News Item: Local Watering Holes

A little piece from Yahoo! News that looks interesting. Sure, I totally agree with the first entry as you will have seen from my previous posts. But I have heard a lot about Fountainhead and their rooftop beer garden as well.

Let me know what you think or if there are others worth mentioning!

 

Chicago's Beer Gardens on Nation's Best Lists

By Janoa Taylor | Yahoo! Contributor Network


With a growing craft beer scene and great summer weather, Chicago's beer gardens have grown in popularity over the years, and now one has landed on Food & Wine's list of the best beer gardens in the U.S. Want to experience Chicago's best? Head over to Sheffield's Chicago in Lakeview.

Sheffield's Chicago One of Nation's Best

Their craft beer selection is out of this world -- you'll find Founders, Goose Island, New Holland, New Belgium, Revolution, Three Floyds, and much more. Each month, a different brewery is selected as Beer of the Month, and a pint will only cost you $4.
Need more to convince you of Sheffield's greatness? Check out the ancient tree that juts out of the center of the beer garden. It towers over the middle section, giving much needed shade in the summer, as well as an earthy feel to your visit. There are also plants lining the wall above rustic, wooden picnic benches. Sheffield's is also known for some of the best barbecue in Chicago. They make two awesome barbecue sauces in-house --
the Memphis will satisfy those with a sweeter tooth, and the Texas will spice up all the others.
Find Sheffield's Chicago at 3258 N. Sheffield Ave and School Street.

The Village Tap  

Located at 2055 W. Roscoe St., it has become one of the city's favorites since opening in 1990. Besides a draft list boasting 25-plus beers, the beer garden is open year-round and has a fireplace and TVs for catching the game. It's definitely a neighborhood hangout, with ivy covering the patio walls.

 




Fountainhead 

Located at 1970 W. Montrose Ave., is another key Chicago beer destination. Their beer garden is a tad smaller, being a rooftop garden, but the beer list puts it at the top. Draft Magazine lists Fountainhead as one of the country's best beer bars, with a stunning menu boasting close to 200 beers. There are 26 craft breweries rotating on draft,
and a killer bottle and can selection includes Bell's, Lagunitas, Three Floyds, Stone, and more. Their beer garden is seasonal, and the Fountainhead Twitter feed says it's open for 2013.



Janoa Taylor is a freelance writer with a background in business and finance. She offers a unique local perspective
gained from years as a Chicago resident.

Copyright © 2013 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. | Yahoo! - ABC News Network | /

News Item: Craft Beer: A Hopumentary | Cool Material

Interesting little story that ran on Cool Material this weekend, from the Left Coast for a change. 

Craft Beer: A Hopumentary | Cool Material

News Item: Some Bars to Hit in Chicago North of Logan Square (As Seen in ChicagoNow)

A Chicago Bar Crawl in Search of Old Style and Authenticity

By Jessie Ann Morrison, Sunday at 4:54 pm

Have you ever been driving north down Milwaukee Avenue and noticed that the moment you pass the Logan Square Blue Line stop, there is an abrupt absence of young white people: so abrupt, in fact, it feels like there’s some sort of invisible forcefield, as if the music of Vampire Weekend simply bounces back into the atmosphere, rendering anything north of Kedzie totally unliveable?
Today’s hipsters move to Chicago in search of authenticity. But here’s the thing: they limit themselves to certain neighborhoods to such an extent that they never allow themselves to see the real, salt-of-the-earth city made famous by Algren and Royko and Dybek.
So, in the name of cultural ambassadorhood, Dispatches From the Northwest Side has created a Milwaukee Avenue bar crawl itinerary for those in search of a real Chicago experience. It begins north of Addison and takes you all the way to Devon, farther and farther from the hipster center of Logan Square. If you go with an open mind, don’t be surprised if you find yourself, by your third or fourth Old Style, having an actual, earnest, unironic good time.
Kennedy’s—3734 N. Milwaukee Pat Kennedy, from Co. Clare, Ireland, is the quintessential bartender—he knows a little bit about everything. There is nothing about Chicago politics or sports that he can’t discuss. And if you can ignore the fact that this place is on an abandoned strip of Milwaukee Avenue, just below the Grayland Metra station, has no name on the front, and looks disturbingly similar to the bar in Mystic River where Sean Penn shootsTim Robbins in the face, you will be pleasantly surprised. The bathrooms are clean. The jukebox rules. The Guinness is three dollars a pint.
Best overheard quote during the Chicago Teacher’s Strike: “I’d take that Karen Lewis broad more seriously if she didn’t wear her hair in ‘dose crazy corntails!”

