Monthly Archives: December 2016

Pubcast 213 – Christmas Surprises!

This week we welcome not one but two of Chicago’s fine brewers to a show that dives deep into the Brit and Yankee fridge to pull out some bottles that have been at the back of the shelves and need tasting.
Chris Valleau from Forest Park’s Exit Strategy Brewing and Marc Wilson from Nevins Brewing Co. visit the pub studios, and join John Karwoski from John’s Tavern, and together with Phil and Mark bring a couple of their own brews to top and tail the 4 selections on review.

Apologies to Chris who seems to have got the mic that decided to crap out, but we’ve done some post production wizardry and hopefully he sounds ok!

Brews sampled this week:
Chris Valleau’s ESB Christmas Ale
Marc Wilson’s DIPA Bigly
Noon Whistle, Lombard IL – Face Smack Berliner Weiss Sour, 4%
Edge Brewing Co., Boise ID – ​Bourbon-Barrel Aged Oud Bruin, 7.5%
​Pollyanna, Lemont IL – Ocular Double IPA, 8.9%, Ale brewed with honey
Stone Brewing, Escondido CA – Double Bastard, Bigger, Longer, Uncut, 12%, American Strong Ale aged in ​100% Islay Scotch Whisky barrels

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

Pubcast 212 – ‘Tis the Season…

As we head into the rush of the holiday season, the pubcast crew decided we should highlight some seasonal ales and winter warmers that we think would be good for experienced and new craft beer drinkers to try. It seems to be the spiced ales that come in for most of the attention, but we are trying to look at a couple of other brews that could be good alternatives to those heavy stouts we looked at last week.

This edition is what we consider our Brit and Yankee Christmas party, and joining Phil and Mark is friend of the pubcast and certified consumer,Tom Ryan, Chuck Fort, assistant brewer at Church Street, and as we are recording live at John’s Tavern in Winfield, publican and owner John Karwoski rounds out our trinity of tasters. It’s a seasonal six-pack and we chose our top 2 at the conclusion on our tasting session.

We sample the following beers for your consideration:
Church Street Brewing, Itasca IL – Pontificator, Doppelbock, 7.0%
Sam Smiths Yorkshire, England – Winter Warmer, 6.0%
Noon Whistle Brewing, Lombard IL – Bog Theory, Cranberry Mint Saison, 4.8%
Pipeworks Brewing, Chicago IL – Santa vs Unicorn, American Barley-wine Style Ale, 10%
Cahoots Brewing – AMeN!, Barrel-Aged Barleywine, 10.1%
Anchor Brewing Co., San Francisco CA – Christmas Ale 2016, 6.5%

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

Pubcast 211 – Stout Brews, Stout Fellas

As we missed a week for Thanksgiving, we are back with a bumper edition.

Heading into the dark winter days, we select 6 hearty stouts that we think are good selections for either go-to or treat beers from the dark side.  Joining Mark and Phil is Chuck Fort, assistant brewer from Church Street. As all the beers are great in their own right, we won’t be rating them, but instead we select our top 2, based solely on personal preference.  Chuck brings their Holy Cow! Milk Stout as our starter brew.

To break up the Stout session, we cleanse our palate with a short interview with Brandon Wright, head brewer at Plainfield’s Werk Force Brewing. He won a gold medal at FOBAB 2016 for his Beautifully Broken, in the Fruit Beer category, and we caught up with him to find out all about his win and the beer.

Here are the stouts we reviewed, plus the timings if you want to skip around:

2:41 Holy Cow! – Church Street Brewing, Itasca, IL – Milk Stout, 6%
13:51 Double Cream Stout – Bells Brewing, Kalamazoo, MI – Sweet Stout, 6.1%
21:40 Dark Truth – Boulevard Brewing, Kansas City, MO – Imperial Stout, 9.7%
32:34 Black Note – Bells Brewing, Kalamazoo, MI- Bourbon Barrel-aged Stout, 10.8%
51:41 Turbulence – Sketchbook Brewing – Imperial Stout, 9.7%
63:06 Ten Fidy – Oskar Blues, Longmont, CO – Imperial Stout, 10.5%
73:33 2016 Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout – Pollyanna Brewing, Lemont, CO – 10.5%

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