey. Perfect. -[Sherri] Great. Thank you so much.
[man] No problem. You guys are all set. Congratulations.
[Sherri] Thank you. Have a good day.
I forgot to tell you I talked to, uh, that guy Jason from New City today.
-Oh, wow. -Mmm-hmm.
-I didn't know you were talking with him. -Yeah.
He seems to think that there's... there's a story there...
-which is great. -Wow. That's amazing.
I didn't think that was gonna happen. I thought Jeff was totally against it.
Well... you know, he'll come around.
It's fine.
You haven't talked to him about it?
I mean, initially I did, but, you know,
he just doesn't see it for the opportunity it is yet, that's all.
Actually, I think what Jason's most interested in, obviously,
is, like, the... the family element to the brewery,
so... you know, eventually he's gonna wanna talk to Jeff.
I just have to, sort of, prep him for it.
Yeah, but shouldn't he be on board to start with?
Or else the article's...
If he wants to focus on the family and wants to talk to Jeff,
and Jeff doesn't wanna talk to him, that's kind of a problem, right?
We'll see.
You're just so cool about it. It'll all work out.
I'm the uptight one.
[both laughing]
I just think secrets aren't very good in family,
as we learned from the beginning of this little venture.
Oh. I love you.
I love you, too. I'm not mad.
I... I just think you should talk to him. That's all.
Okay. I... I will.
[Noelle retching]
[coughing]
[toilet flushing]
-[Jeff] Hey, baby. -Hey, baby.
[Jeff] Hey, you okay?
Uh...
Yeah. I'm sorry.
I think I just, like...
I don't know. Kimmie was doing fireballs,
and I did some, too...
but I didn't think I took this many.
He was getting so far down the line with... with these ideas and, like...
-[Noelle] Yeah. -It just...
It made me, you know, it made me anxious. It made me feel kind of betrayed
that he hadn't talked about any of this with me before, you know?
If we went any bigger than what we're doing right now, okay...
-Mmm-hmm. -...there's just, there's compromise,
you know? There is. Just...
That's the way it is. And so, like... like, let's say...
let's say we looked at these spaces like Matt wants to, right?
-Yeah. -And we took one over.
Like, to be able to... to maintain that, you need a lot of money.
-And so, like-- -I don't know, I'm just saying, like...
I feel like... Look, hey, I don't wanna stress you out. Okay?
No, it's fine. Just... You know what? Trust me.
-I'm here for you. Like, that's-- -I'm... I know.
And I wanna... I wanna hear your thoughts. And it's, like...
It's actually very interesting to me to hear what you're thinking,
and I wanna know because I love you and I trust you more than anything, so...
[Noelle laughing] Yeah.
I just... I just think, don't make it a no.
You know what I mean?
-Like, just keep it open, and like-- -Yeah, I will.
I... [chuckles]
I'm gonna... I'm gonna keep an open mind. I'm not saying no.
-Come here. Come here. -I just feel...
-I love you. Okay? -[softly] I love you.
[bus beeping]
[Jason] It's a two-brother operation, so if I only talk to...
You know, you're right.
-...one. -I didn't even think about that.
'Cause he was more like,
you know, you can just talk for the both of us, but...
-Yeah. -...that makes a lot of sense,
so... so why don't we do this?
Why don't, uh...
Why don't we set up a phone call, like, in the next, like,
you know, say, like, next week sometime?
-Uh... -Does that sound good? I know--
-No, no. -Uh, I just--
-No. No. -No.
Just wanna talk to both of you.
-I know. Yeah, I would love that. -If I don't--
I'm telling you, I... I wish...
I wish I could sort of force his hand on the thing,
but he's, uh...
-He's a little difficult sometimes, so... -Yeah.
So, um...
Can he do a Skype interview or something like that?
-Yeah. You know what? -We could Skype or FaceTime?
Why don't we figure that out? Why don't we just get this part done?
And then after we get in here, we can chat it out.
And then I'll make sure that, you know, before you leave,
we'll... we'll try to set something up on the books, you know?
-All right. All right. -All right? Sound like a plan?
-That sounds like a flake. -Let's, uh, let's head in.