The Windsor Tavern—4530 N. Milwaukee Avenue  This little place has surprisingly good quesadillas, a nice beer garden, friendly regulars, and a religiously devoted group of Bears fans.
Best quote overheard circa 2005: “’Ey Bill! Didja see that homo cowboy movie?”

The Capitol Night Club—4244 N. Milwaukee Avenue  I have a Czech friend  who once demanded to know why Americans always smile in photographs. “Why do you have to show all your teeth like that?” she asked. “You’re not really that happy, and you know it!” It’s this distinctly Eastern European dark worldview that makes me love the Capitol Club. Although it is awash in neon and stripper poles and populated by the young and beautiful of the Northwest Side’s Polish community, the bar has a post-Communist air to it, a hangover of suffering and privation. Here you will drink and you will dance, but all with a trudging purpose, and never forgetting the futility and ultimate darkness of human existence. You won’t fit in here, and unless you are tall, blonde, Slavic, and wearing six-inch heels, no one will talk to you. And that is as it should be.
Fischman’s Liquor—4780 N. Milwaukee Avenue At this point, you are realizing you have crossed into the Hinterlands. There is no Urban Outfitters for miles around, the CVS across the street doesn’t even sell mustache wax, and you are going to be thirsting for a reminder of your former life. Fischman’s, with its selection of craft beers and Thursday night food trucks, will return you to a place of hipster equilibrium. You will still probably get stared at, though.
Best overheard quote: “Malort dis guy’s ass—NOW!”

Zachary’s—5368 N Milwaukee Avenue  Generally, I avoid bars with wall-to-wall carpeting. But how can you go wrong at a place that provides plastic seating out front that looks ripped out of a Greyhound station? And that’s open til 5 a.m.? Actually, on second thought, you might want to save this place for the very end of your bar crawl. I’ve never been here before 2 a.m. and can’t vouch for its safety before the late night crowd arrives.

The Thatch--5707  N. Milwaukee Avenue If you come here, you will be the only American in the place. But if you tip well, behave yourself, and buy a drink for the person sitting next to you, the Irish who hang out here might choose to accept you.

Three Counties--5856 N. Milwaukee Avenue My favorite part of this bar is the little beer garden out back, which is usually filled with old men in gleaming white gym shoes and nylon jackets, leaning together smoking cigarettes and talking Cubs baseball.

Jet’s Public House—6148 N. Milwaukee  Since this bar is full of alpha males in sweatpants, it’s no surprise that there’s no better place to watch a Hawks game.
Overheard quote: “Can I get the cheese basket, hun? But instead of the curds, can I double up on the mac n’ cheese bites?”

• Meet The Blogger

  
  

  Jessie Ann

  Jessie Morrison is a writer and high school English teacher from the Northwest Side of Chicago. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia College. Her fiction and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in The Madison Review, The Chicago Reader, McSweeney's, Great Lakes Cultural Review, Hypertext, Word Riot, Hair Trigger and other local publications. She lives with her husband, Denis, in the Old Irving Park neighborhood.

News Item: Recent Beer Inventions

I don't need the inventions, just more beer I think. But anyway, I grabbed this from Glacier Design Systems. 

April 2nd, 2013 ·

The brewing of beer is a technology as old as civilization itself. Since its inception, mankind has steered its innovative mind toward the betterment of this process, as well as making beer more pleasurable to drink.
Many inventions have come down the line, from the beer tap to the beer hat, yet the process of brewing beer (and drinking it) has remained unchanged. The popularity of craft beer is also spawning new ideas to make beer more interesting.
If you thought beer-tech innovation has reached its zenith, here are five recent examples that might change your mind.
 
Cold beer cell phone charger
The Epiphany onE Puck is a gadget developed by a group of “technologists and business professionals” looking to solve that age-old problem of how to charge a cell phone with a cold beer.
It works by way of a Stirling engine, which is powered using heat disparities, and has two sides: one for hot and one for cold. It works independently and does not need to be plugged into a source of electricity to work. Stirling engines are nothing new; they were invented by Robert Stirling in 1816. What makes this one interesting is that it’s a technology that combines pleasure with a modern practical effect. It is compatible with iPhones, Androids, all iPods, and any USB-charged electronic device drawing 1 amp or less. Now that is one fierce beer coaster.
 
