Sophisticated Brews and Sustenance in the Windy City

Being There Part II

2011-10-30T11:06:00.007-05:00

Well, I need to empty my brain for Part II. If this was in time and in sequence, then I'm a bit buzzed already, but with the excitement and adrenalin, I'm going strong.

Among the second half highlights were the Dogfish Head end cap, which had many offerings, and we all tried different ones and shared due to the long lines. None were memorable, but all good.

My brother and I took time to attend the You be the Judge area. There we had a ticket along with 25 or so others. The session was led by two experienced beer judges. They took us through their process of judging, with actual scorecards and samples of the beers within known styles.

The first was Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale, a standard for it's style. We agreed before it was revealed that it did fit the profile nicely. Some people found weird tastes, but all that proved was that their palates were off. The other tasting was an IPA, again solid if only on the boundaries of some of the factors (color, nose, taste, body, etc.).

We located one of my targets - Funkworks, a Saison-only brewer in Colorado, and they had Imperial version of their standard Saison (higher in both abv and flavor), both of which were excellent. We also hit Boulevard, Cigar City (which really has some unusual tries), and The Bruery, the latter had limited selections based on timed releases. One might check there first to see the timings from this excellent Belgian style brewer.

At the end I essayed the Store, with a mere 15 minutes til close. It was a massive wall of tee shirts, hats, and such. Each buyer had a dedicated rep, who was served by the wall people, I got my few items and zinged out.

We walked about 5 blocks after release in a moderately cool night to a ritual burrito joint, and managed to navigate the bus system home.

In all the GABF remains the quintessential beer tasting. With stamina and perseverance you can sample upwards of 60 one oz. samples in your 4 hours, all beer lovers should try it at least once.

It's most fun to share and compare with friends, and in my case family - I'm lucky to have such a caring brother. Thanks Dave!

Being There Part I

2011-10-24T13:06:00.013-05:00

If getting there was a relative snap, being there is a challenge. With 465 brewers with booths serving up to 2,400 different beers, you have to have a plan. We did, and that was one reason my brother wanted me there.

Crucially, a map is provided online within 2 weeks of the start. I noted immediately that the entrance is very near the GABF store, and figured I could buy the swag I needed at the end so as not to carry it around (it was a close call, more on that later).

Right off the entrance we had targeted the California section, specifically 21-st Amendment and Alesmith at booths A2 and A4. 21-st Amendment cans their beers, and we got a taste of a few, none particularly memorable, but the crowds from entry were so immense, we slid past Alesmith and decided to head north, toward the Goose Island's in the Group C teens.

During this Friday session, all brewers had at least 4 offerings, many 6 or more, and one had their whole lineup (see ahead)! So you had to be selective. We tended to try a few (2-3) at each location, and started with some heavier brews (like Porters and Stouts, etc.), so it was a welcome relief when we hit our first biggie, New Glarus @ D18. They were pouring their Raspberry Tart (which won another gold in it's category) and that was very refreshing. They were also serving their Black Top, a black IPA that also won in it's category. Loved it, quite a distinctive roasty malt with a very fresh hop to it (I was able to buy it when I returned). Nearby, we spied the Allagash booth, always a favorite, and they were pouring a version of their coolship offering. This is a style invented in Belgium, where the natural yeast is allowed to ferment the beer, usually resulting in a sour tone. This was no exception, one my favorites at the show, perfect sourness with a modest malt backbone, very refreshing too. I can't remember it's name, but I don't think you will find it anywhere, a one time try :(.

I had specifically targeted in my mind if not the map the Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery at E14, famous for it's IPA, in this case a version on offer but with some fruit, quite good, but the star was a beer called LSD, an Herb and Spiced beer, with lavender prominent. It won a Silver, so glad we tried it. Intriguing! The other side of group E was southwest beers, so we tried a bunch from Austin, many unusual and outstanding. Had a soured Dubbel if you can believe it, not great but interesting.

The Brewery Guild pavilion in the middle of the floor was offering many unique beers from many different areas, my brother made a point of going there several times.

About 90 minutes in, we lost our two compatriots (temporarily), and Dave and I went into the panel discussion in the Brewers Studio Pavilion. There were three folks sitting around a raised dais with microphones, and an audience of 35 or so sitting. I'm not sure who the other two were, but I recognized Garrett Oliver on the right, from Brooklyn Brewery. He was flogging his new book and speaking about beer in olden times, like around the Revolution. We sat and were offered several tastings of something from Brooklyn quite good, I think it was called Confluence. The most beneficial part was the time taken to rest our legs for a few minutes, quite a relief.

From there we slid over to the mecca of Shorts Brewing, which had an end-cap position @ K on which they displayed some 25 taps, most all of their ongoing offerings. It should be noted these guys don't care about style, that is they make all styles and then some, and all are well made. They are located in the Upper regions of Michigan, and don't export their beer outside the state. I was able, however, to try some when they were here in 2010 for Chicago Beer Week, thus my targeting this place. Here we tried their Bloody Beer, very much like drinking a fizzy Bloody Mary. They make a beer called Key Lime Pie that is the bomb. I will quote their website on another of my favorites:

Nicie Spicie - A Northern Michigan spiced wheat ale made with a 50/50 blend of malted barley and malted white wheat. Packed with fresh citrus zest, then spiced with coriander and a three peppercorn blend, this light bodied ale is complex yet scrumptious. Exemplified by its gorgeous golden color, this beer is crisp and refreshing.

The combination of the peppers and coriander is very interesting, it's not so spicy you think it will burn your mouth, but it dances on your senses for a long time.

Sometime during this hour we found our other friends, and entreated them to join us at Shorts. All told we spent upwards of 45 minutes sampling every beer on offer from Shorts. They were our star of the show.

Next up Part 2

Getting There

2011-10-05T15:49:00.005-05:00

I managed to get to the 2011 GABF due to good circumstances. I snagged a one week visit to Fort Worth for my current client, the week that the GABF was held! As a result, I flew to DFW on Sunday, worked 4 hard days, and a few hours on Friday, before getting on a mid-day flight to Denver.

Our session started at 5:30pm on Friday. As noted before, I told my brother (who did pay for my ticket, thanks!!) I would never go again on a Saturday session.

My brother and sister-in-law kindly picked me up at the airport and we proceeded directly to "the cousins" home (who for privacy reasons will go unnamed). They live in a nice section of Denver which is a converted Air Force base.

Their home is within walking distance to a bus line, which runs relatively quickly downtown. We caught the bus around 4pm, and on this short half hour ride I discovered that our tickets were not purchased until Monday - only 4 days ago!? On top of that the tickets were purchased via Craigslist from a guy on the East Coast!! (I had planned my visit some 3-4 weeks prior so I had thought the tickets were in hand shortly thereafter). I was a bit flummoxed at this news, however it was explained to me and proven at the site that tickets are relatively available, even though the show does sell out.

In any event, we had tickets and arrived in front of the site with maybe 25 minutes to spare. I had scoped out the food carts in advance, and we decided on an Argentinian sandwich prior to entry, a good solid choice. It would alleviate the need for food until we departed the session.

With the long line that snakes around the convention center, it took us some 20 minutes after opening to enter. On line I chatted with a guy from Houston about the micro-beer scene, and I saw a guy in front of me with a Finch's shirt (a relatively new Chicago brewer) but Finch's wasn't in attendance at this Fest. hmm. We also spoke with a volunteer who suggested we focus on one style of beer to taste. We did not heed this advice, and I'm glad we didn't.

After scanning our tickets, and turning these over to the glassware folks, we were in! All in all, a safe and secure entry to the world's biggest beer tasting, and we had a posse of four to enjoy the offerings.

(next time - We're in! What do we do now?!)

GABF Winners

2011-10-03T10:15:00.005-05:00

Well, it's all over except for the shouting! We did get to taste some winners, but before a full review here are some random thoughts -

1. It might be worth sticking around the GABF for a couple of days, maybe even volunteer, because with some 2,000+ brews on hand it was impossible within a single 4 hour session to taste more than say 50 or so. By the way, 50 oz. with the high abv is like drinking a 6 pack. We did take a bus and walk a bit on the way home, no casualties.

2. It is an overwhelming experience, and it is the best way to try what you have not tried before from around the country, e.g. Cigar City, Minneapolis

Town Hall Brewery, etc..

3. Friday - a superior choice to Saturday. I've written about our Saturday experience before, and while solid, this Friday session was outstanding. Most noticeable, each vendor had 5-6 offerings, versus maybe 2-3 on a Saturday. Not to mention the End Caps, like Shorts who brought everything (some 15-20 beers). Much easier to be selective. Also, the booths were much better manned, faster and more knowledgeable service, I think many vendors go home after the Saturday afternoon session, and therefore skip Saturday eve.

4. Many one offs that we'll never see again, but well worth it. The highlights - a coolship offering from Allagash, the LSD from Minneapolis Town Hall ( which won a Silver award), and a soured Belgian dubbel from an Austin brewer I have forgotten.

5. This year there were a few scheduled side sessions. As you age, getting off your feet for a few moments, and listening to the likes of Garrett Oliver or a certified Cicerone, is crucial.

6. Fun, lots of happy slightly buzzed folks enjoying the moment. Chatted with more than a few, I remember the couple from Indiana, the guy who was as amazed as I at the sour tasting we stood at.

Plus we made another side trip to Avery - wow, more on all of this soon.

Anticipations for the GABF

2011-09-17T09:21:00.001-05:00

Though I might be more like a Savor guy, that is older and wiser about beer and a need to avoid large rabid crowds, I will be attending my second Great American Beer Fest in Denver a mere two weeks from now. My brother obtained the tickets, and the timing worked out for me. While I attended my first in 2009 with him and cousin Daniel, they both went last year as well. We had some learnings from both.

One learning that I will follow absolutely, including this one, is avoiding the Saturday evening (last) session at all costs. In 2009 we attended the Saturday session (there is one on Saturday afternoon for industry participants, that one I would attend if I could). Our session seemed to bring out all the frat boys who made it a bit crazy. Not the worst part, however, the worst part was that most of the booths were down to the dregs, like a party where it's almost over and the host pulls out the Blatz (no longer Milwaukee's finest!) that has been in the back of the fridge since last Christmas.

Another learning is to make a side trip to Avery, in Boulder, as they pulled out some special brews not to be seen beyond their little brewery pub. And tastings were emphasized, that is small pours for quite little ($2-$3 bucks a pop).

Finally, the session itself is long, 5:30 to 10pm I believe, far too long to be sampling constantly, and this year the organizers have added lots of side sessions (ala Savor) at the pavilions that seem interesting and worthy of attendance. This will be a good break, and allow for better consumption patterns.