[scoffs] Oh, come on.
[Jason] So, you're the financial guy.
What... what do you forecast for the company over the next five, ten years?
What's next?
Well, honestly, we just started this because we loved doing something together,
and we loved, like I said,
watching people enjoy something that we were able to... to produce.
But I... I would be lying if I didn't say I... [stutters]
We've all imagined the company growing larger, and bigger,
-and becoming something more substantial. -Hmm.
And we've... I've actually started looking at some spaces
that we would be able to move this operation into a larger scale, and...
-Make some big money. -Well, you know, we'll see.
But we can definitely, uh, apply what we've learned in this garage...
-Yeah. -...and expand to, uh,
the greater Chicago area.
We could definitely, in time, uh...
I don't see why we couldn't be a national company.
[coffee beans rattling]
[Jesse] Hey, what's up, Jeff?
What's up, man? Um, are you... are you busy?
So just, like, as... as you really grow,
like, how do you... how do you maintain, like, the quality of everything,
you know, as you're doing this in the... for the masses?
You know? It's like...
[stuttering] What... To maintain, like... How...
[stuttering] The reason why you initially started this.
Right. It used to be a handful of us saying,
"Hey, this is, like, the best coffee.
This is the best that this can possibly be."
-Right. -And then you...
you quickly learn, as you grow up,
that you're a small fraction of an opinion or a palate,
so we started creating systems
and, like, having all of our baristas at our different stores
score these same coffees.
-Right. -And that way,
we could turn around and actually have blind assessments of...
Hey, this is, you know... seven...
Seventeen people said this coffee was terrible.
-[Jeff] Sure, sure. -And then I said it was great.
-Right, right. -Well, maybe I'm, uh...
-Maybe I need to get humbled... -Yeah.
...and realize that 17 people are probably more intelligent than me.
-That makes sense. -[both laughing]
What about, like, you know, experimentation?
You know, like, do you...
do you feel like you can still kind of push the boundaries and try new shit?
Or do you feel like you have to kind of please the masses?
More than ever, I think we can do weirder shit than we've ever done.
You... [stammers] Now more than ever?
[Jesse] Yeah. I mean, we got more talent on the team.
We've got, you know, more money to play with things.
But, you know, it's like, um...
some of this, like, cask conditioning stuff.
We've been doing pressure infusions of coffees that,
you know, we couldn't have done that
back when we were trying to make sure everyone got paid.
[Sherri] This thing is huge.
I really hope my baby is not this big.
[Noelle chuckles]
Ow. Okay.
[mumbles] Yeah.
[sighs] Just line it up and then...
-[Noelle grunts] -Perfect.
-You wanna match up the thing? -I'm sorry. Right. I'm sorry.
You okay?
[sighs]
Yeah, um, I'm just not feeling so good.
Sorry.
Oh, that's okay. Is it tummy?
[sighing] Yes. Yeah.
If you go into the bathroom,
-right there... -Uh-huh.
...under the sink, I have anti-nausea medication.
-Okay. Can I... -Yeah, yeah.
-Yeah? Okay. -Just take a little.
-I'm gonna be right... You okay? -Yeah, I'm fine.
[Noelle] Okay. I'll be right back. I'm sorry.
[Sherri] I'm fine.
[straining] I'm... not fine.
[Matt] Well, we would be able to put a water filtration system
-in here, and be able to... -[Sylvia] Yeah. It's...
-build-to-suit. So, yeah. -[Matt] Great.
[Sylvia] Definitely, for sure.
[Matt] Um, just... thanks a lot. Just give me one second.
-[Sylvia] Yeah. -I need to check with him, okay?
-Mmm-hmm. -Thanks.
What's up, man? What are you doing?
Uh, texting. [exhales heavily]
-[cell phone chimes] -Well, do you wanna, uh...
You wanna come take part in the conversation?
Seems, uh, seems like you got it covered.
Okay. Uh, you got any questions or anything? Like...
[chuckling] Yes. What are we doing here, man?
-We're just looking at spaces. -I know, but... [chuckles]
What? Are you gonna be like this all day?
You're just gonna, like, lean against walls and be mopey?