The Hop Gun
This rocket-ship-looking contraption from the Tröegs Brewing Co. in Hershey, Pennsylvania, is called the Hop Gun. How does it work? The device is loaded down with hops pellets and then purged with carbon dioxide. Inside, the double-helix design creates an inner burst of turbulence that dissolves the pellets as the beer circulates through the vessel. This device will be used in conjunction with the company’s HopsCyclone technology.
 
The Drink Tank Growler
If the new 64-ounce growler law in Florida goes through, then maybe you’d think about buying one of these bad boys. It’s not a typical growler — this one has a tap. The growler sold by Cool Material keeps beer cool with lightweight, double-walled stainless steel. It costs $65, but tack on an additionial $30 for the keg tap lid. It also comes with a convenient handle so you don’t look ridiculous cradling your growler like a baby.                          

Brewpi
Brewpi is a fermentation controller and a modification of the Raspberry Pi computer, a do-it-yourself programmable computer that is about the size of a credit card. The sky’s the limit when it comes to applications for this little computer, but someone up and modified one to fit into his brewing scheme (good job). The step-by-step guide is available online, complete with source code if you feel so inclined to exercise your aptitude for electronics. The computer costs $25, but more money may be needed for additional components.
Once fully assembled, it can control beer temperature to within 0.1 degrees, can log temperature with a nice graph, and is fully configurable from a web interface.
 
The Randall Jr.
A beer Randall is an invention credited to the Dogfish Head brewery. The Randall Jr. is an organoleptic (meaning it relates to properties of food that stimulate the senses) hop transducer module containing a chamber filter that can be connected to a beer tap and filled with flavor-enhancing ingredients. Most Randalls come with two chambers, but this Randall has only one.
It holds one pint of beer, has a twist-off top, and consists of double-walled, BPA-free plastic. Just fill with beer, fruit, spices, hops, etc., let chill, then pour. An inexpensive and practical device, it costs only $20.

News Item: Craft Brewing Timeline

From http://www.brewersassociation.org/:

American Brewing History

• First known brewery opens in what now is Manhattan.
• Virtually every Founding Father either made or enjoyed beer.
• Soldiers in colonial times were reported to have been paid in beer.
• In the 1800s, the U.S. mostly drank ale.
• In the 1870s, there were 3,200 breweries.

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• 1978: U.S. Congress passes H.R. 1337 exempting a certain amount of home-brewed beer to be brewed for personal use. There were 42 brewing companies (that owned 89 brewing facilities between them).
• 1979: Deregulation of Prohibition era restriction helped to rebuild America's brewery population
• Lager is the dominate beer drank in the US

---

• Today 97% of the more than 2,000 breweries in the U.S. are small and independent.
• American tastes are changing. Look at coffee, tea, cheese, chocolate, bread and yes, beer. The public wants choices and flavor and diversity in the category of brands that they buy. For example, Nielsen research confirmed that beer drinkers are shifting to more robust beer styles and that seasonal beer is one of the top selling craft beer categories.
• American Craft Brewers are known for making fuller-flavored ales and lagers and are revered worldwide for their innovation of classic beer styles.
• Small and independent craft brewers are known for being passionate and innovative makers of fuller-flavored beer.
• The Brewers Association has defined more than 100 beer styles.
• Craft brewers are amazing community citizens, contributing millions of dollars to their local communities and providing an estimated 103,585 jobs all across the U.S.
• On average, most Americans live within 10 miles of a brewery, and hundreds of thousands of people have toured or tasted at their local brewery.
• American craft brewers are recognized for making some of the best beer in the world.  The Brewers Association reported record exports of American craft beer in 2011—which totaled over 110,000 barrels of beer and was valued at an estimated $23.4 million. This was a dramatic increase of 86 percent by volume and 97 percent by dollars over 2010 exports.
•  

Craft Brewers' Challenges

The U.S. is a beer-loving nation first and foremost. Sales figures show 2011 U.S. beer sales surpassed sales of wine and liquor combined. Note that American craft brewers, defined as small, independent and traditional by the Brewers Association, have seen continued growth, yet have only captured approximately 6% of overall national beer sales. Craft brewers, against many odds, have been a successful business sector despite a decrease in national beer sales.

To put things into perspective, sales for craft brewers ($8.7 billion in 2011) were similar to sales of Champagne in the U.S. at that same time. Despite these numbers, the local brewpub, microbrewery or regional craft brewer has been beating the odds amidst some very tough challenges.

Craft Beer Monday Review: Revelry

Happy as always to find another offering from my favorite brewery from the Western Suburbs, Two Brothers. They have been pretty consistent with their beer-good ales: pales and IPAs, as well as consistent quality in their seasonals as well as Domaine Dupage which I haven't found anyone matching in flavor and uniqueness. But now for Christmas I found this, at Binny's, and was looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was about (the fuss was a 14.99 six-pack price).

