Category Archives: Black IPA

Pubcast 353 – Phil Castello of Side Lot Brewery

American Pale Ale, Belgian Tripel, Black IPA, Brewery, Craft Beer, Pils

Just like corner taverns, small craft breweries are key communal locations for some neighborhoods, even more so in these days of social distancing and closed bars. Side Lot Brewery in Wauconda IL is one of these craft breweries, who under the guidance of owner/brewer Phil Castello, continues to produce a variety of great style offerings, and has adapted their outside beer garden for safe consumption.

This video / audio edition, recorded via Zoom, visits with Phil to find out more about his brewery, his beers, how they help support local events and organizations. Ken McMullen from Hopvine Brewing joins The Brit to sample and discuss 4 Side Lot brews, a complimentary sample 4-pack of which will be provided to one lucky person!

As The Brit is also a ‘Phil’, he becomes English Phil, and Phil Castello is Italian Phil, and not to be left out, Ken claims the name Irish Ken.

Note:   The drawing is open from 5pm, Nov 11 2020 to Midnight, Nov 16 2020, and the rules are laid out by English Phil at the start of the recording. All you need to do is listen for the “Magic Phrase”! If you are listening past the closing date, then never mind and carry on about your day…the offer expired!

Brews Sampled:

    • Philsner, German Pilsner, 5.5% ABV
    • Yours, Mine + Ours, APA, 6% ABV
    • Vibranium, Black IPA, 6.5% ABV
    • Jimmy The Weasel, Belgian Tripel, 10% ABV

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Pubcast 265 – Oswego Brewing Co

American Pale Ale, Black IPA, Brewery, Craft Beer, Helles Lager

New craft breweries continue to open across the Chicago suburban area with amazing regularity. In this edition we’ve headed south-west to Oswego, where head brewer Marc Wilson is putting in the hours to ready the Oswego Brewing Company for opening in late April to mid-May.

Marc is a friend of the show from his former brewery, so of course we immediately gave him a shout to see if we could come down and get a progress report from him.  The first half of this show presents that report where we get a flavor for some of the aspects of opening a new brewery and tap room, and what to expect from OBC as they make their mark on the Illinois brewing scene.  Watch their build-out in pictures here…

Joining me for the second half, which we recorded up at Church Street Brewing in Itasca, is ex-co host and brewing expert, Mark Naski. Together with CSB head brewer TJ Bachorz and current co-host Chuck Fort, we do the unthinkable by comparing a helles lager from Six Ten Brewing in Tampa FL., to CSB’s own Heavenly Helles.

And finally, because growlers don’t last long, Mark has brought a couple along for tasting, and we go from Tampa to Nampa, Idaho. Crescent Brewing is a small brewery “out in the woods” as Mark says, and he brings their Tilted Kilt Pale Ale, and the Skullsplitter IPA, and we debate whether they are open for copyright issues, but finally decide that the beer speaks for itself!

Beers Reviewed in this episode:

Six Ten Brewing, Tampa, FLA., Tent Beer, Dortmunder/Helles, 5.2% ABV
Crescent Brewing, Nampa ID., Tilted Kilt Pale Ale, 5.2% ABV
Crescent Brewing, Skullsplitter DIPA, American Double/Imperial IPA, 9.00% ABV

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

Pubcast 241 – Viva Vivant?

Barrel Aged, Belgian Style Stout, Black IPA, Craft Beer, Double IPA, Grisette

The Brit joins up again with Mark Naski, beer consultant and BJCP judge, and we head down to Hopvine Brewing in Aurora to meet up with head brewer Ken McMullen. Our focus beers this week come from Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids, MI. 4 cans were donated by pod-guest and craft beer lover, Tom Ryan, who visited the brewery on his vacation. We have 3 Brewer’s Reserve and 1 limited edition to review, all which look to be unusual styles, but do they match up to the attractive packaging and reputation of the brewery?

To close out the session, we throw in a bottle that the Brit has been aching to open and share. From Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, CO., we have Brazzle, a golden raspberry barrel aged sour.

Beers reviewed:

Brewery Vivant, Grand Rapids, MI

Million Pound Grisette, grisette ale, 4.75%
Nuit Serpent, Black IPA, 6.3%
Civilistic, Belgian Style Stout, 5.8%
Devastation, Bourbon Barrel-Aged Double IPA, 11.6%

Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO

Brazzle, Sour Golden Raspberry aged in Oak Barrels, 5.4%

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Pubcast 216 – Taster’s Choice

Black IPA, Craft Beer

With the boom of the craft beer industry there have sprung up little enclaves of enthusiasts who get together to taste and share a plethora of brews, commonly known as a bottle share.  We head out to Lunar Brewing in Villa Park, where on the 3rd Monday of every month a small group gets together to share their love of the craft beers.
Co-host Mark Naski participates in this tasting and invited Phil along, provided he bring beers to share – but of course!
We talk with some of the club members and get a feel for what makes craft beer so popular these days.  Plus, while at Lunar, we get to taste some of their new brews on draft, including Unidentified Flying Hopject.

We’ve added a bonus tasting on the end of this edition, where we try a very-much hard to find can of Midnight Squeeze, a New England black IPA, and a collaboration from Mikerphone and Werk Force Brewing.

This will be the last podcast for about a month as Mark is heading out of town, and Phil has a date with a new hip!  But, we’ll be back in late February with more tastings and brewer interviews, so stay tuned folks!

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