04 May 2026
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It's not often a trained chef becomes a brewmaster, but when he does, the results are something special: think shaved black truffle lager, peeled grapefruit pilsner and a hyperseasonal rhubarb-lemon witbier (white beer).
These are just some of the brews at MICHELIN-Starred Moody Tongue in Chicago, Illinois, where co-owner and brewmaster Jared Rouben applies a chef’s mindset to beer, using specific ingredients to craft it with the same standards as any outstanding wine or spirit.
“If you're going to have a great, balanced restaurant, you have to have great service, great food, great wine, great spirits and great beer,” says Rouben.
From Culinary Student to Aspiring Brewmaster
Rouben’s journey into brewing started at the Culinary Institute of America, where he was enrolled as a culinary student. He wanted to join the wine club, but it required a minimum GPA and each event cost $25. So instead, he started a beer club — with no GPA requirement and a $1 entry fee.
He brought in breweries from across the Northeast and began using beer as an ingredient in desserts, making lemon Hefeweizen (a type of German white beer) cheesecake, apricot IPA sorbet and chocolate Dunkel (a dark larger) mousse. He also worked backward into savory dishes, using Vienna lager for pork shoulder and porter for brisket, for instance.
The spark was lit, but Rouben wasn’t yet on a path to becoming a brewmaster. “I didn't just love beer, I also loved wine, I loved everything about the culinary arts.”
The Fine Dining Experience That Changed Rouben’s View of Beer
He moved to Napa and took a position at the MICHELIN-Starred Martini House (now closed). On his days off, he explored farmers’ markets and began incorporating ingredients like pluots (a plum-apricot hybrid) into home brews as a side project.
“Instead of using the ingredient and putting it on a plate, I was using the ingredient and putting it in a glass,” he says. “My medium was no longer solid, it was liquid. Everything I was being taught in the kitchen, I was just applying that technique to brewing.”
In his quest to keep learning, Rouben worked at New York City’s Per Se, where he gained a new perspective on the beverage landscape. The focus on wines like Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne was impressive, but beer was largely absent.
“Beer really wasn't being represented in higher-end restaurants and that void was a bit of an aha moment” says Rouben. “I started to think about how I could weave beer back into what I love, which was food.”
Inside Rouben’s Vision for Food-Driven Craft Beer
He eventually attended brewing school, followed by 3 ½ years as the brewmaster at Goose Island. He collaborated with chefs like Paul Kahan and Stephanie Izard while developing his vision for Moody Tongue, which he opened in 2014 with his cousin and best friend, Jeremy Cohn.“The very first beer I made at Moody Tongue was the shaved black truffle lager,” says Rouben. “And I think I almost sank the company.”
“I love truffle, I love the aromatics, and I thought it had a really good place in a light lager where it could show itself in the same way as if you were shaving truffle on pasta with browned butter,” says Rouben. “But instead of actually physically shaving truffles, you're getting them in liquid form.”
It was paired with a 22-ounce aged ribeye, and it was a success.
That same truffle beer had another match, this one quite unexpected: a striking 12-layer German chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream, espresso-specked cheesecake, toasted pecan and coconut caramel. Rouben’s friend from culinary school, Shannon Morisson, has been coming into the kitchen since Moody Tongue first opened just to make the cake.
“It’s one of the craziest, most fun pairings — it’s just wildly good,” says Rouben.
Since that first beer, Rouben has developed hundreds more, all reflecting his culinary brewing philosophy while remaining approachable to both novice and avid craft beer drinkers.
That approach extends to naming. “I think a lot of times in the world of beer, there's a level of confusion by name, versus wine. If you order domestic pinot noir, you should get some cherry, a little cola.” Traditionally, that clarity hasn’t existed in beer.
He cites the Juiced Lychee IPA as an example. “If you know [food], you're going to know lychee. And if you know beer, you're going to know IPA. This way, both parties can understand what they’re ordering.”
The hyperseasonality of many Moody Tongue beers — there’s an entire farmers’ market series — flexes Rouben’s chef instincts and keeps guests returning for new flavors. Today, he might be pouring that rhubarb lemon wit; next, it could be strawberries, then raspberries.
Working alongside Chef James Bingham, dishes like kampachi with avocado, sesame and daidai (Japanese bitter orange), get an extra flourish when served with a sudachi (a Japanese citrus fruit similar to lime with notes of white pepper) rice lager.
“All I'm doing is using beer to showcase a fruit that provides acidity the same way you would if you were squeezing lime over your fish; I'm just giving it to you in a liquid form,” says Rouben.
“It’s not too complex. You just have to show up — the liquid will do everything you need it to do without really having to talk about it.”
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Hero image: Smoked Sturgeon Croquette with golden Osetra caviar and crème fraîche - paired with our Pressed Asian Pear Saison, and Tuna Tartare with Hudson Valley foie gras pearls, sesame and onion oil, and a brioche tart - paired with Cherry Berliner Weisse. © Erin Byrne/Moody Tongue
Thumb image: Langoustine "Snack" paired with Moody Tongue Yuzu Lager. © Jordano Studio/Moody Tongue