All in all, a beer lovers mecca with over 2,200 different beers served, and some swag to boot.

Musings on Fort Worth

2011-09-04T21:18:00.001-05:00

I have spent at least one week per month since March in Fort Worth, Texas for work with a local company that is growing and needs much assistance, from me a Management Professional. I do enjoy teaching people how to do things right. Never had a complaint afterwards.

In any event among my travels I have found a few gems in the Fort Worth area.

The first that comes to mind is the local NPR station, KXT, a progressive Rock station, or that's my take on it. Lots of vintage tunes, not the anthem rock you here on most oldies, but solid tunes from the classics to Texas rock to plain progressive. It manages to hit the right notes that I find in Chicago-land from WXRT, without the commercials which is a great relief. Always worth popping on the car radio. With online availability, I may make this my go to....a quote on the home page says it all, "The Doors, The White Stripes, and Bob Marley all in one set, just another reason I love @kxtradio."

I can't think of one beer mecca here, but I do like the Flying Saucer. It has a nice bar food lineup, is easy to find in downtown Ft. Worth, has about 80 taps if memory serves. Usually a good local selection, Rahr and Sons, etc. and $3 pints for Texas brews on Sunday, worth a special trip that day. Ginger Man is very good as well, more contained, but try sitting outside at the Flying Saucer on a lazy Sunday afternoon and you can watch the day go by in heavenly bliss.

There is a great deal of good basic barbecue, the kind where you get a two meat platter with 2 veg and cornbread for $12, a pretty standard go-to for lunch or dinner. Though Tex-Mex abounds there is not a whole lot of real Mexican that I've found in a limited time here.

One place I don't miss on my trips is a Chinese place called Szechuan. Their menu has hundreds of items with many variations, from Mu Shu to black beans sauce dishes to hot and spicy. I good place to come if you crave seafood. Another is the Japanese restaurant Tokyo Cafe. Very inventive Sushi chef, recently went and tried a pork fat appetizer, like the fatty part of bacon, lightly grilled, delicious. Pigged out one evening by telling the chef to give me his choices up to $40, I was amazed and bloated afterwards. Just lovely, fresh, and different.

Finally, a parting shot. When I have enough time prior to an airline departure back home, there is a restaurant in the A terminal of the DFW airport that kicks. It is a small chain seafood spot called Pappadeaux's. They have nailed the sauces to go with really nice seafood that will kick your ass. Last time I had a crab cake with a buerre blanche and capers sauce that was sublime.

I hope the heat will be off soon and my remaining trips will be cooler. It is a delightful area.

San Diego here we come again

2010-09-21T13:55:00.003-05:00

Since I haven't written anything since last October, I thought I would review a recent trip to San Diego, many thanks to my Brother Dave and Sister in law Dominique for rescuing me in many ways, thanks again.

I had worked in upper Washington State for a project which closed on a Tuesday. I flew to Long Beach Airport near LA for a new job, and found that I couldn't rent a car due to my credit situation. Dominique picked me up and lent me her car. I used it for a job in LA on Wed and Thursday. I made it back to SD around 2pm Thursday and spend some time with the parents before heading out for a few beers with Dave.

We started at Toronado but this may now be my least favorite location in San Diego. Overly crowded, full of beer snobs, and not as great a selection as I recall. We left after one brew and headed for a newer site called Small Bar (same name as a good bar in Chicago). Great selection, great vibe, and killer jukebox music. A place to settle in, we did for a few, then finished at the Blind Lady, which is a very nice place run by very nice folks. We missed the kitchen there which was sorely needed, but they had a good list. All three places showed more than 20 handpicked, mostly local taps that ranged from Stone, Russian River, Pizza Port, and many more. Thanks again to my hosts, I managed to fly out Friday am none the worse for wear.

A trip west for family and the Great American Beer Festival

2009-10-02T14:48:00.008-05:00

Musings on a 6 day sojourn to Denver and San Diego

This trip originated as a visit to see my parents, was then augmented by an offer to attend the GABF in Denver. Along the way much food and drink consumed, so I thought I would review a few of the places we went to.

The Denver experience was great, time with my brother and sister-in-law and her cousin and wife. Mucho thanks for hosting. I really enjoyed Boulder, we made several trips there, including a wonderful Italian dinner, but the highlight had to be the Avery Brewery/tasting room. Since it was GABF week, they had special rotating kegs on all week. Many were versions of sour beers, infused with Bret, many were good, a few awesome, the bottled one Dave bought (Sue Generous) was a good example, well soured with plenty of flavor behind. Despite the industrial park setting, they have a nice outdoor cafe, lots of seating, well worth a stop when in Boulder. The other pubs we tried there were so, so, forgettable and now I have.

The GABF was wild, some 5,000+ folks each session on the floor of the Colorado Convention Center. We got there at the 5:30 opening time for the last session on Saturday and the line was at least a 1/2 mile long. In the end even though we got in 40 minutes after opening we still had plenty of time. Must have sampled 50+ one oz. tastings. Some decent pub type food. Huge floor area, lots of brewers were down to one offering, nowhere near the 2100 offerings at the beginning, never go again on Saturday. Highlights from Allagash, Dogfish Head, Southhampton, New Glarus, The Bruery, and many more. Tried to take notes, impossible. But the winners were announced by then, we tried to hit them to see what the judges were thinking. A must event once for beer lovers, as I've learned since the off site events make a big difference, we'll hit more next time.

We tried to stay in nominal shape, did a nice hike in Boulder, rode a $2K lovely bicycle in San Diego, and had a long walk in SD. Overall I gained weight but only a pound or two.

San Diego, recently named top beer city by Men's Journal, included The Blind Lady, Tornado, and the Linckery. All outstanding in their own way, Toronado a killer place. Some 30 beers on tap, and on Mondays all are $3.00. Amazing. Great local selection which I was seeking, decent Belgian offerings, great atmosphere, top notch.

Overall, I'm still liking the Chicago scene for food, and we did make 5th in that MJ poll, but I would swap our beer scene for SD. It's getting closer though with the recent additions of Metropolitan Brewing, Half Acre, and Publican.

Retailer Closeouts, Brewers that Care

2009-04-06T11:10:00.000-05:00

I've had several experiences now with the end closeout bins at Binny's Skokie location, not the baskets, but the end cap areas or right in their normal spot on the self. They have a lot of American micros, and I suspect some aren't rotated or replaced when they are old. It seems these are usually bombers from brewers with a wide selection, discounted below $5, saving you at least a couple of bucks. Since many beers do not have package-dating on them it's hard to tell how old they are. I've had a few problems with these purchases, mostly from the beer going flat or becoming oxidized. I suppose it's buyer beware, but I took up this issue with a recent purchase right to the brewer and got a wonderful response.

Rogue to their credit, has wonderful people. From their website I sent an email about getting a flat beer that I had wanted to try. It was their Christmas beer. They replied within 24 hours notifying me they would replace my purchase, no questions asked. In fact a box came to me straight from the brewery, with 2 bombers to replace mine.!! A day later I got a package with a Dead Guy t-shirt! Very friendly followup and great service in my book, the new beers were fresh (no surprise as they were straight from the brewery), and the t-shirt is very nice!!

I don't know if you would get this type of service from all brewers, but it's worth contacting them directly if you have a problem bottle. A good brewer will want to know about customer and distributor problems, not bury them. Give props to Rogue for caring about their customers.

Smoke 'em if You Got 'em

2009-04-03T07:58:00.007-05:00

For this months Session, the subject is smoked beers. Thanks go to prolific, well respected Philly-based writer Lew Bryson for hosting.

In the past I've had some great smoked beers, of course the great German Rauchbiers from Schlenkerla . or the fabulous Ham on Rye from Three Floyds which tasted just like a liqufied sandwich and didn't need food to go with it.

For this Session I'm tasting Goose Island's newly released Smoked Bock, only available at the Clybourn brewpub. This bock is brewed with 75% smoked malt from the American malter Breiss, backed by bock malt to give it a solid backbone. It's a nice chestnut brown with a cloudy look and small tan head. The nose is amazing with deep peat smokiness and hints of leather. The taste follows the smell with the bock hitting up front with a lingering smoke aftertaste. This beer ways in slightly over 7% abv but is not heavy or overpowering. Goes really well with the Pulled Pork sandwich on offer.

This is a man's beer, with a nod to the original intent and style of brewing beer. The intent and primary use of beer in the Middle Ages was for sustenance, and a bacteria free source of libation. "Don't forget to pick up a growler of supper tonight honey" - but it would likely be a 3%er or less. Beer was often brewed with open wood fires and flames lapping up the side of the brew kettle. An outdoor activity for sure. It's a style of beer to remind us of simpler times, maybe happier times?

Later at the monthly BA gathering I tried Stone's Stone Smoked Porter, a roasty porter not as chocolaty or deep tasting as most but a good support for the smoky flavor. It was more muted than the Goose beer, maybe just not as fresh. And from San Diego no less! A good beer, but we should probably stick with our locals when we can.

Urban Belly - A great strip mall find

2009-03-31T11:25:00.001-05:00

Urban Belly is a new "Foody" restaurant opened by a veteran from Le Lan (named Zagat's top Asian Restaurant 2008) that focuses on a limited menu, knows what it does well, is BYOB, and has a stark yet friendly feel with long tables. These sharing tables encourage the sharing of at least your libations, if not your food. We did share our meals and enjoyed them with a couple of brought beers. This could be a new template for a whole new way of dining in these troubled times.

The big question you have on entering and settling is, should you be paying $11-$13 for a noodle dish, $7-$9 for rice dishes, and $7-$8 for dumplings in this strip-mall setting? The answers from our recent experience are yes, yes, and a qualified yes.

On a recent trip we entered for a late lunch and were greeted by the superb wait staff / cashier lady. From the front counter you can see right into the small kitchen, and heading the troops was the chef and co-owner Bill Kim.

The menu holds a mere handful of selections from each of the three primary areas (mentioned above) plus several side dishes. We had the pleasure of sharing #9 Phat Rice, which is a sampling of all three rices #6,7,and 8. The combination included a succulent short rib beef and scallion portion, smoky and soft pork belly and pineapple, and refreshing organic pea shoots and Thai basil. We also had #14 Asian egg noodles stir fried with spicy garlic chili, Tofu, and Chinese Eggplant, with just the right hotness level with subtly toothsome noodles. We had no room for a dumpling order, but trust they are as carefully prepared.

As other diners were enjoying their selections, we felt compelled to savor every last morsel of our lovelies. Lunch was uncrowded and unhuried. The spicy noodles paired well with a final beloved bottle of New Glarus Imperial Weizen from last summer.

