Abv Chicago Craft Beer Podcast

Thanks to listener Mike Bobal, we are able to drop another pin in our map as we tackle the Garden State. We review five beers from five different New Jersey breweries while trying not to offend every single person in that state. Also on the agenda, we try to refresh our tired review language, experience extreme visibility, meet Professor Nosebody, and talk about cat food with cheese in it. There’s a trivia game comparing one of Jersey’s favorite sons to a lunatic cult leader, but we also talk a little Springsteen. And the beers are tasty enough to send this boat hurtling towards the Jersey Shore. Beers Reviewed Magnify Brewing - Low Visibility Pale Ale Jersey Girl Brewing - Rake Breaker IPA Carton Brewing - Shinshu (cream ale with miso) Double Nickel Brewing - Marbled Buffalo (bourbon barrel-aged rye beer) Kane Brewing - Christian Patrick (imperial stout)

Starting back in 2005, Jackie O’s has grown from a brewpub to include a production brewery, bakeshop, and farm. Recently, Craig went down to Athens, Ohio and recorded about 20 minutes with the head brewer of the production brewery, Seth Morton, before bringing back a stash of beer for us to review. We try six of their excellent beers, three of which are barrel-aged, and we get completely SlamJammed. There’s also some kettle sour crankery, Dope Ass Doilies, piney beers, and a barleywine intervention. Come on and get SlamJammed.   Beers Reviewed   Berliner Weisse Oro Negro (imperial stout w/ cacao, habanero, oak, cinnamon, and vanilla) Bourbon Barrel Dark Apparition (Russian imperial stout) Pockets of Sunlight (mixed culture saison w/ honey, coriander, and lemon verbena) Bourbon Barrel Black Maple (imperial porter with maple syrup) Bourbon Barrel Brick Kiln Nuts! (English-style barleywine w/ six different nut varieties)

Over the course of a decade, DESTIHL Brewery has been extending their reach from their home in Central Illinois to sending their cans and bottles to nineteen different states. On this show, we sample an array of what they do: common styles, canned sours, and award-winning stouts. Craig sets us on a path of maximum distraction from the start, but we still manage to spin out some beer reviews before getting just surprisingly snockered. There’s also talk of Summer Craig’s return, banana perfection, new Greek yogurt flavors, and naughty 90’s HBO memories. Spin spin spin spin spin spin.   Beers Reviewed   Weissenheimer Hefeweizen Wild Sour Series: Blueberry Gose Wild Sour Series: Synchopathic (dry-hopped sour) Amra Mango IPA Dosvidanya (Bourbon barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout) Dosvidanya Rye Barrel (Rye whiskey barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout)   Thanks to DESTIHL for sending us the Amra, Weissenheimer, and Blueberry Gose!

We add another pin on our map with a Pennsylvania show that rings our damn Liberty bells so hard that rankings have rarely been drunker. We have five beers to review from Craig’s travels, and a brief interview with East End Brewing’s Brendan Benson. The vibes are good, as we goof on podcast names, Nic Cage, and the Friends timeline. Also, Craig does poorly in two PA-centric trivia games, and Ryan reveals his greatest invention idea. (For the dedicated listeners, play a game of “find all the continuity errors” as we recorded this one back in mid-April, yet have referenced it in many already-released episodes!)   Beers Reviewed   Brew Gentlemen - General Braddock’s IPA Forest & Main Brewing - Solaire (Saison) Lavery Brewing - 1847 Rye Stout East End Brewing - Gratitude (Bourbon Barrel-Aged Barleywine) Bullfrog Brewery - Le Roar Grrrz Aardbei (Gueuze-style with strawberry)

We’re not quite ready to let another Chicago Craft Beer Week go, so we grabbed five new-ish canned beers from Chicago breweries to review. This show also serves as our Beer Under Glass festival recap - at least, what we can remember about it. Five highly-drinkable beers and two slightly hungover hosts - what else can we say?   Beers Reviewed   Hopewell Brewing - First Lager Around the Bend Beer Co. - Vera (Pistachio cream ale) Hop Butcher for the World - Grid (APA) Finch Beer Co. - Plumage (IPA) Whiner Beer Co. - Miaou (Blended barrel-aged Belgian wheat)

