Category Archives: Barrel Aged

Pubcast 232 – Flesk Brewing 2.0

Barrel Aged, Brewery, Craft Beer, Double Brown Ale

Father’s Day weekend saw the official opening of Flesk Brewing in their new location in the Icebox Mall in Barrington, IL.  Last year, the O’Brien brothers, Will and James, took a hiatus from brewing in their original location in Lombard after 3 years, and decided to reinvent their brewery with an expanded space, and a taproom only approach.

Phil catches up with the lads and we chat about their challenges of the move, their history, and their current brews.  As a celebration of their new opening, I bring a bottle of their 2015 3rd Anniversary Grand Cru and we check how it has changed from the original bottling.

And just to make sure these guys know their beer, we also sample a bottle of barrel-aged beer from Louisville’s Against The Grain Brewery called Jackyale, ​ a double brown ale aged in bourbon barrels in honor of the greatest rock and roll band on this or any other time, Jackyl.  ABV 9.5%, 35 IBU.

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Pubcast 220 – 3 Girls from Missouri

Barrel Aged, Craft Beer, Imperial Stout, Sour Ale, Wild Ale

This episode welcomes the original Cellarmaster and the ‘Yankee’ in Brit and Yankee, Lingo, back to the pub, and he’s lucky to be here when we have some special brews to taste and compare.  2nd Shift is a brewery out of St. Louis, MO., who our good friend Kevin from The Wine & Cheese Place in Ballwin, MO. introduced us to. We pop the tops of these 3 girls, and get Lingo acquainted with a new style.

Steve Crider is the brewmaster there, and produced a wonderful barrel-aged saison with brett, called Katy which is delicate brew that tastes like a wine.  He has also used the same recipe but with 2 bretts, and christened the result Grace.  Our final menage a trois of BA saisons is Annabelle, using a ‘funky’ brett and aging 8 months.

We compare these three ladies of Missouri and arbitrarily rate them to our preference.  No matter, they are all outstanding examples of this style, and we long for them to wend their way over the border into Illinois.  As you see from the pictures below, the cork in Grace was tough to remove!

So that Lingo ends up with a heavier style as he likes, we’ve managed to obtain a bottle of the original Abraxas from Perennial Artisan Ales, which none of us has actually had the pleasure of trying.  We break open the bottle and find out that all they say is true about this great Imperial Stout that regularly makes the top Stout lists that frequent the internet.

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Pubcast 219 – Back in the Pub with Heroes!

American Wild Ale, Barrel Aged, Craft Beer, IPA, Sahti, Saison

​After a month’s break, the Landlord is back and fully bionic!
The professional recommendation was no alcohol for 4 weeks post-surgery, so tonight will be the first brew since January 23.  We have two honored guests in the pub completing our panel of tasters; the always entertaining John Bitterman who is always willing to beg, borrow, and steal to enlarge his Illinois breweriana collection. And a man who always keeps us supplied with new brews, and can be considered a craft brew aficionado, but from sensible consumer perspective, my pal Tom Ryan.

It’s a packed show including real Finnish Sahti, a blind review of Revolution’s League of Heroes limited 12-pack releases, a quick visit out to Cademon Brewery in Genoa, where brewer Andrew Nordman has risen like a phoenix thanks to a successful crowd-funding effort, and a bonus beer review from Blue Blood Brewing in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Mark’s lovely wife Tina returned from a trip home bearing a bottle of Strong Sahti from Finlandia Brewery in ​Sastamala, Finland. Clocking in at a whopping 10% this ‘rough and ready’ traditional beer has been brewed for over a thousand years in one from or another, and gallons of the stuff has been drunk over the years, and now it’s our turn to sample it.

Then we head out to Cademon Brewing, in Genoa IL, for a chat with brewer / owner Andrew Nordman, and hear how he managed a successful crowd-funding campaign to get the brewery re-opened after having to close up on the day of their second anniversary. They’re back now and we hear about his new approach to beer.

Then the panel gets to blind-taste the new variety pack from Revolution Brewing called League of Heroes. This pack focuses on their ‘Hero’ IPA series and showcases the latest offering in this series. It’s a great way to get to know what hop style you prefer, and we test our tasters to provide their opinions and pick their favorite. Nobody is wrong, and it’s all a matter of personal preference.

Finally, and just because it’s been a while since we got together, we end up trying a ‘bonus’ beer. This is from Lincoln, Nebraska’s Blue Blood Brewing, and one of their barrel-aged Outlaw series. This is a ​wine barrel fermented wild ale, bottle conditioned with Brettanomyces, clocking in at 6.5%.

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Pubcast 213 – Christmas Surprises!

American Strong Ale, Barrel Aged, Belgian Style IPA, Christmas Ale, DIPA, Oud Bruin

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

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