Note that the neighboring store is a laundromat, and that parking is not allowed on that side of the lot. Not a big issue. Overall, an A rating for this surprisingly nice and relaxed high end noodle haven, an oasis in a strip mall!!

Comments from the host blogger and guest MrQuartetman.

Recent Evolution of Chicagoland Beer Retailing

2009-03-29T19:25:00.000-05:00

Here is a 30 thousand foot view of the beer retailing market. Why the review now? It's important to know how far beer retailing has come, and where it's going. The continued growth and increasing share of micro-brewed beer depends on a healthy retail environment. And much of the retail improvement has come over the past 2-3 years.

Witness these observations:

- Most Whole Foods stores now have good multi-pack and single bottle beer lineups, including 6 drafts at the Grill at the new Sauganash location
- Lush Wine & Spirits, with two locations, Drinks over Dearborn, and In Fine Spirits are all new in the past 2 years, and are similarly small shops which stock primarily singles of hard to find micros, and some vintage ones too.
- The re-birth of Armanetti's on Lincoln (and the others still in the chain), now a much better location for micros.
- The growth and commitment of Binny's, which has hired some of the best beer experts in the city, capped by the giant selection and tasting bar at the new South Loop location.
- Archer Liquors has become a major internet retailer.
- Even local grocery stores have stepped up to the plate.

This commitment has incentivized brewers across the board to responded to and fill this growing demand. Now we have new bottles coming from Flossmoor Station, Metropolitan, Half Acre, and a renewed commitment to specialty bombers by Goose Island. We have many more varieties of high quality Belgian beers now. We have drawn distribution interest from major West Coast players like Lost Abbey/Port Brewing and even a Wisconsin brewer (Tyranena).

Bars have upped their lists as well, witness the growth in the bars qualifying as beer destinations for Chicago as defined by Beer Advocate.

These are good times indeed, and the perishable nature of beer will keep supply and demand in check. It's much easier now to get the style and precise beer you want. Much easier to find a single of that beer for tasting. Much easier to compare prices across the internet sites of the predominant retailers. And much easier to find it close to your home or office.

We have one of the best markets environments for the purchase of beer. It's all due to the changing demand of the Chicagoland beer drinker - keep those microbrews coming.

It's All Over Except for the Shouting

2009-03-24T08:06:00.007-05:00

Our very own Great Lakes Brewing News, available in print at most beer bars and brewpubs, recently hosted the "National IPA Championship" at various venues around the Midwest and Northeast. I'm guessing New York City falls into the Great Lakes area definition, as that is where the final taste-off was held. The full bracket layout with results is here.

I note that both craft brewers and brewpubs were represented. As many of the brewpubs don't have bottle production, we'll never see them here. They probably had the advantage vs. the commercial production entries since they could produce a "one-off" version of their best try. Indeed, the winner was from a brewpub, Laurelwood Brewing Company, Portland, OR.

Laurelwood was the only brewpub in the "final four" - the others included Tyranena's Bitter Woman, a favorite of mine from Wisconsin, Big Sky's Big Sky IPA, and Rogue's Yellow Snow IPA. Happily all these are more or less available in the greater Chicagoland market. Find them if you can and if you love hoppy beer.

I find that IPA's are a good gateway beer for novices. There are few ball breakers in this style, rather just good spicy beers, with solid malt backbones, usually around 6% or less alcohol by volume. Other locals to seek out include the highly loved Two Hearted from Bells, Dark Horse IPA, and Arcadia's India Pale Ale. all from our neighbors in Michigan. And of course Goose Island makes a very good one, it just wasn't in this competition.

Note: the Title of this blog entry is a "shout out" to my late friend Steve Wlodarczyk whom I got the saying from (usually a reference to a disputed competition or tragedy) and was a great lover of beer. The next one's for you Steve.

Rare Beers Get Another Friend in the Market

2009-03-22T08:55:00.004-05:00

Lust Wine and Spirits has of yet no website (a blog only), two locations (one in Roscoe Village and one near UIC in University Village), and a focus on wine, with a sophisticated owner (the Twisted Spoke guys) is a rare and good / great beer retail location in Chicagoland. MrQuartetman and I paid a visit to the University Village location in early March, and despite a mere one cooler of beer, they have an excellent beer lady (we met her) and some nice rare selections.

The shop holds tens of wines, lots of good ones, and a long wooden bar with wine selections and one beer tap (out when we were there), and a quite small footprint overall.

According to the beer lady this is the go to place for Goose Island's rare bottles. It may be the only place that has bombers of Extremely Naughty Goose, and it's no wonder it's only here, at $30 per bottle. Mr. Hall (Goose owner) apparently asked them to sell it as a rarity (to pay for the new website?). It is a great ale, but too pricy for us. Try this rarity at Goose Clybourn, currently on tap for no more than $7.

They also have Hitachino's Commemorative Ale, Poperings Hommel ale, Sam Adam's Double Bock, and several more rare singles, no sixpacks here, no macros. Most bottles were fairly priced considering the rarity.

This place joins West Lakeview Liquors as among the few retail locations in Chicagoland where you can find unique and even well "aged" beers.

We recently ran into Sam's Clybourn beer buyer recently and noted that they carry some rarities, like the 2002 Aventinus, a wheat dopplebock, which the maker ages in it's own mountain cellars. So in a pinch you can now find a few places around the city to pick up a well aged beer. Not all beers hold up well over time, they usually must be bottle conditioned (live yeast still in the bottle) and higher alcohol (usually above 8% by volume). Bottle conditioned Ales that are well aged can be spectacular.

I would site one I had recently as the beer of the year so far, a 2003 version of Bare Trees, a wheatwine (reviewed in detail at the link by dOb, the guy who brought it to the tasting, thank you man) made by Two Brothers. Sublime.

Good to see these stores know that some beers age as well as most wines. Great to have them around and I hope they keep up with more well aged beers.

A Nice Spot on a Golf Course?

2009-03-21T14:01:00.002-05:00

Yes, the Wilmette Public Golf Club off Lake Ave. has a totally rebuilt clubhouse with a hoppin' dinner location. It serves as the 19th hole for golfers but it's much more than that.

We went on a Friday with neighbors who know one of the serving staff. That helps this review for sure, but the food was very well done. Seafood or Fish fry platters for all, and all were enjoyed. A nice starter salad, plus full plate (two options) with each entree make this a bagain meal around $12 per head. Now on top of that they have decent taps, including Sam Adams, Fat Tire, and Anchor Steam. A big full menu beyond the Friday fish specials, from sandwiches to steaks. For the food and atmosphere, a B+ and considering the value in a A's for sure. The beer list could use more micros, but not a bad selection considering.

Great for families or couples going out, the only complaint is that the crowd is older, no teens or 20's here. Well we weren't looking for a disco anyway. Much fun and good value food to be had.

Update on the Craft Beer Segment by the WSJ

2009-03-18T13:26:00.003-05:00

From today's WSJ, paper of the American Dream, craft beer is doing well, even in tough times. Included are comments by the Metropolitan folks, our newest makers of craft beer (mostly lagers which is fine with me).

Lagers to Love, There are More Than a Few Out There

2009-03-06T02:00:00.009-06:00

I don't submit for all of these monthly blogging Sessions built around a theme, but #25 is dear to my heart, entitled Love Lagers. As the host The Beer Nut describes it,

"It's the world's most popular style of beer and can be found in abundance in almost every corner of the globe. For millions of people the word "beer" denotes a cold, fizzy, yellow drink -- one which is rarely spoken of among those for whom beer is a hobby or, indeed, a way of life."

I was until quite recently a lager basher. After joining the ale revolution several years ago thanks to mrquartetman, I fell in love with these top fermenting beauties for their aromas, complexities, higher alcohol (gotten over that), and overall wonderful tastes. Ale, after all, was the original beer; weak ones were used in place of food, and were safer than water, by Middle Age folks, both adult and kids, of old Europe.

It was the German's in the 19th century who figured out how to brew with bottom feeding yeast, at colder temperatures, and lagered these brews, or stored them for aging and smoothness. Good beer, well made, then bastardized by the Americans who adopted the German style, if not the purity laws. Lagers were responsible for pushing ales out of America. With the bastardization of adjuncts (corn, rice, etc.) added, our beers became proverbial piss water. So what if people wanted clear beer, this is not champagne folks, although some are starting to push that way.

Well thankfully, home brewing came back in 1978 (thanks Mr. Carter) and ales returned. Many of the thriving micro-brewers who now produce tens of thousands of barrels annually started as homebrewers. American craft brewers, now to mention many homebrewers, have picked up the Lager mantle and are now producing some of the best in the world. In particular, one of my favorite brewers, New Glarus, seems to have the best handle on lager styles. Witness their recent unplugged release of Bohemian Lager. A Lager I can love. The smell and taste are best described by a fellow Chicagoan blogger I know:

The smell is crisp and clean but with a of a balance of aromatic hops and malts. Clean crackery/biscuity and light toffee/caramel malt sweetness intermingles with grassy/floral and semi-spicy noble hoppiness that add a good little bite. I even get some light lemony accents in the smell when I take deep whiffs. If this were a bit more pungent it would smell really amazing.

The taste is even better than the smell. Very bright, crisp, clean, and most importantly - balanced. Crackery/doughy, light toffee, and pale/pils malt sweetness does an intricate and delicate dance with great spicy/floral/grassy hop flavor and bitterness with a seemingly light-oak character. More lightly lemony notes come out as it open up. It has such a great clean profile but still lots of intricate flavors, which I find most pilsners/lagers lack for my tastes.

Yes, this is a lager anyone could love, take that AB and Miller!

A Bug Up My Ass

2009-03-01T11:07:00.005-06:00

The recent Coors marketing ploy has been bugging me for months now. Since when did Coors become the "Banquet Beer". Marketing goofiness aside, this is no banquet beer with current plethora of wonderful micros out there, over 1,500 US makers at last count. Coors is a regular C- rated American Adjunct Lager, according to Beer Advocate. I remember it as a near-mythical beast, nearly impossible to acquire in the Midwest, it was supposed to be well worth it for the lucky few who were able to lay their hands on some. And I did, at least the 3.2% abv version allowed for under 18 folks on a near mythical trip to the mountains.

It was the summer of 1975, prior to senior year in high school, my close friends and I made a June trip out to Colorado to climb the mountains. We had a drive-away (one way) car, which you could get as a 17yr old in those days (not anymore I believe). The four of us shared driving, made it from suburban Chicagoland to Denver in just over 20 hours. We had heard of the legendary Coors, but had never seen it.