Bring your raincoat and galoshes as there’s bound to be some moisture as we sip six DrippyIPAs© on this episode. We’re simply sodden with delicious hoppy ales, but one beer is the biggest shocker we’ve had in a long time. We also revisit our odd time at the Chicago Beer Classic on Soldier Field, long for a visit to St. Louis, relive Craig’s car accident, pray to Pope Meltivus IV, get horses to talk, and discuss all the 90s commercials that matter. (Sorry to Matt Pinfield on this one.) Beers Reviewed Shared - J Dub Fan Club (dry-hopped pale ale w/ passion fruit) Perennial Artisan Ales - Cave Torch (dry-hopped IPA w/ oranges) Mikerphone Brewing - I Want My IPA Tired Hands Brewing - Drippy Church (oat IPA w/ orange) Bearded Iris Brewing - Double Scatterbrain (double IPA) Transient Artisan Ales - Honeystone (double IPA w/ honey)

Sweet creamy delights fill our mouths on this engagement as we savor five adjunct-heavy milk stouts, and most are true to their intentions. It’s a roguish gallery of dessert flavors featuring coconut, chocolate, peanut butter, strawberry, cacao nibs, vanilla, cinnamon, peppers, and orange zest. We announce our big buyout, Craig’s bad creamer decision, proper jelly application, ice cream strategies, and a disturbingly erotic beer label. Bite the Bubble Tape. (BT2) Beers Consumed The Brew Kettle - Kitka (Chocolate Coconut Milk Stout) TailGate Beer - PB&J Milk Stout Saugatuck Brewing - Neapolitan Milk Stout 4 Hands Brewing - Horchata Chocolate Milk Stout Middle Brow Beer - The Milk-eyed Mender (imperial milk stout made with oranges, peppers, cacao nibs, cinnamon & vanilla)

For many, wheat beers are summer. So we get tired of waiting for the weather to turn and initiate summer on this episode with five wheat beers from five Midwestern states. Which summer wheat should be on your grocery list? Hear our arbitrary opinions! We find renewed love with some of these wheats, and at least one surprising disappointment along the way. HAKAS! Beers Reviewed Bell’s Brewery - Oberon New Glarus Brewing - Dancing Man Wheat Boulevard Brewing - 80 Acre Hoppy Wheat 3 Floyds Brewing - Gumballhead Revolution Brewing - Sun Crusher

Hot and ready at your ear doors, this episode is all about the Pizza Boy - Brewing, that is. Craig delivers another tasty lineup with five beers from his visit to this Enola, PA brewery. Of course this brewery awakens our appetites and we talk a bit about pizza and breakfast, with a serious diversion into ska. Also, find out Craig’s signature beer-transforming review trick before we get sneak-up drunk on this one. Put it on the pizza! Beer Slices Citra Pils Moonstomp (Berliner weisse) Sunny Side Up (Bourbon barrel aged stout w/ coffee) Arck Angel - Peaches (Double IPA w/ peaches) FLEMboyant (Flanders inspired wild ale aged in oak)

Continuing our intermittent liquid tour of the nation, the Buckeye State is the focus of this one with five beers from five Ohio breweries. Craig regales us with tales of his recent travels through Ohio, and he nailed the lineup here with five damn tasty brews. We also share a chat Craig had with Black Cloister Brewing founder (and Lutheran pastor) Tom Schaeffer to learn more about the divine inspirations that led to the opening of his rising Toledo brewery. Also, there’s an odd dual game of trivia, a plea for malt in IPAs, Craig’s two tongues, and Ryan’s conflicted barleywine feelings. We’re monking our asses off over here! Beers Reviewed Yellow Springs Brewery - Captain Stardust (Saison) Hoof Hearted Brewing - Hot Probz (Double dry-hopped pale ale) Rhinegeist Brewery - Penguin (Blonde stout) The Brew Kettle - White Rajah (IPA) Black Cloister Brewing - Chained Dog (Belgian strong golden ale) (Black Cloister/Tom Schaeffer interview starts at 57:29)  

