Category Archives: Sour Ale

Pubcast 231 – Vacation Report: Mark’s Bottles

This is another show-n-tell edition, and this time Mark brings to the pub some bottles (and one can), that he collected during his recent road-trip. We are headed to Florida and Utah in this show and trying some higher ABV brews. Joining Mark and Phil this week is Chuck Fort, assistant brewer at Church Street Brewing in Itasca, and tavern owner John Karwoski from John’s Tavern in Winfield.
This will be Mark’s last regular show as he is heading up to the northwest, and Boise Idaho, where he will passing on his brewing expertise to the growing craft beer industry there.

Our featured brewery is Barrel of Monks from Boca Raton, FL., who specialize in Belgian-style beers. They provide the following brews:
S’Tart Sour Ale, 6% ABV, Unblended, Lambic style ale
​Bon Bon Anniversary Ale, Belgian Chocolate Porter, ABV 7%
​QuandRum, rum barrel-aged quadruple, 10.5% ABV

We stay in Florida for our next beer, from NOBO Brewing, in N Boynton Beach.  We have a crowler of their Coconut Chocolate Coffee Imperial Stout, 12% ABV.
And our final brew is a more traditional double IPA from Squatter’s Brewing in Salt Lake City, UT. These folks have been around since 1989, so are the oldest of our trio of breweries. We sample their Hop Rising DIPA, 9% ABV.

Play the show from our player below, or from SoundCloud…

Pubcast 229 – Illinois Brews for CCBW 2017

In this show, recorded live at the Church Street Brewing tap room, Phil and Mark select 4 brews from Illinois to celebrate Chicago Craft Beer Week which runs from May 18th through May 25th. Joining them once again are CSB’s head brewer, T.J. Bacholz, assistant brewer Chuck Fort, beer historian John Bittermann, and CSB owner, Lisa Gregor who keeps us all in check!

We have selected 4 brews we think you should try, all from Illinois breweries, near and far, new and well-established. In order of sampling we have Hailstorm, Noon Whistle, newcomer White Rooster, and finally old-timer Two Brothers.

This will be the last episode for a while as the staff are heading out in vacation, but stay tuned for new episodes later in June.

Brews Sampled:

Noon Whistle, Lombard – Mr. Nice Gummy, HopHash NE IPA, 6.8% (Crowler)
Two Brothers, Warrenville – Sour Beer #2, Sour/Wild Ale, 5.5%
Hailstorm Brewing, Tinley Park – English Gentleman, Imperial Milk Stout w/Hazelnut, 13%
White Rooster, Sparta – Solitude, Dark Farmhouse Ale, fermented and aged in Used Bourbon Barrels for 12 months, 8%

Play the show from our player below, or from SoundCloud…

Pubcast 228 – Church Street and Tasty Brews

In this episode, we return to Church Street Brewing in Itasca, nearly 4 years after we first talked to them (Pubcast 107, July 6, 2013), and find out what’s changed and taste some of their new brews. Joining Mark and Phil today are head brewer, T.J. Bachorz, assistant brewer Chuck Fort, and halfway through the show Illinois beer glass collector and historian, John Bittermann stops by.

Join us for friendly conversation and a sampling session, including what makes white stout white and how it differs from a regular stout. For the comparison, we throw in another can of UK brew from Harvey’s, their Black Stout. Big thanks to owner Lisa Gregor who also stopped by, and T.J allowing us to record our show in the taproom.

Church Street Brews:
Head in the Clouds, Zwickelbier – 5.4% ABV 30 IBU
Magisterium Maibock, Maibock / Heller (Helles) Bock – 6.5% ABV 22 IBU

Other Brew Reviews:
Crooked Stave, Denver CO., Hop Savant, Brettanomyces IPA, 7%

Byway Brewing, Hammond IN., Bean White, White Stout w/coffee beans & cocoa, 7.5%

Harvey’s Black Stout, authentic porter stout, 4.8%

Schlafly (The Saint Louis Brewery), Scotch Ale/Wee Heavy, 35th Anniversary of The Wine &Cheese Place, 6.2%

Play the show from our player below, or from SoundCloud…

Pubcast 223 – Illinois vs Idaho

With March Madness behind us we thought it might be fun to match up a couple of breweries from two states beginning with the letter ‘I’ – Illinois and Idaho.  So with a complete arbitrary approach to balance and fairness we select Solemn Oath brewing to stand up against 2 Idaho breweries, Edge Brewing and Sockeye Brewing.  The Landlord stands by our Illinois brews, but will the all the taster’s agree? Chuck Fort, assistant brewer at Church Street, once again joins Mark and Phil for this episode, recorded at John’s Tavern in Winfield.

Phil has supplied the following from Solemn Oath:
Lü, Kölsch-style Ale, 4.7% ABV
Old Faithorn, American Pale Ale, 5.5% ABV
Funsponge, Belgo-American Blonde Ale, ABV: 4.8% IBU: 24


Mark has returned from his trip up to the North west and brought back the following:
Edge Brewing Co.
Odelay, Vienna Lager, 5.5% ABV, 23 IBU
Obligatory DIPA, 9.2% ABV, 88 IBU
Sockeye Brewing
Sour Puss, American Sour, 5.5% ABV, 6 IBU (why bother!)

Play the show from our player below, or from SoundCloud…