We went straight for the town of Estes Park, not stopping for anything as we had precise reservations for camp sites. We hiked the dusty, barren Rocky Mountain National Park for 7 days, drinking only water from the streams. Over the week we came to appreciate the value of water, and possible beer filled our dreams at 10,000 feet. Once we came down dusty and worn out, we found a store that had the 3.2 Coors. I still question why we didn't seek it out before the hike, maybe we thought we'd never actually go up. Anyway, after surviving on tasty but plain water for 7 days, this 3.25 stuff tasted like the proverbial mothers milk, absolutely fabulous!! And it didn't seem to have the graininess or mouth puckering bitterness, and maybe it was a bit sweeter and smoother than the Schlitz or Old Milwaukee or Blatz we were used to. Sucking down 2-3 in the first half hour off the mountains seemed very normal.

Now at normal elevation, I can't bring myself to purchase Coors, certainly not a six pack, maybe a tall boy if I sought it out. I know it would be a disappointment, after close to 35 years how could it be otherwise.

I recently had the Schlitz 60's recipe on draft, it wasn't bad. Maybe the Coors back then was better, I suppose we'll never know. In any event I can't go back, and I don't want to, nor do I feel I have time enough to test every old favorite out there, there are too many full flavored ales and lagers to write home about now, but maybe the Banquet Beer deserves another shot. I will always think of it as the mountain beer, and a refreshing one at that.

Amazing Democratization for Beer Lovers

2009-02-10T09:06:00.005-06:00

As a follow up to my last post about BA events, I did attend the Second Chicagoland beer trading event last Thursday at Goose Island Clybourn. Starting around 6pm, with the introduction of two new beers from Goose, namely the new Juliet, and a Saison (to be sold in 650ml bombers soon), we then had some 50 - 60 attendees who each brought a beer or two to try. More amazingly, as the night went on the Chicago Beer Society (a homebrewer group, not sure if the name is right) folks came in with samples of their recent tries. Overall a great selection. No reviews here, but some highlights:

- Several home brewed Pilsners, each decidedly better than anything I've had in commercial beers.
- a 1994 vintage Cuvee Renee, the straight lambic from Lindeman's ( the guy said he bought it off the shelf last year!)
- Viking Hot Chocolate, a mellow chocolate beer that had a spicy kick
- 2003 Bare Trees, an aged wheatwine from Two Bros. (Warrenville)

Ignoring the highlights, if you had a discerning taste for certain styles (say Belgian blond ales), you could probably have had some 5-10 different beers. I had a few more. And some decent pizza was provided.

Point being, this is a savvy play by Greg Hall and Goose Island to continue to be the center of the Chicago Beer scene. As they move to update their menu and offerings, they want to connect with more influential customers - good thought!

The monthly beer school tastings are nice for the "amateurs", this one is for the "pros". With a combination of food, samplers from Goose, homebrews from the CBS folks (an a few BAers too), and not to mention FREE, it's a low cost way to keep "early adopters" interested in Goose's beers and operations. CBS is old school, BA's are new school, and together it's all good for the Goose, and the customers.

Beer Advocate is the networking place now

2009-01-23T14:06:00.003-06:00

Beer Advocate has grown swiftly with the internet boom and the craft beer boom to become the most influential online location for US beer lovers. They also have a magazine, but that's just a way to make money. The real action is online, as they how have changed their homepage to highlight their beer forums.

Until recently the only regional focused forum for Chicagoans was US - Midwest. Recently I discovered a new group under Chicago. What a find! Lots of local information, on new beers coming into the market, events, and reviews.

The formation of this group made possible for one of the most exciting recent beer tasting events in Chicago, the BA Chicago Gathering/Beer Swap. Fully 62 folks signed up for this, and the reviews on the forum were great.

Beer Advocate, for a modest cost, is the place to keep up with if you seek info on beer coming out, venues, events, and anything else beer Chicago. I certainly will be watching it.

Allagash

2009-01-15T09:41:00.003-06:00

Great article about one of the most innovative beer makers in America, Allagash. It speaks to what they are doing in inventing new ales, lambics for one, something that our Chicago brewers could learn from. If you can do this stuff in Maine, you can certainly do it here.

In any event check it out this article and let me know your thoughts.

Wisconsin brewers benefiting from holiday brews

2009-01-05T17:11:00.003-06:00

Nice third hand article from December sited by New Glarus from the Milwaukee paper relating to winter beer brews by Wisconsin brewers. I've had several of these and liked most of them, hard to get some in IL of course, but as it's the closest state to us we go there several times a year. Worth it for sure, I don't believe Indiana offers as much (other than Three Floyd's). Enjoy.

Session 23 - Old and New

2009-01-02T09:30:00.003-06:00

This monthly session is simply about what I will miss from the beer world of 2008, and what I anticipate will excite me in 2009.

As for 2008, it's all in my previous post of Dec 31, see below.

Looking forward to 2009, I anticipate:

1) trying the new line-up of New Glarus beers,
2) finding more good beers at favorite Chicagoland restaurants as they continue to appeal to the growing number of better beer drinkers,
3) finding more fresh beer available in Chicagoland - either via growlers or mini-kegs (5 liter offerings - come on Bell's, I've seen 'em in Missouri, can't you get 'em here) from local micro-brewers. Wishing there were more Whole Foods serving fresh beer like the Bowery Beer Room.
4) hoping to see new out-of-state beers making it here (yeah for Lost Abbey/Port Brewing showing up in '08), like the canners Surly and Oscar Blues. As a connected wish, hoping to see more good beer make it into cans (special liners now so they don't taste tinny).
5) Finding more real ale, that is cask beer, in the area.

Should be another great year.

Reviewing 2008

2008-12-31T10:17:00.011-06:00

As I look back on 2008 it was a down year for lots of things, but as for my beer experiences, mostly with friends and family in tow, it was a very good year. I wanted to rank some beers and events for the year, including my personal top 10 beers of 2008, all linked to my beer advocate reviews, in no particular order:

BEERS

1) Devil over a Barrel - Bourbon Barrel Aged Coffee Imperial Oatmeal Porter, from Tyranena, wow a mouthful of words in the title, and a great beer, the best porter of the year for sure.

2) De Dolle Ara Bier, a great complex Belgian Strong Pale Ale, from a great little brewer.

3) Gouden Carolus - the Keizer, a fantastic complex Belgian Strong Dark Ale, they now brew a Pale one like this too, but I'd stick with this one. Is this better than their Noel offering? Just by a smidgen.

4) Our Special Ale 2008, from Anchor hits all the right notes for this seasonal beer, great job!

5) Saison Deluxe, from Southhampton is perfect for this style, yes I've had Fantome, Dupont, Hennepin, this beats them all, unfortunately it's not distributed in IL.

6) Dark Lord Imperial Stout, from Three Floyds, thanks to Wil at Goose got a little taste of this and it lives up to it's billing.

7) Hitachino Nest Celebration Ale, had the 2007 (produced late 2006) in summer 2008, fantastic complex ale. Saw the 2008 version recently, and am seeking the 2009, these will keep and age well for a long time.

8) Hop Hearty Ale, from New Glarus, a malty IPA which harkens back to the English style, my favorite summer ale.

9) Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout, just a great version of this style, one of the few beers I liked before I knew what a good beer was.

10) Biere de Mars Grande Reserve, from Jolly Pumpkin. My sojourn of 2008 was the side trip to Dexter, MI in March to visit these folks. A husband and wife brewing team, the tiny brewery is filled with oak casks, looking more like a winery. The Grand Reserve offerings can only be gotten from the brewery on Fridays, but their regular offering are superb. The bottle I drank with a friend (as all aged for 27 months) at a burger joint was not enough to write a review, but the sourish complex malty brew was probably the best beer of 2008, thanking my foresight that I still have one left.

As for special mention, two beers come to mind. The most memorable draft offering was Wild Blue, from Goose Island, an American Wild Ale with blueberries, just great. In the bottle, it would have to be Cantillon's Saint Lamvinus, a funky fruit Lambic from a great producer which just knocks the socks off your feet.

EVENTS

The top beer related events of 2008 included:

- February Goose Tasting - Belgian's, included the Saint Lamvinus.
- March 50th birthday, starting at the Maproom, ending at Cafe Bernard with our best friends and some memorable food and drink.
- March 17 St. Patrick's Day at the Gage gastropub with my dad and Uncle Tom.
- April visit to the Blind Pig in Champaign.
- May stumbled into Local Option for lunch, wow beer list.
- June included a St. Louis trip with local purchases.
- June Goose tasting, Summer beers, Teresa attends.
- July my first solo Wisconsin run to Woodmans, Three Cellars.
- August the Mahr's going away party, meeting Ted & Mary at Two Brothers.
- September finding the wedding gang (May's) at the The Old Fashioned, including the bride and groom to be, the night before the wedding, getting smashed, tradition lives on! Great place, great crowd.
- Dave and Dominique's visit in September, a rainy lunch but great tour, including Piece.
- October discovering Sheffield's with Edmund.
- November Teresa attends Goose Fruit and Spiced beer tasting.
- November discovering In Fine Spirits with Barry and Betsy.
- earning my first free growler from the Goose, their Saison.
- the numerous trips to Hopleaf with Barry and Betsy.
- the many great lunches with Ed.

And the biggest event may have been the no smoking in bars law (and all indoors) starting Jan 1, 2008, a long time coming!!

Yes it was quite a beer year for the ages....and tonight for our annual New Year's celebration with Ted and Mary, we'll be at Shaw's Seafood, in Schaumburg. Don't know about their beer list, but just in case I called them, they charge a $10 corkage fee for a bottle, not bad as I will bring a bottle of maybe the best beer in the world, New Glarus' Wisconsin Belgian Red, Ya wooo!

Chicagoland Beer Review

2008-11-13T13:43:00.002-06:00

Here's a nice overview review of the Chicagoland beer scene by Ale Street News, not a deep read but rather comprehensive. Enjoy.

Beer that is even Better for You

2008-11-04T10:46:00.004-06:00

Beer is already good for you in many ways. But if we can up the ante and provide anti-aging benefits from resveratrol, the red wine compound, who benefits most? College kids of course - they could now still drink beer but live longer to drink even better beer as it comes along!

So it's no surprise that such a beer is being invented, of course, by undergraduates at Rice U. Go team!

Italy is Supporting Good Beer

2008-11-02T10:17:00.003-06:00

We need the Italian support for good beer, it does assist the changes in the industry. Good article on it in today's New York Times Travel section here, enjoy.

