What's New in the Brew

This week has been pretty exciting with announcements from the craft brewing scene in Chicago. Screw the pontificating prose, let's get down to it:

Big Star is planning a one-year anniversary party on Nov. 8. There will be a special beer on tap developed by Big Star and Goose Island's Clybourn Pub Brewer Jared Rouben. It'll be called Deguello. Yep, it is named after the album by ZZ Top.There will also be live music and, of course, food.

This one sounds great: Bleeding Heart Bakery is teaming with Fifty/50 to create a new location on Chicago avenue. Bleeding Heart Bakery will be a full-fledged sit down place with 125 or so tables. The cool beer part is Roots, which will be right next door. Roots will be the brain child of Greg Mohr and Scott Weiner, who run the aforementioned Fifty/50. The Roots will feature 16 different beers on tap--all from the Midwest. This is awesome news. I'm sure there will be Bells, Three Floyds, Goose Island, maybe Half Acre, but I'm also hoping that we can get some beers with smaller profiles (New Glarus maybe?) into the mix. You can read what Time Out Chicago had to say.

October 30 has Costumes and Craft Beer at Jack Melnick's Corner Tap. 11 taps of Victory. Yes, 11 taps of Victory.  There's a discount if you wear a costume.

Also, if you can head over to Revolution Brewing in Logan Square. They now have 10 Revolution beers on tap to try. They also have Eugene Porter and New Holland Ichabod on cask. I find it rare to get cask beers, so head on over and try some.



That's some of the latest news. Get out there and support your local Chicago craft beer scene!

How Far They've Come: Half Acre Video

I just stumbled across the great video profiling Half Acre. It debuted in early 2010, and you can see how much the brewery has grown in the meantime. Even though Half Acre has seemingly grown, it is interesting to see how it started and what craft brewers face in Chicago. In a way, it is an inspirational video to keep drinking local beer and supporting local craft brewers.

Pipeworks Brewing

The best part about the Chicago craft beer scene is that there are so many enthusiasts who are trying to start their own craft breweries. Maybe what Silicon Valley is to technology, Chicago can be for craft beer? The best example I have seen recently is Pipeworks Brewery. It's not even around yet. Basically, it's a couple of guys who want to start their own brewery. Instead of focusing on large batches, the brewery looks to be focusing on small batches at a local brewpub.

What these guys need right now is some money to help get their business running. If Chicago truly wants to be a great craft beer city, then we can give a little to make sure that people that want to open their own brewery can do it. It reflects everything that is great about craft beer: community and experimentation.

 Also, it looks like they might be looking for a place in Garfield Park. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it shows how great Chicago is that these craft breweries are looking all over the city and not concentrating in one hip neighborhood.

You can learn more about Pipeworks Brewing at Kickstarter, where you can check out their story and donate some money. The brewery also has a Web page and a page on Facebook. Show some support and maybe in a year's time we can add another craft brewer to the Chicago scene.

Goose Island News

As always, Goose Island continues to be Chicago's flagship brewery. It's by far the largest of the city-bound craft breweries and has the flexibility to try new beers and styles. November is almost upon us, and a quick look at Goose Island's beer calendar shows that there should be a few new beers coming out: Bourbon County Brand Stout, Rare Bourbon County Stout, and Draft Release #4 (hmm).

Also, on October 27, Goose Island will be hosting a Beer Academy for Barrel Aged Beers at its Clybourn location. Keep in mind that the Festival of Barrel Aged Beers is coming up and that this might make a good crash course if you are not familiar with the style. You can sample 15 to 20 beers at Goose Island for $20. Make sure to RSVP before the date.

Last but not least. It looks like Goose Island is expanding production to Redhook in New Hampshire. It doesn't look like Goose Island beer will be available immediately in New Hampshire, but it's a good start. Apparently, Goose Island's 4 million gallon capacity stretched to the limit. This will allow Goose Island to step up short-term production while planning for expansion in Chicago, which should bring more jobs. This is a great example of how supporting a local brewery has a positive impact on the community. You can read more about this at Beer News.

