Chicago is home to “Da Bears.” And now, the Chicago-born pope has “Da Beer.”
When Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Wednesday, he gifted the pontiff a four-pack of “Da Pope.” It is an American Mild Ale from Burning Bush Brewery and was one of several gifts the governor gave the pope to honor his Chicago roots.
“It really is one of the coolest things,” Burning Bush Brewery owner Brent Raska said. “It’s still sinking in and I keep pinching myself.”
Raska, a Presbyterian minister, names his beers after biblical themes and religious figures.
The brewery’s “Da Pope” brand was rolled out shortly after Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on May 8, 2025 -- the first pope from North America and the United States.
When Pritzker planned his meeting with the pope, he remembered tasting the company’s papal brew.
“Somebody from the governor’s office said hey, Gov. Pritzker wants to come here and try the beer. So he did come here last early June and was able to try the beer and was super generous with his time and photo ops with my family and with the staff and it was really down to Earth,” Raska said. “And then just this last Saturday, someone from his staff called and said hey, he’s going to the Vatican. He wants to bring your beer as a gift to Pope Leo. We’re like, yeah, absolutely, come on in, and so one of his staff came and picked it up.”
The beer’s papal connection turned it into one of the brewery’s top sellers, and there are only 36 cans left.
“When we released it last Memorial Day Weekend, we had 1,000 cans. We’re a very small brewery. We only can a couple times a year,” Raska said. “So I imagine those will probably be gone this weekend, and then we’ll be canning more hopefully in a few weeks and keep it going.”
It was unclear whether the pope, after a long day at the Vatican, would actually crack open a can of “Da Pope.”
But at least it will be cold. The pontiff told Pritzker that he would put the beer into the papal refrigerator.