A Cambridge Ditty

2008-10-06T10:04:00.002-05:00

Ever think of going to Cambridge for some learnin' as Boo would ask? Well, here is a nice little
Pubcast #1: Cambridge from The Pubcast on Vimeo. about the pub scene there, very important stuff, blimey these blokes are hard to hear some times, but give it a go...

Yard House Glenview and Ted's Montana Grill

2008-09-24T11:19:00.004-05:00

Not a real consideration for dinner, but the Yard House does have a selection of some 100 or so beers on tap. If only it had a fuller selection of micros it might be worth more than a visit every half year or so. More on this issue below.

We started with a nice dinner @ Ted's Montana Grill nearby. Excellent beef and buffalo offerings dominate the menu, I and a friend enjoyed variations on the buffalo burger, quite meaty, juicy, and hearty. My wife enjoyed the special, buffalo short ribs and quite enjoyed it. My other friend a buffalo fillet, quite tasty. Very limited beer selections, so it was a draft Sam Adams for me. Overall a B+ and well worth another trip.

Yard House has a long list, they have a unique tower than serves all the tap beers at the same temperature (not optimal), as an addition to the forlorn suburbs looking for a selection beyond Bud and Miller it's great, but could be so much better. Outside a decent micro list of Goose Island, Dogfish Head, Summit, Great Lakes, a few belgians there is nothing special. They do several mixes like Black and Tan, Black and Blue, and most interestingly a Belgian lambic with raspberries mixed with Young's Double Chocolate Stout. Overall, a B-, not bad but could be so much more.

OK, OK, Ok, Lagers aren't that Bad

2008-09-10T16:00:00.002-05:00

I'm usually caught ranting about how lagers ruined the beer industry in America. Well it turns out it was really big business as usual. As Richard Nalley describes in the excellent Forbes article, many superb lagers exist, but surely not the ones from AB, Miller, etc. He even has a list of suggestions, and I might add the dudes at Three Floyds make some nice lagers.

Lost Abbey coming here!

2008-09-10T15:14:00.003-05:00

A St. Louis blog I follow tipped me off to some great news for Chicago loving beer folks, beer may now becoming here from Lost Abbey, one of the great makers of ales in the US. I'm a very happy guy :). As their blog writer says, "That won't suck." No it won't.

Where to Find the Unusual Beers

2008-08-15T09:33:00.005-05:00

Just sayin', as I get better acquainted with the hundreds of beers available in this area, the special limited ones are usually the best, or at least most interesting to try. Not that these are all extreme beers, but they usually cater to the aficionado, which I believe I am. And where do you find these one off offerings? One place is at the brewery's brewpub. The other is at your deep beer bars.

For the former, look to Three Floyds (Munster, IN.), Two Brothers (Warrenville, IL.), or Goose Island (Chicago, IL.). I have been to the first and last, not the middle one. At Three Floyds on a day trip in 2007? we found a delightful cafe environment with many FFF beers on tap, including several you will never find in a bottle. At the Goose Island Clybourn brewpub, brewer Will Turner regularly creates wonderful experimental beers on tap or cask that never make it to a bottle, and rarely repeat.

As for the bars, notable are the Map Room and Hopleaf, since they don't make their own beer, they can get some out of market beers that you will never see in Chicagoland anywhere else, or certainly not at the aligned brewpubs. Examples, Hopleaf currently has on tap the Surly Cynicale, a nice Saison only available in cans (yeah!) that are not distributed in IL, and surprise a FFF Smoked Helles (not even listed on their website or at Beer Advocate), a one-off beer you'll never see in a bottle unfortunately.

We are in this time in history lucky and fortunate to be alive when great brewpubs and beer bars cater to wide style of tastes, so get out there and keep widening the options by supporting these great brewers, the one-offs they produce, and the bars that carry them.

Anniversary Beer for the Ages

2008-08-01T10:35:00.003-05:00

This months Session hosted by the Barley Blog covers Anniversary beers, my choice is mentioned in the host's blog, but I cover it here because it is one of my favorite all time beers. The Gouden Carolus Carolus D'Or - Cuvee Van De Keizer is brewed once a year, and it's worth waiting for. My review:

The bottle I had recently was labeled 2007, meaning it was brewed on February 24, 2007, the birthday of a certain monarch named Charles the Fifth. It is rated at 11% abv. It poured a deep garnet clear color, nice head with lace left. Very inviting.

The nose has sweet malt, deep, deep nose of plums, cherries, and a bit of alcohol, very nice.

This may be the perfect Belgian stong dark ale, intriguing deep malt taste, beyond plums and a bit of oak, tastes include a sign of port, chocolate, yeast esters, yes that deep, very good, super!

Perfect fizzy mouthfeel, so it doesn't get to sweet on the tongue, sweetish aftertaste but just right.

Despite the abv, very drinkable, after dinner for sure with figs, chocolate, pie, whatever desert you choose, I love this beer.

This one has aged nicely for almost 1 1/2 years.

The brewers website submits that you can store this beer for up to 10 years. I believe it but cannot believe it would get any better than this one. I'll make this my yearly seek to find a version of this beer so I can have at least one annually. The Belgians certainly know what they are doing, and in the realm of Strong Belgian Darks this one reigns supreme.

The Next Session, and My Beer Rankings

2008-07-17T14:24:00.002-05:00

I've been doing these "The Session" blogs on a monthly basis since discovering them earlier this year. If you don't know it's a first Friday of every month where bloggers around the world write about a particular topic related to Beer. For the upcoming August Session the theme is “Happy Anniversary”. That is blogger are encouraged to:

"Use this as an excuse to celebrate. Open a limited release anniversary beer from your favorite brewer. Enjoy that special beer you normally only open on your wedding anniversary or birthday. Either way, tell us about it. Why is it a beer you may only drink once a year? Why is that brewery’s annual release the one you selected?"

I will be contributing an entry, though I'm not yet sure what the beer will be. Stay tuned.

As for my rankings of beers tried recently, I put them up mostly on Beer Advocate, you can locate them under my ID robbyc1 by going directly to this link. Under the Beer Karma section click on the "beer reviews" link to see the 60 or so beers I have reviewed.

You can also see my Wants (usually out of market brews I can't easily obtain). I can be very appreciative of anyone who can find these and ship them to me, alert me if you can to arrange details! For those who don't know Chicago, while a substantial beer market, suffers from a concentration of problematic distributors, they are rumored to be Mob controlled, and very difficult to deal with, thus many brewers simply choose to stay out of this market. Luckily, beer can be sent to Illinois (Fedex, UPS). According to a currently operating retailer, they can only ship beer to 23 States, including CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, LA, MN, NE, NM, NV, NH, NC, ND, OH, OR, SC, TX, VA, WA, WV, WI. Private sellers/traders are limited only by the shipper's rules, and to know more here's a good article.

The Session for July- Beers Out of Season

2008-07-04T04:30:00.004-05:00

The subject for July's Session, a monthly worldwide blog day every first Friday of the month about beers (started by this guy) can be summed up as this: Drinking anti-seasonally. That is, what do blog writers drink out of season. Not what lawnmower beers you prefer in July, but rather do you drink heavy malty beers in summer, or light wheat ales in winter?? It's an interesting question, here goes...

My desire for deep and complex tastes, while satiated in the cooler months, does not go away in summer. This is my special time for anti-seasonal tries. I do drink hoppy beers in winter, but summer is my time for certain winter-style brews. And I have intentionally saved a few winter/xmas beers especially for summer(no - wife of mine - I didn't forget to drink them in cold cold January). Now, I don't go outside and sweat in the sun while drinking these, but rather find myself in a nice after dinner mood in front of the TV, watching the White Sox, with the cooler night air wafting in the back door.

I will have a nice bottle of Jolly Pumpkin's Noel De Calabaza, a malty spicy brew with a sour finish coming from the wooden casks they age their ales in. This is a good choice to pair with sweetish BBQ. With some chocolate cookies, I'll have a nice Gouden Carolus Carolus D'Or - Cuvée Van De Keizer, a strong dark Belgian ale made one day per year in February, which has a wonderful complex taste and a great slightly sweet finish. Finally, we hosted some family last weekend and enjoyed a deep, rich dark belgian type ale from Lost Abbey called Judgment Day. We had this Belgian quad brewed with raisins paired with hummus and light vegetables. Wonderfully complex, and a great offset to the lighter tastes of the foods!

The days may be hot and drying, and you need lots of water to hold up, but I'd rather drink a combo of water with great tasting beers in summer than lower my standards just for some refreshment. No Coors, it's not all about refreshment, it's about flavor, always, always, always....

Smak Tak - A Hidden Gem in NW Chicago

2008-06-10T09:44:00.004-05:00

So this nice Polish restaurant, Smak Tak, place has been around for 10 years, how come we polish food loving folks have never found it until now?? And it's a beloved BYOB!

Nice little bistro type setting on north Elston, an unusual location but near the northern Red Apple. Parking easily available on Elston.

First, the soups. Exceptional! We tried two, the Mushroom for my friend, and Red Barscz with mushroom pierogis for me. Wow, both almost a full meal, the small mushroom pierogis were lovely. The clear redness of the broth very good. The Mushroom soup had lots of mushrooms, great broth, and many other ingredients. If this is all they offered, I would go back again and again.

The dining options included all favorites including a massive plate of hunters stew (old polish style). It included shredded cabbage, veal, sausage, and potatoes, with the meats providing a great smoky flavor. The Hungarian Pancake includes a full serving of gulash. Both were big enough to share or save half for another meal.

We shared a nice paring Biere de Garde from Southampton and a Norwegian stout for dessert. Coulda skipped a few meals after this one, great deal. Give this restaurant an A-, only lacking a bit of decor, but the food is worthy of a try.

Beer Festivals - What I'd Like to See

2008-06-05T02:00:00.001-05:00

For this beer blogging Friday, The Session, discussion is on the subject of beer festivals. Now, I'm a relative newbie to good beer, have gotten my current range of knowledge from far looking purchases in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan, and most prominently from the great monthly Beer Academys events at Goose Island, a beer haven I hope to see stand for many more years. I have never been to a beer festival. I do have some personal opinions on what I'd like to see at a beer festival, so here goes:

A tasteless, smell-less sample glass
At each table a brewer or someone who knows details about each offering
A flat entry fee including say 25 tastes for $25, and the opportunity to purchase more
A focus - either by style (say Belgians), or location (Midwest brewers)
A food offering (if only pretzels) at each table
Detail stats on each beer, with suggested food pairings

I particularly enjoy the style tastings at Goose Island,. These Beer academies give you a chance to understand one particular style much better. One tasting that might have been too broad was a German-style Bock tasting in 2006. We tried beers from the Maibock, Bock, Dopplebock, Weizenbock, and Eisbock styles. Now that was a wide range to cover in 11 beers but well done and enjoyed by all. You could offer this type of event on a bigger scale, open to more brewers, and say having 8-10 beers on offer for each style. Great way to learn.