Drinking Wake of the Flood

Stopped by Half Acre on Saturday and it was crowded with people picking up growlers for the weekend. I actually stopped at Bad Apple, which is across the street, to have a beer and wait for the crowd to thin out. If you haven't been to the Bad Apple, I highly suggest it. There are a lot of great beers on tap and in bottle. I had Stone's Sublimely Self Righteous Ale. A great dark IPA. I'm personally very happy that Stone has finally found its way to the Chicago market. If you have a chance, stop by the Bad Apple, grab some good craft brews and food, and then head over to Half Acre for a growler.

Now to the beer: I picked up a growler of Half Acre's Wake of the Flood. This newly released beer is designed for the fall harvest season, and it works. Full of grain and balanced with hops, this slightly tarnished brass colored beer is chewy and thick and perfect for an October night or afternoon (or morning for you adventurous folk). It's smooth and easy to drink. I hope this continues a great trend of Half Acre making seasonal beers.

Finch Beer Looking for a Name

There's a new brewery coming to town, and it's looking for a name for its flagship beer. Located in Chicago's Mayfair community (think Montrose and Pulaski), Finch beer is going to be a new craft brewery located in Chicago. However, Finch is still looking for a name for its flagship blonde ale. If Finch picks your name, you get to win free beer for life. Sounds like a great deal. Here's the Facebook page for more details.

What I find particularly interesting about Finch beer is its location. On Elston off Montrose, it is away from traditional areas of craft beer. Just down from the location is a mosque. Further down Montrose is a Buddhist temple. The opposite way is a Eastern European nightclub. It wouldn't be an obvious place for a craft beer brewery. Even though it doesn't look like it might have a brewpub attached and will work through distribution, it might have a presence similar to Half Acre: a brewery with a small storefront that sometimes acts as a de facto meeting place for Half Acre lovers.

Not sure what this is, but apparently
Old Chicago had a rotor in it.

The symbolism is enormous. So far, craft beer is populated by fairly educated, middle class white people. This is a broad generalization, but going to a fest or scanning those that are working in small breweries tends to reinforce this idea. There might be a variety of factors here: the trend of craft beers costing more than mass produced products; perhaps a cultural heritage stretching back to Europe; a broader embracing of the local and slow food movements. Whatever, it might be, craft beer consumers and enthusiasts tend to be better educated, middle to upper class, and white.

Craft beer, for some, can be associated with elitism, urbanism or education. It can be perceived as not being "real" enough or "manly" enough. As I'm from originally the south suburbs, I witnessed this first hand growing up and today. A real beer is one that is served cold and has some professional sport association: Budweiser, Miller Lite, etc. The branding has associated these beers with the working man (across races) and marks it opposite of craft beers.

The beer barons of Chicago's early
days made lots of money. Here is one of the
houses built in Wicker Park.

Take the recent Miller High Life commercials: a working class truck driver takes back his macro-beer from wealthy white clients. The symbolism couldn't be more pronounced: High Life is not for wealthy people, but for working class people. It reinforces the idea that the working class only deserves macro swill and drinking anything else is akin to acting too elite, or even too white. This marketing ploy subconsciously plays on the stereotypes we have about race and class in America.

This brings me back to Finch brewing and its location. Instead of seeking out a place that can cater to its anticipated clientèle, it chose a place that is working class and diverse. This might have more to do with economics than any intentional ploy, but the impact might be as great.  Before prohibition and restrictive distribution laws, breweries used to operate in and serve their communities. Local beers reflected local cultures and tastes. Perhaps by having a brewery in the area, those who come from different cultures (and countries) can physically see locally brewed beer and realize that there are options beyond the standard macro-produced beer.

As craft beer starts to take a stronger hold in Chicago, perhaps we will see different communities starting their own breweries to reflect their cultural heritages. This will give people pride in their neighborhoods and a way to see that there is more out there than what is on the grocery store shelves.

You can visit Finch's website here.
You can also check out Finch's Twitter feed.
Check out Finch's Facebook page.

Half Acre: Wake of the Flood

New beer today at noon at Half Acre. Wake of the Flood is an autumn beer with rye and pilnser malts with some crystal hops. Not sure what it is going to be like, but I'm sure as hell going to see if I can get myself some. It's a draft only, so bring your growler and fill up. Plus, I'm loving the logo with the bear and crow with a paddle and saw. Not sure what it all means, but it speaks to that fall home repair harvest building something feeling that seems to come naturally with fall.