Hailing from Toronto, Canada, Left Field Brewery makes an array of beers you can suck down alongside nine innings of baseball. The beers lead off strong and hardly let up, as we’re all too happy to bat around some bad baseball metaphors as we sample. The talk is a bit White Sox-centric at times, with Craig’s review of the impressive new Craft Kave (ugh) at Guaranteed Rate Field (UGH). But there’s also talk of racist Spencer’s, Bud’s new ad slogan, Ryan’s glory days, and a shout out to the Diverticuguys. And don’t forget our Saisonathon at Pub Royale is coming up on Monday, May 22nd - it’s going to be a grand run slam! A real home dinger!   Lineup Maris* Pale Ale Anniversary No. 4 Saison Prospect Single Hop IPA (Hallertau Blanc) Squeeze Play Sour Ale (w/ blood orange and cherries) Eephus Oatmeal Brown Ale Thanks to listener Christopher Nyren for the beers!

Chicagoans have long been lucky jerks to be able to call Half Acre their own, and now with the mysterious new Heavy Gem project between Half Acre and Tired Hands, it just got even better. We sample some newer Half Acre offerings before trying to get to the bottom of the mystifying Heavy Gem and their obfuscating, trippy website. We also talk about the awfulness that is Hawk Harrelson, a literal Craig situation, and our upcoming Saisonathon event at Pub Royale on May 22nd. (Saisonathongs not included.)   Half Acre - Tuna (Extra Pale Ale) Half Acre - Double Daisy Cutter (Double Pale Ale) Half Acre - Big Hugs Salted Chocolate Espresso (Imperial Stout) Heavy Gem - Humanimal Stasis (Double IPA) Heavy Gem - Virga (Ale fermented in oak barrels)

The show is on the road for this one as we dropped into four Chicago breweries that are all under a year old to chat with brewers and procure some beers to review. Our first stop is at Pilsen’s yet-to-open Lo Rez Brewing to talk with Dave and Kevin about how their tech background led them to opening a non-mainstream brewery focused on malt-forward and Belgian-style brews. Our second stop is at On Tour Brewing on the Near West side to take in their gorgeous taproom and chat with the two Marks about how they both found themselves back in their home state after years away. Our third visit is with our old friend Jacob Sembrano at Cruz Blanca Cervecería to sample styles ranging from culinary-inspired lagers to big imperial stouts and talk about his plans for bottling beers and their upcoming first anniversary. Our final stop is at the German-inspired Dovetail Brewing to talk with Hagen and Bill about how every step of their process pays homage to tradition but creates some of the most stunning clean beers in the c

As a peace offering while we ready some hot new content for this week, here’s a compilation of our favorite Low ABV episodes that were previously only available to our Patreon Patrons. We review five beers in total over four segments, and only one is included because you like to hear us suffer. As is the case with all Low ABVs, we spend a significant time gleefully off topic whilst scrapping together passable beer reviews. Hear tales and tangents about my boy Peter Gabriel, Sunny D, bomber fatigue, awful Chicago nicknames, the letter X, and the only (most important) rule at Craig’s brothel. To get a whole lot more stuff like this (and more!), become a Patron by visiting patreon.com/abvchicago to help keep us listener supported! Thank you! Episodes Compiled: Low ABV 16 - Mikerphone The Get-Fresh Flow (Recorded 7/6/16) Low ABV 21 - Hop Butcher Paris on the Prairie (Recorded 9/16/16) Low ABV 24 - Heady Topper vs. 2x4 (Recorded 11/4/16) Low ABV 35 - Stone Chocolate Coffee Enjoy By 2.14.17 (Recorded 2/10/17)