My continuing search for the best beers drives my consumption. I will continue to do it by attending Beer academies, selected tastings and purchasing anything in the smallest format possible (don't want to get stuck with a 6 pack of something objectionable). Twelve ounces is enough to make a judgement, and I'll take 2-3 oz. when available (thanks Will for the Dark Lord tasting!!) Anyway, the search goes on....

Firkin to Rival Rock Bottom's?

2008-06-01T23:32:00.006-05:00

Interesting place. We finally made it to Firkin, an "English-type" pub, at least according to their website. The offerings here would not be seen in England, however, maybe close to the border with Mexico, but more about that later.

In downtown Libertyville you must walk into the back door, the front on the street shows that on a Saturday night around 7ish it is packed. Parking in the back, take the back door down a long hallway from there to the dining area, with a long bar on the left, and some 20-25 tables well spaced. Interesting decor, the posters particularly, mostly from China? Weird stuff hanging from the high ceiling. Nice look, lots of middle aged folks enjoying themselves.

Our problems started as we sat at the bar waiting for a table. The bartender gave us several tastes as we weren't sure we what we wanted. That was good and appreciated. The problem as it turned out was that they were out of 3-4 offerings of the 25 or so listed. Upside, on cask there were 2, but the red ale wasn't that good (didn't try the IPA on offer, probably a better choice). We ended up with a nice Dortmunder from Two Brothers, a Kasteel Red, and a few other nice choices. The website says it's mostly micros (or was it the menu) but many Belgians on offer as well.

The food menu has many pages, a mix of Mexican, bar food, and lots of seafood. Unusual. Best appetizer was the special pork tacos. Guacamole just ok. The burger was loved, the fish tacos so so, the Cuban pork sandwich was very good. But we would not go back for this food if not for the beer list, and that was an issue.

Another bigger problem, lack of response from the wait staff. We had some missed requests on food, the worst of which happened near the end. We didn't like the look of the desserts, so we chose the Fantome Chocolate as our dessert. It came, seemed nice, no chocolate notable. We asked the waiter, he said he didn't know, we said we'd like to speak to their "beer guy". Instead of this guy, the waiter came back and told us that the Chocolate had run out, that it turned out it was the regular Fantome, and that it has "Chocolate notes" so we should like it. We did, but I protested, told him we wanted the Chocolate, especially as I've tasted the regular Fantome before, and for the $27 we paid (about twice retail) we should get what we ordered. We didn't stay for satisfaction, and it's very offputing that the manager would tell the waiter just to placate us. I'm still pissed and doubt we'll return.

Their home website says that our country is thirsting for this kind of English pub. Well, not this type with crappy people who think customers are idiots. I'll take Rock Bottom or Goose Island any day, and maybe these Canadian's haven't heard we already have some nice pubs. Grade this a C+, just for having a nice tap list, but not worth the drive or aggravation.

Rock Bottoms - Not All the Same

2008-05-21T16:50:00.002-05:00

I was reminded on a recent visit to the Rock Bottom brewpub in River North, that this chain has a good setting wherever you go, but the quality of the local brew master makes or breaks the actual quality of the beer offerings. I was specifically reminded again that Rock Bottom Chicago has a stellar brew master in Pete Crowley.

The regular offerings from RB on the little plastic sheet are regular, average beers for the non-discriminating crowd. I suppose a few Rock Bottoms only have these choices. The interesting ones are on the chalk board behind the bar. I counted about 6 on a recent evening. I quite enjoyed the just released Maibock, malty and full bodied, with a slick mouthfeel. As well the Belgian strong made a good accompaniment for the chocolate cheese cake, yummy! Unfortunately, because they are a chain the website is no help, you can't see what's on tap unless you call or go there. Not so good.

Anyway, I give the Chicago location an A-, for offering good food, really good beer, and I do love the mug club which gives you special treatment including full imperial pints! Had one visit to the location in Lombard, give it a B, the food was similar, but the beers not.

So That Explains Why I CAN Drink Good Beer

2008-05-15T09:27:00.003-05:00

It took the Freakonomics guys to explain it, so it's not just our tastes evolving, it's also our income! Yes, I knew that, you did too, why else were you drinking Old Milwaukee in college!

By the way, dudes, it's Belgian dubbels, not dobbels.

Beervangelism

2008-05-02T09:26:00.003-05:00

This month the Session, the monthly beer blog where beer bloggers around the world blog on the same topic on the first Friday of the month, is hosted by Boak and Bailey. The topic is when did you see the light and become a beer lover?

For me I can date it to Early April 1999, which would be just after my 41st birthday. It was my first Cubs opener (being a White Sox fan I usually avoided Cubs games unless it was deep in the Summer). Now the light didn't come to me at the game, at that time beer still sucked at Cubs games, even today it's hard to find a decent micro there, but back then 'twas impossible. No, the light came to me because this was a group outing organized by my new friend Ed McDevitt (discussed his background with him during the April Session here). It was hosted at Goose Island Clybourn, this month celebrating their 20th anniversary, and sad to say maybe it's last.

The Goose group included about 30 men (maybe a gal or two, more recently there have been many more, nice to see), with a lunch and as many beers as you wanted before the bus took us to the game, plus growlers on the bus! Now I tried several of their brews I had never had before, and realized how crappy the stuff I'd been drinking was. The Honkers Ale with beautiful English malt and a nice hoppiness was very new and exciting to me. I knew my favorite Black & Tan would now be my bottom feeder. It also hit me that I had spent 41 years drinking crappy beer, had turned to wine as a result, and now had to make up time with my new favorites, and formed my new moto, "There is too little time left to drink anything but great beer!". By little, I was surely hoping for another 40+ or so.

Anyway this gives me additional sadness about the Goose possibly closing, but thankfully I have discovered in the meantime that many good makers now exist, if only in the immediate Great Lakes area, not to mention else where in the US, and whoa don't forget the whole world discovery that awaits you in Belgian! Gotta love it. And I hope to become a home brewer soon....

Union Pizzeria - Not Your Usual Pie Place

2008-04-13T09:36:00.004-05:00

Had some nice victuals with friends at Union Pizzeria in Evanston this past Friday night. As anticipated from the Yelp reviews, the drink list is longer than the food list, both are very nice though. Overall, much more interesting and elevated than a usual pizza place, with slightly higher prices to boot.

This is a new place, 2 months old, but very busy on a Friday eve. It was packed on our arrival near 6:45pm. Big trendy warehouse space, somewhat noisy but talk-able. Lots of spaces at the bar or in front with couches, which is good because the wait for our table was 45 minutes.

We ordered a pizza and drinks in the waiting area, and they came fast and the pizza was very good, lamb with lots of good cheese. They have a big brick oven behind the bar and from there you can see the fire blazing, very good crust and a nice pizza, lots of options too. When we finally sat down we ordered all of the cold appetizers (there are about 6) and one hot one, the kale, unusual but well done. We shared them and were almost full after these small plates, around $5 each. We did order the whole fish, a sea bass, which came full with the head and eyes, so one of us de-boned it and pulled off the meat, and it was great, baked on a wooden board, with lemons, lots of herbs including thyme, very nice, sweet and tasty. We also shared a sold burger, meaty and tasty. Full bloat afterwards, oh, oh, shared a very nice chocolate flan and a nice pound-cake with polenta in it, unusually good.

As for the beer and drinks list, this place was announced as a new massive beer location, but in reality they had 20 or so bottles of good choice, from IPA's to stouts and all in between. No drafts. Full back page of wine, with half a dozen reds by the glass, solid.

I had a Three Floyds Pride and Joy, a hoppy mild ale, and Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout, great beer. No fruit beer selection, disappointing. This list should be typical of what decent restaurants should have in this day and age, and I'm happy to say it is happening more now. Down with Macros, out with the Bud.

Anyway, I'd give the restaurant an A-, a definite return for us, neat place to take out of towners, and the beer list rates a solid B.

Interview with Ed McDevitt, Beer Aficionado

2008-04-04T08:37:00.002-05:00

This is my discussion with a longtime beer aficionado (by the way aficionado is defined not as a snob but "an ardent devotee; fan, enthusiast"), and my introducer to good beers. I am happy to call him a friend and he has successively ramped up my taste for good beer since our friendship began in 1998. At that time if you asked me the best beer I drank was a black and tan. Ed McDevitt has been a good taste seeker since the 60's, was a home brewer in the early days when it became legal, an adviser and tag writer for local liquor stores, online reviewer of beers, and has a son who is a bartender and aspiring beer bar owner. It also happens to be his birthday today, so keep up the good drinking Ed, quality not quantity, and Happy Birthday!

We compiled this discussion over the past few days -

Q: So what did a good beer bar have in the pre-micro days?

"The only good ones were overseas lagers, like Lowenbrau (which before the 1980's was in its original receipe), other german beers, the local exception (when I was living in Massachusetts)- a brew by Narragansett, was it a black horse ale?, that was it. I was looking for beers with more hops, more flavor than macrobeers had. I remember the first micro I had was Anchor Steam, first had it in the early 80's, and after moving to Illinois I also remember the Christmas beer from Baderbrau ("Winterfest"), the Elmhurst, IL brewery (now gone) and one from the Eau Claire, WI Walter brewery, an all malt lager called Eau Claire All Malt Lager."

Q: When did you realize there were better imported beers from other than Germany?

"Not until a Chimay first tasted at an event in the mid-90's."

Q: When did you get your first piece of glass wear?

"Got a Point Brewery Glass in the 80's."

Q: Recall a few of the best tasting events you've attended?

"At the Village Tap in Chicago, there was a tasting held in the mid-90's by the new representative of B. United Importers, which included Aventinus, Schneider Weiss, Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier, one of the kellerbiers, a kölsch and a few others. Another was the first Midwest International Beer Exposition in 1996 at the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago. It had a big main floor, and there I had my first taste of Unibroue beers, some beers from Estes Park Brewery (Colorado), and many others. In the center of the room Vanberg and Dewulf introduced me to Rodenbach and invited me to a separate Belgian tasting, something I hadn't expected, held upstairs in a 1/2 ball room where I met Peter Celis. In 1997 the second MIBE was held at a big drafty old building, the Morgan St. Market. This was a quieter affair, topped by our getting ready to leave and finding the Duvel table, where there sat several of Duvel's 0.33 liter bottles. So I started to take several of them, when the Duvel rep informed me that we could not leave the premises with beer (other than inside us!), so he opened 4 bottles for us to drink. We had only a few minutes, so we each drank 2 - quickly. Bad mistake."

