Abv Chicago Craft Beer Podcast

We’re truly in Beer Country now as our States Series takes us to the home of the most breweries in the nation: California! We have six beers on from six breweries, split evenly between the halves of the state, and we are shook by the unfaltering quality. Craig makes an impossible sacrifice for 2019, Ryan educates you on the brewing facts you won’t find in textbooks, and we both enter rankings less clear and less sober than we’ve been in a long time. Come to basketball land, you get dunked on. Beers Reviewed Fall River Brewing Company (Fall River Mills, CA) - Blood Knot IPA (NE-style IPA w/ blood orange) Cellador Ales (North Hills, CA) - Berlinerish Blueberry (Barrel-fermented Brett Berliner w/ whole organic blueberries) New Glory Craft Brewery (Sacramento, CA) - Wakey Wakey (Oatmeal Coffee Porter w/ vanilla beans) Highland Park Brewery (Los Angeles, CA) - Twiced Pinot (Barrel-Aged Saison with Pinot Noir Pomace) Moksa Brewing Co. (Rocklin, CA) - Cape of Good Hops (NE-style DIPA) Bottle Logic Brewing (Anaheim,

When you are gifted a mix of beers from Hill Farmstead and The Alchemist, you stop everything and drink them. Thanks to listener/Patreon supporter/forever friend Josh Sissman we have five canned beers from both nü-classic Vermont breweries, and we review them with a tactical precision unseen for nigh on 50 episodes. But we still find time to announce our most exciting brush with fame, the last place you want to find pine needles, our wildly different perception of the Mosaic hop, check the creamy chart, ask for a percent on every unit sold - in perpetuity, and fear the inevitable naked Craig torture. Beers Reviewed Hill Farmstead Brewery - Society & Solitude #5 (Imperial IPA) Hill Farmstead Brewery - Society & Solitude #12 (Imperial IPA) The Alchemist - Alena (American IPA) The Alchemist - Beelzebub (American Imperial Stout) The Alchemist - Luscious (British-Style Imperial Stout)

When Neil Fisher crushes your porch with a big box of WeldWerks beer for sampling, you don’t hesitate to revel in the flavorful delights contained within. Recorded in October, this 2nd edition (in ten episodes) of us marvelling at the expertly-crafted hype-machine beers from the Colorado brewery includes likely the best beer either of us have had all year. But there’s also some important contributions to the ABV Chicago canon, like “flerbals” and “flavor aliens,” so you can hear what that’s all about. And to really bring the magic to this sequel, there are two games: one about WeldWerks beers, and one with an unmentionable name about discontinued snack items. #keepinitflerbal Beers Reviewed Fake Item Box (New England-style Milkshake Session IPA w/ lactose and vanilla) Blackberry Cobbler Berliner (Kettle sour w/ blackberry puree, vanilla, graham crackers, and lactose) Piña Colada Milkshake (New England-style Milkshake Double IPA w/ toasted coconut, pineapple puree, and vanilla) Cosmic Torero (New England-style

Adults have proven time and again that all childhood nostalgia is better with booze, so beer advent calendars became a thing. Bitter Pops makes one of the best surprise 24-packs of beers, and they’ve outdone themselves this year. So we’re outdoing ourselves by reviewing and ranking the first 12 beers of the calendar. Yes, there is some light caroling (Craiging?) and some overall Xmas music appreciation chatter. But we also share a tasty holiday punch recipe, shamelessly mine for retweets from Xmas-adjacent celebrities, turn up our noses at Winter Craig, and assert that hot beer is the next big trend. #hotkvass And a partridge in a pear tree. Calendar Beers Reviewed Sketchbook Brewing/Bitter Pops - Catch Me If You Can (Brown ale w/ orange zest, cinnamon, clove, ginger and nutmeg) Alarmist Brewing - Dorado Fields (New England-style IPA) Great Lakes Brewing Co. - Christmas Ale Half Acre Beer Co. - Cape Dune (India Pale Lager) Penrose Brewing Co. - Blackberry Lemon Rosé (Sour ale) Stone Brewing - W00tstout 2018