Labeled as an Imperial Red Ale, and boasting a 9.5% ABV, I had a feeling this was going to be a rocking strong brew, and quite unique. It certainly turned out to be exactly that. Not surprising, I suppose, since besides DD, Two Brothers also have Cane and Abel on their resume, which is also a unique flavor I have not experienced elsewhere either.

I didn't want to go too much into the other beers listed on the 15 for the 15th anniversary this year, and not because I was only really fond of a couple- the Old 1713 was awesome plus the 91 Shilling was also very tasty (OK, I love those Wee Heavies).

But I will give them credit for introducing these beers this year, because I think they wanted to show their versatility and give something to the loyal fans, although a bunch of them I had no taste for.

But it was the 15th of the list, as they were saying all along, that would be something that has never been introduced before and would be substantial, and I think it definitely is that.

Now how can I describe it? Really sweet and malty, but with enough hops to make it bold in the bitterness too. There is, no doubt, a large amount of alcohol here, a liquor smack in the head. 

Now, I come to a problem here. I have to rate it, which I am willing to do, because looking at the categories normally used to describe beer this one hits them all very well. But the problem here is what I often see with many High Alcohol beers-it is just not my thing. Yes, I may try one again, but it would be my first of the night and I would follow it with a bunch of 6% beers, because that is what I like the most.

CBC Rating: 4. Again, it is worthy, but I just don't give it a lot higher than that because it is very limited in its uses.

Brewery Visit: The New Glarus Brewery-Home of the Spotted Cow

I finally made it up to New Glarus, Wisconsin, which is a must see for those of us who have been enjoying the delicious Spotted Cow and Moon Man and Staghorn, etc. for so long. Unfortunately it is kind of off the beaten path, especially if you are traveling from Chicago, it is a little more west than I was expecting, Still it was only a couple hours away.

"Indigenous" is their motto, and this is reflected throughout with all the logos and items sold in the gift shop. It is a very clean and sparse place, and they give you a self-guided tour, which just pretty much allows you to walk around not exactly sure what you are seeing-very little descriptions anywhere.

So, basically, you can tour the building and look in the windows, go to the gift shop, and sample the beers in a couple different ways. I chose the small sampling glasses, which include three fill ups and keep the glass. The other choice was the large pilsner glass, which is also nice, plus one fill-up. Since I wanted to try a few I chose the little sampler.
The tasting room is long and well lighted and you can also choose to step off into a nice little beer garden. There was a lot of construction going on to expand the place, maybe put in a restaurant ?  Also there was a beer shop with their normal beers plus others right off the parking lot, which was convenient.


The choices we were given were the standards and a few extras:
1. Spotted Cow
2. Fat Squirrel
3. Two Women
4. Moon Man
5. Hometown Blond
6. Raspberry Tart

Although I have already tasted them all plus a few more I chose the Fat Squirrel, the Moon Man and Hometown. The Fat was a little sharp and unexpectedly crisp, not what I was expecting in a heavy malt beer. In fact, I may say I was a little disappointed there. I went next with a hoppier Moon Man, which I really enjoyed, as usual, and finally an old favorite, Hometown Blonde. I really enjoyed that one too. I guess I was expecting more out of the first one or maybe I could have gone the other way.

+

Now for a little editorial about New Glarus Beer: For me, I think they could spend more time looking at what the marketplace is doing to see if they are successful. Then again, maybe it is some of the flavors that appeal to me and those that don't that have formed this opinion for me.  New Glarus likes to push the envelope a little in some ways, but then doesn't go too crazy like most craft brewers do in others. Plus, they choose to lock in on other things that I wouldn't do. For example, they always have a sour (or vinegary, as I like to describe it) beer available, as a specialty beer (look at Enigma and other sour browns). I don't like these and will never buy one (I have tasted a few and I don't like them, Sam I Am.) But, they only have 1 stout as a seasonal (Road Slush), no regulars. The black Top and Moon Man are the hoppier offerings but the black top is heavily malty so it puts neither anywhere near an IPA, which is what every micro-brewer is producing these days. I appreciate their efforts into lagers and pilsners, plus Spotted Cow is lighter and refreshing, but it is also along the lines of a fruity kind of idea, which this brewery seems to do a lot more often.

It is interesting too that they have locked in on Black Top and Two Women, which have appeared out of nowhere and are now year round regulars, yet I can't see they are that popular. Plus it also seems that the Dancing Man is like the only decent wheat offering yet I can never get it either.