Dude, come on, man. I'm here.
You asked me to be here. I'm here.
Could you try a little bit?
Attaboy. There you go.
Uh, Sylvia? I think we're ready to go see another space.
So we are coming in at about half the square footage of the last place.
So this is 10,000 square feet.
A... fixer-upper, but it's got tons of personality.
It fits within the parameters we talked about for sure.
[Matt] Okay. Thank you. This is, uh...
Dude... [chuckles]
I like it.
Fuck, man, I didn't think I was gonna say that,
but I could actually wrap my head around this, man.
This would just take way too much work. This is... this is...
Dude.
It's a money pit, man. We're not... This isn't a real option.
Dude, listen. I'm saying what you've been wanting me to say.
I can... I can get behind this, all right? [chuckles]
That's good. That's great, man.
No. Yeah, we'll find the right place. But that's...
-Sylvia, thank you so much. -[Jeff sighs]
This is, uh, very cool, but...
-[Sylvia] Okay. -Uh, unfortunately...
I just don't think this one's gonna work.
Hey, sweetie, you doing okay in there?
Noelle?
Hey, hey, hey.
What's wrong? What happened?
[Noelle sniffles]
[softly] Nothing. I'm sorry.
-[sighs] -It's okay. Come here.
[Noelle crying]
[Jeff] You know how many fucking garages we could fit in this space?
-Let's just take... -A lot.
...a little leap.
That's hard enough for me as is,
you know that, to take this small leap.
This is fucking beyond anything I can comprehend.
I... I know it looks corporate because of the size of the place
-and the fluorescent lighting, but-- -'Cause it's next to a fucking mall?
Is that part of the reason it looks corporate?
Is that what we wanna do? We wanna be the brewery next to the mall?
There's a lot of foot traffic.
It's not a bad thing that it's next to a mall.
[stuttering] That's the foot traffic we want?
The guys who are going to fucking Kohl's?
We want them to go from Kohl's and just mosey on over here, and--
Oh, don't be pretentious about your...
you know, what your clientele is, okay?
-You just want people to buy your beer... -See, I don't.
-...so-- -That... that's not how I feel.
That's not how I feel, okay? I don't want just anyone to buy our beer.
I don't wanna just have anyone in here, okay?
That's... All right, we're just... We're not gonna solve anything. I just...
-Could we sleep on it? -Yeah. Let's sleep on it, okay?
-Don't do that, man. -Don't... [scoffs]
We can kind of see if there's any possibility
of a story that we might do when the Beard Awards are in the city,
with a title like, "Who Cares About the Beard Awards?"
or, "Does Anybody Care About the Beard Awards?"
or, "What Awards... Do Awards Really Matter to People?"
I think that's an idea that it could be...
-[man 1] Well, see-- -...pardon the pun, very meaty?
-[laughing] Or it could be, you know... -[man] Vegetabley.
-Or it could be thin, thin gruel. -Thin gruel.
I've been trying to get in touch with Jeff.
Matt keeps talking to me,
but Jeff has been impossible to get in touch with.
I've hit him up online, I've stopped by his job,
I hit up his...
ex on Facebook.
It's just, I don't know,
and I don't think he wants to talk to me for the story.
[man 2] All right, well, keep at it. You gotta get 'em both.
I know, it just helps the story to have both of 'em,
but it's just been...
I don't think he wants to be a part of it.
-Yeah. Well, we need 'em both. -Yeah.
'Cause that's the story, right? It's the family thing, so...
-All right. I'm on it. -All right. Keep at it.
-All right. Later. -Let me know. Bye. Take care.
Let's just drink our beers. Let's not talk about it.
-I didn't even say anything yet. -Is that okay?
I know, I know, I just... Let's just not go down that road, please.
I was just gonna say that, like...
Like, look at this fucking place.
It's...
Tell me... tell me you couldn't see us in a place like this.
This place is fuckin' cool, yes.
-Yeah, it is. -Yeah, I know, I know.
-And it's big. -Yes.
That's all I was saying.
I get it for you, man, it's like you have this...
You have a boring job that you hate,
you know, and, like, making the transition to,
like, running a fucking brewery, that's a no-brainer. All right?