Have a fellow beer lover in your life that you want to spoil during the holidays? Or are you heading to some ugly sweater, ornament-decorating, cookie-binging holiday party and need a beer to bring that’ll help you make it through? We enlist the help of Ryan Tracy from Beer on the Wall to suggest some beers that make good gifts for all different types of drinkers. In addition, because we’re on site, we talk about our sponsor Beer on the Wall from their start to their very exciting future, which includes expansion and a second location. And because Ryan is fully aware of our usual antics, we talk about beer pranks, whale lists, gnome sharing, jewel heists, forest nymphs, creepy doll basements, hot dog beers, wrestling-style intros, meads n’ improv, and a weird faith in Taco Bell. Come on out to Park Ridge - they’re rippin’ Undies out here. Beers Reviewed Hailstorm Brewing - Hotel Life (Lager) Brickstone Brewery - APA (Galaxy And Huell Melon Dry-Hopped) Lake Effect Brewing - Barrel-aged Super Shake (Chocolate m

Revolution has taken some serious steps towards becoming THE barrel-aged beer producer in the city of Chicago by churning out varied, high-quality product in an accessible format over a fairly casual release schedule. Simply put, they are killing it. So we couldn’t be more eager to line up the first five releases of 2018’s Deep Wood series to review and rank, giddy with knowing that there will still be five more to come. We also chip away at two different wood-based trivia games, dust off the Playstation and some bottles of schnapps, fear the #BiL backlash, and speculate on the upcoming sequel to beer: Beer 2. Kick! Punch! It’s all in the mind. Beers Reviewed Code Switch (Imperial Ale aged on blackberries in whiskey and bourbon barrels) V.S.O.J. (Cuvée of two- and three-year aged bourbon barrel barleywines) Deth’s Tar (Barrel-aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout) Café Deth (Barrel-aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout w/ Dark Matter coffee) Deth By Currants (Barrel-aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout w/ black currants)

Every Black Friday, Goose Island strives to deliver on a year-plus promise of bringing together consistent quality and technical innovation for a Bourbon County lineup that succeeds in besting the previous year’s. We sat down with Mike Siegel, head of Brewery Research & Development, to walk us through a tasting of some of this year’s offerings while highlighting the processes that brought these beers into existence. There’s also questions about the major changes instituted since the infection year; how specific ingredients are chosen and integrated to match a flavor concept; what quality concerns led to Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout getting passed over this year; how much AB-InBev’s influence plays a part in the yearly release; and how a new variant goes from a simple idea or blending experiment to a nationwide offering. There’s an absolute ton of other material here that would be best enjoyed while shivering in a pre-dawn line for Bourbon County, or while sitting and revelling in your spoils while si

For our big 250, we bring together a show that’s been over four years in the making about beers that take at least three years to produce. It’s all American-style gueuzes - er, Méthode Traditionnelle, in some cases - from six sour beer makers. We’re joined by Doug Veliky of Revolution Brewing, just because we wanted a friend to share these with. But Doug shares with us a bunch of Revolution updates, and spoils our dreams on why we’ll likely never see a canned Gueuze. If that weren’t enough, this show also features brief drop-in interviews from James Howat of Black Project (and one of three board members for Méthode Traditionnelle Society), Jason Pellett of Orpheus Brewing, and Tomme Arthur of The Lost Abbey. Thank you for your listenership at any point along the way of these 250 episodes, and thank you more sincerely for tolerating our terrible Gueuze puns. Gueuzes Cruised Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales - Oxcart: Blend A (2018) New Glarus Brewing Company - R&D Vintage 2017 Orpheus Brewing - Eve

