Craft Beer Store ‘Bottles and Cans’ Opens on Lincoln Avenue

After getting married last year, North Center residents Carly and Joe Katz are taking the next step in their relationship: opening a business.

The two picked a spot on North Center’s main corridor, and after a year and a half of hard work, they’re proud owners of Bottles and Cans, a new craft beer and high-end liquor store opening at 4109 N. Lincoln Avenue on Thursday.

“After the wedding we just kind of decided to do it,” Carly Katz said. “…We started putting the idea together a year and half ago. We kind of laugh, because we’re not really sure where it stopped being, ‘Well, let’s just look into this’ and became, ‘We’re actually doing this.’”

Bottles and Cans is planning to be a high-end liquor store with a selection of more than 100 different beers, as well as other wines and spirits. Katz says she plans to focus more on craft beers, and her team knows the scoop behind each ale.

"We kind of laugh, because we’re not really sure where it stopped being, ‘Well, let’s just look into this’ and became, ‘We’re actually doing this.’”

But while the duo lives just two blocks from the new store, Katz says she’s nervous about the new business venture in North Center.

“We’ve put a lot into this, and the nerves are definitely there,” Katz admitted. “I just fear people walking by and not stopping in to see what we’re about. But so far, we’ve been welcomed by this neighborhood, especially by (neighboring restaurant) Browntrout. They’ve been a godsend for us, helping in any way they can.”

Katz says she and her husband want to focus on maintaining a mom-and-pop feel by holding weekend tasting events so residents can try a product before they buy it. In addition, she says the store will have an art wall with some pieces from one of her favorite artists to check out and even purchase.

And with trick or treating at the Northcenter Town Square slated for Oct. 27, Katz says to stop by for a Halloween tasting event.

“I’m not sure on the name yet,” Katz began with a laugh. “But we’ll have a little something like, ‘Little Ghoul Apple Cider,’ to go along with something a little more fun, like – ‘Mommy Ghoul Apple Cider.’”

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