But, like...
And I don't want this to come across the wrong way, all right?
But for me, it's like, I love my life.
And I know I'm very fortunate to be able to say that,
but, like, I... I love... I love working at Dark Matter, man.
I love... I love my shitty garage brewery,
and I... I love my girlfriend, man.
And I love that I get to fucking spend time with her.
And I'm not... I'm not trying to throw that in your face, okay?
-No... you're right. No... -But I just, I...
When I think about all that, I don't know why I would...
I would give that up to, like...
to work more and to fucking stress more.
-I hear all that. -Okay.
And you're right. My job fucking sucks.
-And you're absolutely right. -Right, I...
Look, man, I just...
I just know that you have so much fucking potential.
That's all.
And even if you try to stay in the same place,
everything around you is gonna change,
and everything you think is cool now isn't gonna be cool in...
whenever it's not cool.
And I just wanna watch you grow while everyone else around you grows.
-That's all. That's all it is, man. -[Jeff sighs]
I just wanna see you finally get rewarded.
You're fucking good at everything you do,
and you have great people around you, and that's not an accident.
And I just want to see you fucking get rewarded for it. That's it.
-Okay. Okay. And you've said it, man. -And I've had it--
-I did. I said it, and now... -[stammers] I'm processing it.
You've said it and I've heard it, and let's--
-I'm gonna piss my pants... -You do that.
-...if I don't get up right now. -Please, get the fuck out of here.
-All right. -[chuckling] Go. Go.
Jesus.
-[bartender] Can I get you something? -Uh, yes.
-I will have another TV Party, please. -[bartender] Okay.
Thank you.
-Thank you. -[bartender] Cheers.
[softly] What the fuck?
[sighs]
Fucking asshole.
Fuck.
Nah. Come on. One more.
Hey, your, uh, your buddy from New City texted you.
You're unbelievable, man.
You needed the push.
You're welcome.
-Babe. -[Noelle] Hey, babe.
You won't fucking believe my night.
-Matt fucked the brewery. -[crying]
Whoa.
What's going on?
-[stammering] -You okay?
-[sniffles] -Talk to me.
[softly] I'm pregnant.
[gasping] What?
I took a test today.
[sniffling]
[Jeff whispers] Hey. No. Okay.
[Noelle continues crying]
[sighing]
[bell ringing]
Jeff!
It's cold as fuck out there.
-How you doing, man? -I'm, uh, I'm okay.
-Jason from New City. -Yeah. I know.
-Been talking with your brother. -Yeah.
-Been trying to get a hold of you. -Mmm-hmm.
-It's been very tough. -Here I am.
You're a hard person to get a hold of.
Yeah. Um...
-Do you want a beer? -I would love a beer.
Yeah?
[Jason] Look, can we talk?
[Jeff] Yeah. [Jason] All right.
Your brother keeps talking to me. Why won't you talk to me?
[Jeff chuckles]
[Jeff] I don't know, man, um...
My brother and I are very different people.
[sighs]
Mmm, give me some of that.
Mmm.
[knocking on door]
-Hey, guys! -[Noelle] Hi.
Hi.
-[Sherri] Hey. -Welcome.
-Hi, beautiful. -Hi. How are you?
[Sherri] Mmm...
[Matt] Hey, man.
-Oh, have a seat. -[sighs]
[groans] I will if I can.
[both laugh]
-Looks really good. -Mmm-hmm.
[Matt] You're gonna be a great fucking dad.
How you doing?
Yeah, we'll see.
I'm okay.
-Yeah? -Yeah.
[Jeff] Listen, dude.
We just kinda sat and talked through...
[Jeff] If, uh, if we're gonna do this, we gotta do it together.
All right? No more... no more bullshit behind my back, okay?
[Noelle] Yeah. [Sherri] Good.
[Noelle] So I feel kinda crazy, but...
-That's totally normal... -[Matt] I promise, man.
[Jeff] Okay. All right.
[Matt] Hey, I'm excited.
[Jeff] Yeah.
Uh, who, uh, who wants a beer?
-That's my cue. -[Matt] I do.
[soft rock music playing]