The 16th annual Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beers is almost upon us, and we continue our yearly tradition of geeking out about our favorite Chicago festival. We have five beers from brewers who will be pouring at this year’s fest while we also share some festival tips and breweries to seek out. Ryan also has done his homework as he subjects Craig to a few rounds of FoBAB history trivia. But we also review the bathrooms at the Google HQ, recklessly redefine the word “subtle”, enter the Apriverse, discover a new fetish, and get a little oxidation in our eyes. It’s more fun than you can fit in a...uh...some kind of….uh...liquid-holding vessel? Beers Reviewed Cerebral Brewing - Deep Thought (Chardonnay barrel-aged saison) Cruz Blanca Brewery - Paz Y Piña (Saison refermented on pineapples in Chardonnay barrels) Cellador Ales - Seconds (Blended barrel-aged sour with apricots) Indeed Brewing Company - Rum King 2015 (Rum barrel-aged imperial stout) Revolution Brewing - V.S.O.J. (Blend of 2 and 3 year-aged bourbo

What horrors abound in this blind gross-out tasting challenge, wherein we try to inflict suffering on each other through liquid terrors? After the inaugural Beer Purge we did last year, Craig’s hungry for sweet and sickening revenge. We pour six of the worst beers we could find while challenging one another to guess what’s in the glass while trying to lessen the volume of our pours from the Cuveé of Doom finalé. Listen in as Craig cackles while committing an unspeakable evil, and Ryan warns that Stephen Malkmus could be coming for your identity and bank account.  Don’t listen to this one alone. Beers Poured With Extreme Malice Stone Brewing Co. - Smoked Porter w/ Chipotle Peppers (2011) Stone Brewing Co. - Ruination DIPA 10th Anniversary (2012) Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Chateau Jiahu (2013) Baltika Breweries - Baltika #9 Extra The Steel Brewing Co. - Steel Reserve 211 Alloy Series Blue Razz Country Boy Brewing - Nacho Bait Habanero Blonde Ale

Our 50 States Quest continues as we take on our fireworks-selling neighbors to the East: Indiana! Recorded over the summer after Craig returned from a jaunt around the Indianapolis area, this episode features five diverse Hoosier beers that show Indiana beer is much more than that one metal brewery on the border. And because this was recorded in August, we get Craig’s recap of the Wizard World Comic Con including the cultural penetration of Golden Girls, Funko Pop everything, and what surprising offerings they were pouring at the Goose Island station. But then we talk about terrible Bobby Knight, kicking some barrels, Dick Tracy villains, and Quad IPAs. Count us IN. Beers Reviewed Oaken Barrel Brewing - Razz-Wheat (Raspberry Wheat Beer) Taxman Brewing Company - La Maison (Saison w/ clover honey) Windmill Brewing - Memeosa (Milkshake IPA w/ lactose, vanilla beans, and orange juice) Deviate Brewing - Continued Clarity (Imperial stout with vanilla, chocolate & hazelnut) The Bier Brewery - Bourbon Barrel Sani

The proliferation of pumpkin-flavored everything has slowed significantly compared to five years ago, and that seems to be the case in beer as well. Even in a year’s time, pumpkin beer entries at GABF dropped from 66 in 2017 to 38 in 2018. Are pumpkin beers on their way to the porch to be picked apart by squirrels or obliterated by little rapscallion neighbors? Or is the trend deserving of a Great Pumpkin-like return? We try five unique pumpkin-featuring styles on this show (and one terrifying pre-made mixed cocktail) to determine if we should even care at all. We also learn more about Fall Craig, pick our ideal piano man at Mariano’s, explain why Bengston’s is terrible, and share some tasty, tasty rage. Good gourd, it’s an interesting journey.   Pumpkin Beverages Consumed   BuzzBallz - Pumpkin Pie Eater (Mixed vodka drink w/ “fresh dairy cream and natural flavors”) Lakefront Brewery - Pumpkin Lager Hoppin’ Frog Brewery - Frog’s Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale Seattle Cider Company - Pumpkin Spice cider Epic Brewin