"Also in the '90s a wine store opened in Glen Ellyn, IL, where I lived at the time. Cabernet & Co. hired a guy who had worked as a rep for Anchor Brewing to manage the store. He and I "bonded" and I became a sort of outside consultant for the store. I had put together a beer review database, with lots of descriptive info. I printed it out and the store hung a copy of it in the beer section for customer reference. It was at this store that I first began to be very interested in Christmas and Winter beers, starting with items like Youngs Winter warmer, Samuel Smiths Winter warmer, Scaldis Noël and many of the American micro winters too - Anderson Valley, Anchor, and many others. This was probably around 1995."

"I hosted a memorable backyard Belgian tasting in Lagrange, with 12-13 beers. I had wanted to pair the beers with Belgian cheeses, but could only find one in the area, and it was mild. So to get the idea of pungency, I decided to include Limburger, a big error. All people did was complain about the rotten socks smell!! As for the tasting, after about the 4th beer, tastings went out the door, people just said, "gimme more of that"."

Q: Describe your history with home brewing.

"I brewed from 1976 to 1979 eclectically, tried to buy good malts, with unknown hops, "brewers yeast", no options here. There wasn't much variety available for the home brewer. My brewing partner and I often used additional sugar to spike it, blew up some bottles this way, had to boil the hops, etc. Our beers were bad, all but one. This was, unexpectedly, a very strong beer. I had a particular guest come by when I was at my workbench in the basement of my house. We sat up on the workbench and I broke out the first bottles of this batch. He drank two bottles. Upon discovering that he had to get back across the street, he launched himself off the workbench and his legs buckled beneath him. He was, unfortunately for the project he was doing, hammered. Overall, I made maybe 6 different beers and haven't brewed since."

Q: What do you look for in a beer now?

"In one word, balance. I really prefer malty, complex, not overly hoppy, beers. I love to see experiments with yeast, the flavors they give off - good balanced but highly flavorful beer."

Q: So that is why dark Belgian's are your favorite style?

"Yes. The good ones have enormous flavor profiles generally."

Q: What do you look for going forward for the American beer consumer? How do you expect the industry to evolve?

"Macros are under pressure, AB has made a lot of micro investments, they see the writing on the wall, mass market lagers are diminishing. In my experience in the '90s you'd bring good beers to parties, and people would say no thanks. Now they try them, might say "hmm, that's interesting", and ask for more. There is a growing market for more interesting beers. And these drinkers are now younger, more diverse crowd, and it's good to see more women appreciating complex beer - and not being condescended to by brewers who used to brew their "chick" beers, usually raspberry wheats."

Thanks, Ed, and keep up the pursuit.

Ann Arbor goodies, a Midwest Detour Worth Taking

2008-04-01T16:52:00.009-05:00

Ann Arbor - home of the University of Michigan, and a solid food/beer location. Musings from our recent trip to a neighboring Midwest town.

We stayed west of town in a non-descript, Best Western hotel, it did have a pool, a fridge, and free breakfast.

On arrival mid-day, we were looking for lunch - and right by the hotel we found a great surprise place - the Zingerman's Roadhouse. Now, I knew about their original store, the great deli in downtown Ann Arbor. Asked the waitress, she said the Roadhouse has been around for about 4 years. Anyway, they have great above normal roadhouse type food, including burgers of course, but also home smoked pulled pork and brisket, fresh fish, salads, and a long cheese list from their own creamery. They even had some on-tap locals, with sm/med/large glass prices - I enjoyed a nice pale ale (forget the brewer) with pulled pork, and all we had was enjoyed. Now that said the prices here are steep, considering the portions are modest (actually what they should be everywhere not so over the top). The burgers start at $10 and go up fast with additions, my pork platter with sides was ok at $11.50, but overall a pricey place for lunch. Rate it a solid B, very good quality offset by once a month prices (if you were a local).

In the afternoon stops included Bello Vino and the Main Street Party Store. BV is a specialty grocery store with an extensive wine collection and in the far back a very good beer area. Heavy on Michigan beers (why I was there, including Dark Horse, Bells, Jolly Pumpkin, Stoudts), and a good representation of others including Belgians, the best part was the singles rack with fill your own six pack cardboards. Found the last (apparently) Bells Batch 8000, as well as a few others I just wanted to try. A- for this store, great selection, good pricing. The MSPS was equally impressive with some singles as well. A- here. Overall, the only beer maker I couldn't find was Kuhnhenn's, one of my targets.

For dinner we located the local branch of Cottage Inn, famous for Ann Arbor pizza. We shared a sausage/onion regular crust combo, very good. The atmosphere here was just ok, no liquor service, try the original Cottage Inn if you want the full experience, for this branch by the hotel a B-.

After our college tour and meeting with the diving coach at UM, I made the 8 mile run to Dexter to visit Jolly Pumpkin. Their brewery is in a tiny off-road location near downtown Dexter, I was guided in by Laurie Jeffries, the brewer's spouse and head of marketing I believe. They are only open noon - 6pm on Fridays, and were serving on tap both Bam Biere and E.S. Bam. They were selling five different styles of their bomber bottles at wholesale pricing! As it is cash or check only, I ran out of money buying my big format favorites as well as a few Biere de Mars Grand Reserve's, a special offering which is barrel aged for 27 months! I wasn't able to question Ron, but Laurie confirmed that all of their offerings are ales. I've read that all production here uses open (read wild) fermentation, but this traditional method does not impart sourness. The sourness (prevalent in most of their beers) is produced by barrel aging. The barrels harbor both wild yeasts and Lactobacillus among other bacterias. This is why they can't share barrels with "normal" producers. Because of barrel variation, some beers are blended, and they post a bottle log on the website so you can track your particular bottle. Do they use Brettanomyces? Not sure, but whatever they use keep it up. Now ranked the 8th best brewery in the US by BeerAdvocate. Thanks to Laurie for great service, and to Ron for keeping this great brewery running, solid A.

For dinner we tried the noisy Ashley's, self-described as Michigan's best multi-tap. With 70 beers on tap, 15 rotating regularly, and decent bar food with good burgers for the price, I couldn't complain. And the back area wasn't even smoky (we are getting spoiled here in IL). Kids (under 21) allowed until 9pm. You can find to your liking on the tap list, overall a great college bar, comparable to sticking a combination Maproom/Clark Street/Twisted Spoke together in Evanston at NU. Solid A.

Bill James Responds

2008-03-26T09:46:00.003-05:00

A must take opportunity from the Freakonomics guys, a blog response-cast with Bill James, baseball guru and RedSox advisor. Have a look and chime in with a question by all means, there are several good ones already.

Corky Yes, Park West no, the Red Rooster a Decent Option

2008-03-25T15:01:00.009-05:00

Our ill friends bagged out, so we held 4 tickets to the Chicago Blues Reunion concert at Park West last Saturday eve. The lineup included Corky Siegel, we stayed for 8 songs (since we were standing, no seats available), including Corky's I want you / hate you and a few others shown on the link. There was a young woman singer who filled in who was great, she sang a song for Koko Taylor who was in the crowd. Overall a great concert for blues fans, though I really don't like the venue since most of the seats are either reserved or you must get there by opening time (1 1/2 hours before the start). Go if you must for a great concert, but I prefer other locations.

As for dinner beforehand, we enjoyed a true cafe environment at the Red Rooster Wine Bar and Cafe, overall a B experience. The food was yummy, mussels very tasty, chicken crepes for the wife well enjoyed, and pork au poivre (pork loin encrusted with pepper and a great milky savory sauce). We each had a glass of passable red wine because the beer list sucked - I think the waiter mentioned 4 macro beers, Miller, Heineken, etc. so I passed. A C- for beer. But the food makes it a nice stop.

The Boys were Back in Town

2008-03-18T12:42:00.009-05:00

Wow, what a time we had. It happened to be St. Patrick's Day, and a bit chillier than we wanted, but the old guys can still have some fun. I just turned 50 as you may know, and my dad was in town for funeral purposes :(. Before he went back we had a day to revisit his old town, (not Toronto, but Chicago), and we were joined by slightly younger (ha by two days!) Uncle Tom, both close to 75 now.

We parked under Grant Park, now pricey at $24 over 4 hours or more, but very convenient, and met Tom at the Chicago Cultural Center, formerly the Chicago Public Library, and quite an architectural gem. A great place to start on a walking tour around the Loop. We grabbed a cup of coffee in the nice little cafe there, then walked through a great exhibition of photos entitled, "Chicago Landmarks Before The Lens", detailed black and white pictures of Chicago landmarks from Sullivan et al.

As we headed out toward Millennium Park, we were handed a brochure on a Classical Mondays Concert starting upstairs in 3 minutes! We strode up to see a Chicago Opera Theatre Young Artists Recital including Stauss, Saint-Saens, and Debussy very well done by the young singers.

By now famished, we headed down Michigan Avenue to a location I knew was there, but had not tried yet. The Gage. A newish gastropub restaurant since early 2007, I was looking forward to seeing the menu and beer list. It is a great addition to the location here, but could use some improvement.

No problem with the food or the space, quite large but comfortable. Since it was St. Pat's Day, the special was corned beef, which we all had, and it was fine. Sliced very thin, with a milky sauce on toast. After I had the last bite I realized that the sauce was a horseradish sauce. Hmm, very little of it I guess, not spicy at all. Otherwise, a solid dish, and those around us seemed happy, and very busy it was.

The draft beer list, shown in the booklet Libations menu, is quite weak, especially in comparison to other liquors. Plenty of wines, including bubblies, well selected whiskeys, even a port or two. Because of St. Pat's the beer taps had extra Guinness taps, but even the regular list needs an upgrade. Witness that within a selection of 10 different taps, they include Miller Light, Blue Moon (a Miller dog), and Fat Tire (OK), the Irish trinity of Guinness, Smithwicks, and Harp (all below average Macros), Heineken (meh), Paulaner Weiss (decent but for winter?), and Affligem and Stella from Belgium. Stella is a Belgian wannabe, a pale lager rated a C+ on Beer Advocate, while Affligem, a strong blonde Pale Ale, maybe the best of the bunch.

The bottle list is much better, with 12 true Belgians, 5 from Unibroue, a couple of Ayingers, and a half dozen good American craft beers. The prices are quite high, with Guinness on tap at $7, and most bottles a dollar or two higher than elsewhere, must be the cost of doing business at 24 S. Michigan, and the immediate scarcity of competition.

