I’d like to introduce a new category in my blog, “Craft Focus.” While it may seem surprising that I’d choose a distillery and not a brewery for my first blog on this topic, take a step into my brain for a moment: This blog is first & foremost a personal expression of how I learn about craft beverages, and I’m sorely lacking in the spirits … Continue reading Craft Focus: FEW Spirits
Mikerphone Brewing is all about “craft beer inspired by music,” with pun-ily named brews–I Want My IPA and Daft Funk to name a couple. Mikerphone is currently “gypsy-brewing”-they don’t have a permanent brewing facility of their own, so they use space at another- but plans to open a permanent facility in Elk Grove Village, right near O’Hare Airport. You can hear head brewer Mike Pallen … Continue reading Quick Draw: Smells Like Bean Spirit Batch #2
The first gose I ever came across was Off Color’s Troublesome, a “wheat ale brewed with coriander.” I found this (not inaccurate) description to be a brilliant tactic for putting one of Chicago’s first gose beers on the market under familiar terms. Especially considering that, as the German Beer Institute points out, this type of beer is actually “brewed with slightly salted water,” which might … Continue reading Style Study: Gose
“A pepper is a fruit filled with air instead of juicy flesh. … The fruit gets its heat from capsaicin, a substance that appears in highest concentrations in the inner membrane of the fruit and in its seeds. While capsaicin doesn’t cause a physical burn, it does send a signal to the brain that something’s on fire. The brain responds by issuing pain signals in … Continue reading Baby, It’s Chili Outside (Ingredient Study: Chili Peppers)
(a sour Belgian Blonde ale aged in wine barrels with Buddha’s hand citron zest, yuzu, and blood oranges) Hoppy New Year, beer-lovers! (See what I did there? I said “hoppy” instead of … oh, you get it? … K.) Well anyway, welcome to 2016. December was a busy month for me, and I slacked off quite a bit when it came to this here blog. I produced … Continue reading Quick Draw: Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Citrus
This year, I attended FoBAB (The Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beers) in two capacities, both as a fest-goer and as a volunteer. I drank my way through FoBAB on Friday night (6-10pm), and returned on Saturday night to pour beer samples (6-10pm) and help with tear-down (10pm-2am).* Matt also attended as a fest-goer, a VIP guest, and a volunteer. So together, we amassed a pretty … Continue reading FoBAB 2015: So Many Beers, So Little My Liver
On Saturday, August 29th, Noon Whistle Brewing held their first barrel-aged bottle release at … you guessed it … noon! Bob Ross Did It is a 10.20% ABV scotch ale aged for many months in Heaven Hill barrels. Matt picked up this modestly priced $15 bomber on the weekend of the successful release, and, after saving it in the cellar for a few months, we decided to crack it … Continue reading Quick Draw: Bob Ross Did It
This past Friday, Matt and I were privileged to be featured guests on local podcast, ABV Chicago. Co-hosts Ryan and Craig meet every week to dive into side by side tasting comparisons of a lineup of beers that are picked based on a theme of their choosing. They often feature rare, hard-to-obtain bottles, and Episode #92 was no different. Since Matt and I just visited … Continue reading On a Gueuze Crueuze with ABV Chicago
This is a repost of an old piece I did last year. God bless Belgium. ——- “My legacy is my beer. I hope that it will continue to live.” – Rosa Merckx, former Head Brewmaster of Brewery Liefmans This week I’m highlighting Brewery Ommegang‘s delicious Rosetta, a Belgian Kriek (“kriek” meaning “cherry”) blend named after Rosa Merckx, the first female brewmaster of Belgium’s Brewery Liefmans. Brewmaster Rosa goes … Continue reading Santé, Belgique
(This is Part Two of a post recounting Matt and my trip to Belgium and Netherlands this past summer. Read Part One here.) In Bruges: “If I lived on a farm… ” You know that village in the movie Hot Fuzz, where Simon Pegg’s character gets sent? Where the village is perfect in every way? Where there is a murdering band of cloaked citizens lurking in … Continue reading Belgium Part 2: Bruges & Antwerp, then onto the Netherlands
Worth A Thousand Beers 