When we first met Neil Fisher from WeldWerks back in 2016, we couldn’t help but root for him: an affable guy making outstanding beers that were poised to reach a larger audience. Fast forward to the present, and WeldWerks is making some of the most exciting beer in all of Colorado, and the growing demand for the beers reinforces it. For this show, we have five WeldWerks beers to review along with five segments of an interview we did with Neil this year on the GABF floor. You’ll learn about WeldWerks’ 100 Beers project, plans for increasing capacity, benefits of not having an annual specialty stout release, and the most difficult beer they’ve ever made. But then there’s some other stuff about Craig’s new fur baby, 10-inch nose aromas, next year’s new GABF styles, and some 90s grittiness. Woop woop! Beers Reviewed Keller Pils 2.0 Hefeweizen Quadruple Dry-Hopped Juicy Bits Double Peach Milkshake IPA Medianoche (2018)

Taking three New England-made hoppy beers and pitting them against three Chicago ones in a blind taste test would seem like a novel idea, if we hadn’t already done it like 11 months ago. But here it’s a fresh crop of hops from some big names in IPA, and our blind assumptions prove to be challenging yet again. Ryan is trapped in meme purgatory, Craig unveils his worst version (down with Fall Craig!), we say Mosher’s name 3 times to see what happens, and the throat hops return. Come feel safe in the grip of haze, and we’ll be sure to pepper in the chucklef*cks. Alan! Beers Reviewed Blindly (in order of appearance) Hubbard’s Cave - Fresh IIPA: One Hop Simcoe Trillium Brewing Company - Storrowed Tree House Brewing Company - Haze Pipeworks Brewing Company - Infinite Galaxy Goodfire Brewing Co. - CMYK Alarmist Brewing - Oatshaker

For our fifth straight year at the Great American Beer Festival, we drank all of the beers in Denver so you didn’t have to. This episode is our full recap of this year’s fest, including discussions on the medal winners, our favorite beers at the fest, the hazy IPA takeover, and our inability to navigate the new layout. We also have a bunch of interviews from the festival floor featuring brewers we admire and beer people we respect. And if that isn’t enough, we drink and review three Denver-area beers from our hotel room against the will of our exhausted bodies and brains. We share some good unsolicited advice we received, introduce Craig’s new workout buds, and get interrupted by the drunkest 22 year-old at the fest. Beers Reviewed Declaration Brewing - Hardtack Copper Outer Range Brewing Co. - Trail No. 4 (Quandary Peak) Ursula Brewery - Imperial Crustless Interviews from GABF 2018 James and Melissa Priest of The Referend Bier Blendery (Pennington, NJ) –  00:12:18 - 00:20:51 Tony Corder and Drew DeWees of Co

As IPA further becomes a parody of itself, we stare down the ultimate challenge to our perception of what hoppy beers could - or should - be. Milkshake IPAs are a newer variation on the fruit-forward and bitterness-free take on the IPA that features lactose and/or vanilla to raise sweetness while incorporating wheat or oats into the grist to increase its heft. Listen as these six beers slowly chip away at our reservations around this hot new trend, and we learn to love again. Sort of. Also, Ryan refuses to let Craig continue to forget Leg Day, we invent the Beach IPA, and we fall into another tangent trap about candy and Doritos. Put the pectin in it! Beers Reviewed Odell Brewing Co. - Cloud Catcher Collective Arts Brewing - Liquid Art Fest (w/ passionfruit, mango, and vanilla) Energy City Brewing - Milkshake Nawi Mango (w/ mango and vanilla beans) Hop Butcher for the World - Blazed Orange Milkshake (w/ oranges and vanilla) Hailstorm Brewing Co. - Boat Drinks (w/ orange & pineapple juice, and toasted coco