Read more about the new beer at Half Acre's blog.

Octoberfest vs. Harvestfest Fest

Fall is one of the great beer drinking seasons. Of course there's football and walking through pumpkin patches, but more importantly there's the harvest beers. There's nothing better than drinking a nice Oktoberfest or harvest beer on a crisp Chicago day. Thankfully, The Fountainhead and the Bar on Buena are putting on an amazing Octoberfest vs. Harvestfest celebration on Oct. 23 and Oct. 24.

The two bars are going to be offering dozens of Oktoberfest and harvest beers including Victory Fest, Great Lakes Oktoberfest, Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest, and Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela (on cask!). Both bars are teaming up to offer all of these great beers plus more. What's even cooler, is that you don't even have to drive between bars or take public transportation: there's going to be a free shuttle going back and forth.

Seasonal beers are some of my favorite because they are only available for a short time and match the weather outside. Sure, a good Pilsner is nice, but a barley wine in the winter or a harvest beer in fall seems to make everything right with the world. That somehow amidst all the marketing hype and constant availability that we still cling to growing seasons, eating and drinking in cycle with the moon as those first brewers did. It might not rely on dank caves or small communities harvesting grain, but it does hearken back to those simple times when a job well done was rewarded with a beer to match the weather.

You can learn more by checking out the Facebook event page. 

Festival of Barrel Aged Beers Coming Nov. 6

Tickets are now on sale for the Festival of Barrel Aged Beers. It will be this Nov. 6 and tickets will be $40 in advance and $50 at the door. Let me tell you one thing: it is definitely worth it. 


A barrel-aged beer is one that has been aged in a wooden barrel for a given amount of time. The idea of using large steel kegs or vats to keep a beer is a relatively new invention in the history of beer making and dates back to the 19th century. As industrialization turned what was formerly family- or town-run businesses into corporate machines with management structured, there needed to be a way to reliably transport and keep beer for delivery to far away places. Because wooden barrels impart different qualities and can alter the final product, new inventions in steel became the rage among industrialists. However, the uniqueness and flavor that many people now crave in these types of beers were lost. Consistency and reliable delivery trumped uniqueness and flavor.


Interestingly enough, with the rise of craft brewing, this method has now come back into vogue, especially in America. Many breweries in Europe still hung on to this time-tested method (for a good parallel example look at the history of champagne). Perhaps less than 10 years ago, American breweries started to pick up on this method and experiment with barrel aged beers. I remember the first few and uniqueness, and I was immediately blown away. Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout used Bourbon barrels to impart different flavors of vanilla and whiskey. It is a great way to take a good beer and add a distinctive twist to it.


Like all things, it might be getting overdone, and by that I mean that the big breweries have started to take notice and use it for marketing ploys. It seems to water down the whole experience, but events such as this show just how great a beer aged like this can be. It also takes quite a bit of time and space to house these beers. Inventory that sits and ages doesn't make money; an idea that is toxic to big brewers. Even though these guys have the capital and space to store their beer, it is up to the little guy to take the chance. It is our duty to go and drink as much as we can.


The fest is expected to draw about 50 brewers. There will be a judging. There are two sessions: one that runs from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and another that runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The event takes place at the Chicago Journeyman Plumbers' Local Union 130 Stephen M. Bailey Auditorium, 1340 W. Washington Blvd, Chicago. This place hosts the CHRIP Record Fair and is a great location. There is plenty of room and a parking lot. The murals are a treat as is the balcony. Tickets are now on sale at Brown Paper Tickets. You can learn more at the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild website. There will be $10 tickets for designated drivers, and it is in Chicago, which is served by a lot of public transportation and cabs. 


One final word: as different movements that stress local food, slow food, local and independent shopping, and environmentally conscious choices, it is interesting to see the craft beer movement parallel this. Barrel aged beer falls into that same category. Instead of mass produced beer using cheap ingredients, people are choosing local flavors and varieties that use traditional methods of production. After more than a century of being told that mass production and uniformity is the ideal, people are starting to recognize and appreciate the uniqueness found in local and traditional methods and techniques. Even if we do live in an industrialized society, sometimes we recognize that instead of trying to force everything to be the same that some things are just made better with a bit of time and chance.