We each had a Black and Tan with Harp on the bottom (no Bass around), whatever that's called, well done and warming. Then it was off to our tour of Millennium Park. Amongst Cloud Gate and the funky band shell, we saw the special exhibition by Mark Di Suvero of 5 large sculptures with involvement. Very raw and symbolic. Then back to the Cultural Center for warming before my uncle separated and we headed in the car to the airport.

Would love to do it again boys, hopefully soon.

Quoted by the Session Host

2008-03-11T14:40:00.004-05:00

I recently reviewed the New Glarus Organic Revolution for the March version of "The Session", a monthly cooperative blog compilation on a certain type of beer, and the host quotes me here (scroll down). There are many other interesting blogs to read cited as well. Enjoy.

Birthday Bash - Yes My 50th :)

2008-03-10T10:00:00.008-05:00

Thanks to all who made my birthday a memorable occasion, especially my "guardian" and wife Teresa (thanks for driving dear). All I really asked for at the half century mark was great friends, great drink, and food to match. To the participants there, I stated (and to you others out there I befriended who could not be there), you have all elevated my life.

On this particular March 7th eve we met at the Maproom for several pops before braving the 4 block walk in 20 degree weather to Cafe Matou.

Several folks who made it to the Maproom loved the De Proef La Grande Blanche, a strong Wit beer at 7.5% abv. Delicious, my wife said it was too poofy for me (she liked it), but I loved it, great Wit flavor, nice body, great aperitif. A solid A here. We also tried the Surly Two, kind of a Porter with cranberries. Very strong, distinctive and interesting, a B+. Had to try the Two Bros. Hop Juice as it was the cask conditioned ale. Very smooth, nicely hoppy, not spicy but grapefruity, and strong, another local solid imperial IPA, give it an A-, not sure it would score this high if not on the cask. Finally, the smoky Fastenbier from Schlenkerla, an unfiltered smoked Lenten beer - a strongish lager with nourishing yeast left in the beer meant to help with Lenten fasting. This was really well done, smokiness nice, try some bacon with this beer, nice body, minimal hops and very malty, a solid A.

Cafe Matou offers a new menu daily, and our choices included several fish, meats, soups, and bistro appetizers. We tried the chicken offering, duck, swordfish, and all artfully prepared with few leftovers. Muscles appetizer was very nice, and desserts didn't disappoint, returners we would be even without considering the bar offerings.

Which were great, including 6-7 wines by the glass, we had a nice bottle of 2004, some Cab/Merlot from France, very solid. But the beers stood out, a small selection of mostly Belgians and a few micros, dominated by the small (11.2oz) bottles of Gouden Carolus Noel. Now this is an A+, among the world's best beers, never seen it in a small bottle before, and they priced it at $9 here, I suppose it would run close to $6 in a shop so not a great markup. But was it the beer of the night? Knocked a few of us out, it did. Nice Framboise offered as well.

Just super choices, overall we know the Maproom is one of Chicago's best beer bars, and lets give Cafe Matou an A, good food, drink, and modestly priced.

Rarely do libations reach the level of discussion, camaraderie and friendship we had there. I wish you all could have joined us.

New Glarus Organic Revolution

2008-03-07T10:26:00.003-06:00

Today I join "The Session", a group of bloggers who, on a monthly basis, comment on the subject of a specific style of beer. Today for the March 2008 version it's organic beer. I have not had many organic brews but among my favorites is New Glarus' version is called Organic Revolution. My bottle consumed yesterday was obtained in a six pack of 12oz bottles in January, and I believe it was produced in late 2007. Now this is a nice beer, I'm not sure it's a revolution, however.

OR is an American Pale Ale ("APA") with organic hops from Germany and organic barley malts from good old Wisconsin. Unfortunately, you can only find these beers in Wisconsin, maybe Minnesota. I am not sure but believe this beer is above 6% abv.

It is a light colored slightly hazy yellow with yeast still in the bottle. A decent head that goes away fast. Smell is a bit spicy with an expected level of malt backbone, does remind me of their Spotted Cow, though this is less sweet and more hoppy. Finishes dry and an easy drinker with a lively mouth feel. Give this a solid B as a nice organic beer, not quite a session beer as the abv puts it above that level.

Durty Nellies in Palatine

2008-03-02T10:36:00.007-06:00

What used to be considered a "dive" in suburbia has gone upscale. You can even bring the kids and have a B+ bar-type dinner. The owner is a veritable beer lover, and he stopped by to check on us, always a good sign.

Apparently this spanking new looking location opened in Dec 2003, the old one was divey for sure (and was torn down in 2004). Always considered a rock music center for the NW suburbs, not known for food. It has two levels and the upstairs was closed on a recent Saturday eve for a private party.

Lots to offer on the menu, our dinners came quickly including an above average fish and chips (tastier batter than most, and solid cod), Belfast bombers (three nice little burgers), and the shepherd's pie (needed some catchup, otherwise solid), all well enjoyed.

As for the beers, a long list is provided, and posted on the website. In addition, our perky waitress was knowledgeable. On her recommendation I had the Two Bros. Northwind Imperial Stout, very smooth, lacking big coffee or chocolate notes but an easy / smooth drinker at 7.5% (B rated), and the wife and I split a bottle of Founders Blushing Monk, quite refreshing, not overly sweet (listed in the menu at 9.5% abv, the bottle said 12.3%!!), a B+. We were shied away from the St. Louis (Belgian) Kriek suggesting it might be a bit sour for us.

Now, as for the list itself, the beers are nicely organized by type, and on the back by bottles vs tap. As noted, while some of the selections are marked limited, others are marked "coming soon". Alas, my first choice Sierra Nevada BigFoot, fell into the latter category and was not available. As this is a February list I cannot fault the logic (other than it was March 1 on our trip), and they do need to move onto new seasonals. As an example, on tap we had several solid American Stouts, proper for the season (a cold February at that).

On the downside, the bottle selection is hap hazard, many macros available for the bailout (our neighbors were drinking bud light or some such). But it's hard to complain, most likely the best list I've seen in this region of Chicagoland. I will certainly be going there again.

Goose Island Clybourn Beer Academy Feb 2008

2008-02-28T11:03:00.000-06:00

The theme was Belgian beers, very different ones, mostly American made ones. Not a bad beer in the bunch. I'm not here to review the dozen or so beers individually, but they were all above a B-.

For the true Belgian lovers of fruit lambics, the best in show was made by the geniuses at Cantillon. Interestingly, Goose's head brewer Greg Hall was there, said he had just came back from a visit to Cantillon, and will be going there in the fall to help with the "harvest".

The Cantillon we had was the Saint Lamvinus, a vintage bottle from 2006, which includes grapes as a fruit addition. It is a beautiful coral red color, a slight bit cloudy, with a thin head that is gone before you know it. Interesting nose, barnyard, vegetables, some fresh asparagus, funky, tart yet sweet enough to balance. Some blend of wine/beer here, it is a beer, not overpowered by the grapes, just a vinous flavor. Nicely carbonated, stark dry finish, not as cleansing as their Rose, but startling. I give it a strong A, another super aperitif beer from these folks.

St. Bernardus Tripel

2008-02-26T14:46:00.000-06:00

Had a 33cl bottle of St. Bernardus Tripel last night before dinner, a fruity, malty nice head tripel from the Trappists rated at 8.0% abv and good dated until 2010.

Clean head, usual tripel smells (esters, apple, no funk), not sure aging would help this one, it's a nice tripel but not super, just solid. I would favor La Fin du Monde from Unibroue over this one. Again, lots of tripels out there, give this one a B+ and move on to the next one.

Hachi's Kitchen B+

2008-02-24T11:43:00.000-06:00

A Saturday visit to Hachi's Kitchen in Logan Square, a highly rated Japanese restaurant. The food and beverages overall were good, the service not so.

Decorated with a minimalist black/white and browns, sleek with an 80's type feel (not disco just elegant). Comfortable for sure.

We had group of 6 which trickled in, ordered a couple of maki's to start, the Halloween maki and the Spicy White Tuna Crunch. It took 30 minutes to arrive, by that time we were very hungry - however the SWTC was super, loved by all. The Halloween roll was fine, fresh, nothing special though. All but one had green tea, very nice and they kept refills going throughout the dinner.

Two diners had Tempura Udon, one Teriyaki chicken; all enjoyed, tempura a bit heavy, greasy according to one. Problem was the other two dinners ordered took another 20 minutes to arrive, two standard rolls (mine) and the unagi bowl. Was it the rolls taking so long, who knows, but terrible wait. After the wait the Negi Hamachi Maki, yellowtail with scallion, was creamy and delicious, unagi very good.

Wine and beer is standard, decent by the glass selections, we passed on the many saki options. A top sushi place like this should have some microbrew offerings, like Hatachino Nest, a stellar Japanese brewer.

Overall, really very nice food at a decent price, but service, that is kitchen service - our direct servers were very good and apologetic about the waits - not up to snuff. Overall, a B+, we would try here again but with so many other untried sushi places in Chicago it maybe awhile before our return.

Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus

2008-02-22T20:23:00.001-06:00

I had the pleasure of having a glass of Cantillon Rosé De Gambrinus on tap at Hopleaf in Andersonville. 'Twas after a very nice lunch at M. Henry.

There are very few geniuses making ales, but the folks at Cantillon are so. This particular brew is a raspberry lambic. As they describe it: "When young, the Rosé de Gambrinus will still present its full fruity taste. Later on, the lambic taste will become dominant at the expense of the fruit taste." On tap, it is still young and presents full raspberry taste with no sweetness, at all. They used to serve this with sugar, but without it - it is pure refreshing, puckering, super - an A+. This will not be described as a candy nor cough syrup. Just a solid super raspberry lambic to follow.

Happy Birthday Mom!!

2008-02-20T10:17:00.000-06:00

Wish I could have been there but Happy Birthday to Alice Cannon, yeah!

Tasting the St. Bernardus Pater 6

2008-02-18T16:10:00.000-06:00

Sunday for dessert I enjoyed the St. Bernardus Prior 6, in the small 33 cl bottle, dated good until 2010! Anyway, a cloudy amber body with 3 finger head came forth.

Smell a bit musty with Belgian yeast for sure nose; tasted roasty, mid-deep dubbel-type malt, little hops but a slightly sourish finish to offset the sweet malt; very nice and a bit peppery with dark fruit flavor (plumbs, dates, etc.); fizzy mouth feel, at a lower than normal Belgian abv at 6.7% abv, tasty, better taste at warmer temps, not one I would seek out for all time, but very nice. Score this nice session-type beer for a B+. Welcome anytime.