We’re counting down the days to the 37th annual Great American Beer Festival, and going into our fifth year attending, we finally feel like we’re qualified to give advice for those attending, or provide escapism for those that would like to be. Also, we drink five beers from five Illinois breweries we’ve never had on the show - and who also happen to be pouring at this year’s GABF! In regards to the fest, we share general advice, Illinois brewery pour lists, our picks for must-try breweries, and a rundown of interesting Denver-area events during the week. Also, Ryan plays Six Degrees of LMFAO on the opening, Craig discovers that every beer is a WeldWerks collab, and we write font-based romantic fiction. Whether you’re going to GABF or not, you can’t deny that we say the names of a lot of beers in this episode. We are sincerely sorry for party rocking. Beers Reviewed Midnight Pig - Hook & Hatchet (Vienna Lager) Tangled Roots Brewing Co. - Oktoberfest Alter Brewing Co. - ALTERior Motive (IPA) Band of Bohemi

Years ago, before every other American brewery had a koelschip or a “sour program,” the options to foster a love for sours was mostly limited to shelf-available Belgian beers. As Ryan’s long-gestating audio lovechild, this episode represents a time when exploration of sour styles meant green-bottled imports and hard-to-pronounce names. But our reverence for these classics is apparent as we try five different Belgian sour beers done in five different styles. We learn about the beers themselves including the odd stories about how some of them were willed into existence by non-Belgians. We talk about IRL Mario Kart, put our best foudre forward, sup the cup, and buttdial our Boon buddy. And as this is (sort of) our pledge drive episode, check out patreon.com/abvchicago to donate to the show and get a ton of extra content and gifts! Beers Reviewed Brouwerij De Brabandere - Petrus Aged Pale Brouwerij Van Steenberge - Monk's Café Flemish Sour Ale Brouwerij Verhaeghe - Duchesse de Bourgogne Vanberg & DeWulf/Brouw

From the Stüssy of craft beer podcasts, this episode focuses on five Wisconsin breweries that aren’t that one you were just thinking about. Along with four interviews Craig gathered at the Great Taste of the Midwest, this show features five stellar beers that reach across the Badger State. Craig recaps some of his experience from the Great Taste, Ryan tries out a new color identifying app, we deal with a potential toilet Ghoulie situation, and we imagine a reality with Grambo. Taste the Robot World!  Beers Reviewed Working Draft Beer Co. - Hindsight (German-style Pilsner) Earth Rider Brewery - Superior (Pale Ale) Badger State Brewing Co. - On Wisconsin! (Red Ale) The Brewing Projekt - Dare Mighty Things (New England-style IPA) Raised Grain Brewing Co. - Black Walnut Coffee Stout (Belgian Imperial Stout) Interviews Included Clint Lohman of Working Draft (0:07:33) Allyson Rolph of Earth Rider (0:24:45) Sam Yanda of Badger State (0:42:11) Dr. Scott Kelley and Dr. Jimmy Gosset of Raised Grain (1:04:47)

Situated on a farm that also serves as a winery and restaurant, among other things, this unassuming Indiana brewery has made a name for itself through the perfect combination of eye-catching packaging and well-executed, in-demand beer styles. Craig visited the brewery and brought back a few interviews to help shed light on this growing operation while we drink through five different beer styles that range from “fresh take on a classic style” to “is this even a beer anymore?” There’s also a Fast and Furious proposal, some praise for an exceptional beer server, a potential can grenade, a 4-pack price game, and the HopHeads of the Corn. Extra thanks to McKinley and Brian from 450 North for the brief interviews! Beers Reviewed Pay Day (Hoppy Pilsner) Bouncy Castle (Creamy oat IPA) SLUSHY Fruit Cocktail (Berliner Weisse w/ peach, pineapple, mango and cherry) Diamond Nuggets (Triple dry-hopped Triple IPA) Piece of Cake - Black Forest (Pastry stout w/ chocolate, vanilla, and cherry)