I am glad I went up there, but overall I must say that it is a place to stop on your way somewhere and not really a destination, no food, nothing else to do. Plusm the local town has a few bars that offer a ton of their beers and all on tap too. My wife, who had never had a SC, is now hooked on them.

Utopia is Finally Available!

Utopias!


Let me know if you have had it.

Samuel Adams Utopias sells for $190

Published November 05, 2012

The bi-annual version of Sam Adams ultra-strong Utopias beer has hit the market, but you'll have to hunt it down if you want a bottle. Less than 20,000 bottles will be distributed this year.
Typically, Samuel Adams Utopias is released every other year, but this version was released off schedule to help celebrate the 10th anniversary of the beer.
The 2012 version is a blend of beer aged for years in different type of barrels and includes some of the brewery's original Triple Bock from 1993. That's probably why it sells for a whopping $190 a bottle.
"The 10th anniversary release of Utopias is proof that extreme beers have earned a permanent and respected place in the beer universe, a world now constantly evolving with new craft beers and excited craft beer drinkers," said Samuel Adams founder Jim Koch in a release.
So what makes this beer so special?
First, Utopias is 29 percent alcohol by volume (ABV), which is 58 proof. (An average American beer is around 5-10 percent ABV, depending on the brand.)
Also, along with hops, barley malt, yeast and water, Samuel Adams used Champagne yeast, which can survive in the higher alcohol better than a lot of beer yeast. Maple syrup is also used to provide additional fermentable sugars to help raise the alcohol.
"As a result," Koch writes, " ... Utopias invokes the flavors of rich vintage port, fine Cognac or or aged sherry, while feeling surprisingly light on the palate."
Utopias is meant to be sipped and is recommended to be served at room temperature in a two-ounce glass.  It also comes in a cool-looking black decanter shaped like a brew kettle.  The bottle, at 24 ounces, makes for a great collectors item --and something you may want to keep especially when it works out to over $7 an ounce. 

Oktoberfest Taste Test Held and Results are In!

Quite an interesting selection of Oktoberfest beers were available for the tasting, including a couple Germans and a whole lot of American beers. We performed the tasting and agreed on almost all of them, with Steve-o picking up some of the subtleties that I missed a little later in the tasting. Due to time limits (and inebriation) we skipped the Sam Adams and Leinenkugels, having already repeatedly tasted those, in addition to  Spaten, which we normally put at the top of the list anyway.

OUR CHOICES
The Americans:
1. Brooklyn Oktoberfest                                                                And the Germans:
2. Point Oktoberfest                                                                       1. Hofbrau Oktoberfest
3. Great Lakes Oktoberfest                                                            2. Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest
4. Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest                                                          3. Wolters Fest-Bier
5. Southern Tier Harvest
6. Sam Adams Oktoberfest
7. Summit Oktoberfest
8. Harpoon Oktoberfest
9. Central Waters Oktoberfest
10. Magic Hat Hex Ourtoberfest
11. New Glarus Staghorn
12. Shiner Oktoberfest
13. Widmer Brothers Oktoberfest




THE RESULTS:
In the end we decided to split apart the different styles, putting at the top of the German Oktoberfests:
1. Hacker Pschorr
2. Hofbrau
3. Wolters

For the Americans, our top 5 were:
1. Point
2. Great Lakes
3. Staghorn
4. Central Waters
5. Magic Hat.

We tasted them back and forth and tried to knock the Point off the top but we had to stick with it. The Staghorn was an old favorite but we were really impressed with the Magic Hat and the Great Lakes too. All in all it was a tough battle.



Lastly, at the bottom and never moving back up was the quite unpleasant and un-distinctive Harpoon. I mean, it looked nice and we were hopeful but we really didn't like it and it stayed at the bottom the whole time, even worse that the Widmer's,  believe it or not.
Also, the Southern Tier Harvest was not even an Okto, but a spicy ale. Quite tasty, there is no question, but I don't think I should have included it after all.

Oktoberfest Tasting Will Finally Be Happening!

Yes, we have finally made plans for the Oktoberfest tasting we have been talking about forver. We will be trying out approximately 17 different beers, in sample forms only!

Among those we will try will be the expected ones: Sam Adams, Leinenkugels, the big Germans, plus a few smaller ones: Revolution, Central Waters, Harpoon. Plus, Steve's own homebrew which I'm dying to sample.


 Any thoughts on this year's Oktoberfest offerings? Good ones or bad ones that stand out?

Let me know what you think.