The general beer aging debate rages on, but barleywines have long been a staple for cellar keepers with the promise of better beer always further ahead. For this episode, we take on a murder of aged barleywines, chiefly American in style, often barrel-aged, and mostly just downright unpleasant. Perhaps we were influenced by our Bracket Fever, but this show brings a lot of lousy old hops and sickly sweet malts, one completely flat beer, and an overflowing Dumpy the Dump Bucket. We do sample some cheese pairings while also discussing Craig’s Shameful Bed Cheese Incident, faded cops, and what killed off the elders of craft beer. Science!   Beers Tasted (For Science)   New Glarus Barley Wine (2012) Central Waters Kosmyk Charlie’s Y2K Catastrophe Ale (2013) Founders Bolt Cutter (2012) Dark Horse Monster 29 (2012) 3 Floyds Barrel-Aged Behemoth (2013) Flossmoor Station Fireside Chat (2013) Stone Old Guardian (2010) Firestone Walker Sucaba (2014)

Get ready to journey through time with a nearly 200 year-old Belgian brewery on an episode that took us two weeks to record! Rodenbach makes some of the best sour beer in the world that is often overlooked in favor of those U.S. acid bombs that garner high trade value. We try to figure out why the hell that is, to little avail. But we sample five absolutely perfect beers here, and they give us all the mouthfeels. We also talk about when it’s right to start macerating, breaking down beer borders, the J-man (and the K-man) and that Magic Eraser life. But seriously, THAT MOUTHFEEL. Beers Reviewed Rodenbach Original Rodenbach Grand Cru Rodenbach Vintage 2014 Rodenbach Caractère Rouge Rodenbach Alexander

It’s all about those juicy hops on this episode, as we review five beers from larger breweries looking to capitalize on the current juice obsession in hoppy beers. It’s a perilous summit to the top, but we arbitrarily agree on which beer should be on your grocery list. We go over the many other large breweries making similar beers, talk a lot about mixed 12-packs and Costco, and show off our sick snowboard tricks. Also, Craig is a mothball-eating garbage boy who wants a musket. Just to summarize. BEERS MOUNTED Stone Ripper Pale Ale Samuel Adams Rebel Juiced IPA New Belgium Citradelic Odell Drumroll APA Two Brothers Pinball Pale Ale

Revolution has done something downright heroic for hoppy beer fans by assembling a mixed 12-pack of their Hero beers that will see variations as a year-round release. We crack into a fantastic foursome along with one rogue Hero and rank them all. We speculate on some hero backstories, imagine the Mt. Rushmore of Chicago beer, and spin the bottle with Randy Mosher. There’s also Craig’s comic book game, nostalgia for Buy the Weigh, and a hot take on Batman Returns. My piney sense is tingling.   Heroes Reviewed   Anti-Hero Galaxy Hero Amarillo Hero Local Hero Mosaic Hero

We pop five beers from New Hampshire’s Deciduous Brewing, and it gets a little Gushyⓒ. But the beers are impressive all around, and we finally learn what a “pLambic” is. The tangents are frequent and our talking points include wrestling and the SLAMbic, bizarre aroma descriptors, fruit soup, the Tannic Suggestion, a blood orange crime, Lap Gushy, and Craig’s take on the RenFair. Oh no, the growler boys are back in town. Thanks to David Leshinski for providing beers on this one! Beer Reviewed Auranja (pLambic with oranges) Auroral Batch 4 (Berliner weisse with blood orange and lychee) Nelson Sylph (Farmhouse ale) Renascence (Porter) Predestination (Blended sour aged in armagnac casks)

Made to cellar and improve with age, this episode was recorded back in 2014, and we release it now to coincide with Odell’s entrance into the Chicago market. The younger version of us tastes through seven (!) different beers from the Fort Collins brewery, and we are pleasantly surprised throughout. There’s also some “interviews”, history on the brewery, very old sours, Craig sniffing plastic, Four Loko, and some good old boat eating. Honestly it just feels good to live back in 2014 again for just a little bit. Do we have to leave?\ Beers Reviewed Loose Leaf (Session Pale Ale) St. Lupulin (Extra Pale Ale) 90 Shilling (Scottish Ale) 5 Barrel (Pale Ale) New Belgium/Odell - Hop Kitchen #6: FOCOllaboration (Pale Ale) IPA Myrcenary (Double IPA)