Category Archives: Russian Imperial Stout

Pubcast 224 – Fruit Beer and More!

Craft Beer, Fruit Beer, IPA, Russian Imperial Stout, Stout

A friend of mine went out to Iowa and brought me back a couple of fuit-based brews and this prompted us to track down a couple more and give us the theme for this edition.  Recorded down at Hopvine Brewing in Aurora, besides Mark and Phil, we welcome Chuck Fort from Church Street Brewing, and Hopvine’s very own head brewer, Ken McMullen. Rounding out this week’s guest is Alex Zapata from Fox Valley Homebrew and Wine Supplies, who has opened up their store right next to Hopvine.

We also try three varieties of Ken’s Ukranium Krusher, and while we taste and cogitate on these fine samples of Russian Imperial Stout, we have a somewhat confrontational discussion on beer can labels.

Our final segment focused on the new range of beers from Gun Craft Beer, which produce cans that feature guns on some of the labels. We discuss is this is a good thing, or perhaps it touches on the same area as some of the ‘sexist’ labels that have caused controversy.  It could be that this is the end of the night, or perhaps its just good old pub chat, but thank goodness we live in a country where we can express our opinions freely – and drink damn good beer at the same time!

Review Beers:

Green Tree Brewery, LeClaire, IA – Mango Me Hoppy, Mango IPA, 6.3%
Sierra Nevada, Chico, CA – Peach IPA, Fruit and Hop Ale, 5.8%
Edge Brewing Co., Boise, ID – Pug In the Sun Clementine IPA, 6.8%
21st Amendment, Blood Orange Brew Free! or Die IPA, 7.0%
Green Tree Brewery, LeClaire, IA – C3 Chocolate Cherry Coffee Stout, 5.9%

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

Pubcast 215 – Metal Monkey Plus One Year

Brewery, Brown Ale, Craft Beer, Doppelbock, Russian Imperial Stout, Saison, Stout

Metal Monkey Brewing opened their doors on Jan 30, 2016 down in south suburban Romeoville.  Nearly one year on, head brewer Dan Camp and the rest of the Monkeys are getting ready to hold their 1-year Anniversary party.
We were here last for a podcast at the opening and since then Dan and crew have settled in and started to produce some really solid brews.
We discuss where they’ve been and where they are going, and hit a couple more topics like Shower Beer and what’s the best container for selling draft beer.  Plus we sample some of the Monkey beers we haven’t tasted before and of course pass opinions that are only our simple, personal views.

Beers we sampled:
Burninator Doppelbock, 7.5% ABV, 22 IBU – Batch #100
Glazen Boterham Saison / Farmhouse Ale, 4.2% ABV, 24 IBU
Up And Atom American Brown Ale, 4.8% ABV, 22 IBU
Chocolate War Zone W/ Raspberries American Stout, 6.2% ABV, 60 IBU
Asmodeus Stout – Russian Imperial Stout, 12% ABV, 60 IBU

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

Pubcast 214 – New Year, New Beers

Craft Beer, Porter, Quad, Russian Imperial Stout, Trappist Ale, Winter Ale

Our first show for 2017, and it’s out with some old beers and in with some new. Phil brings 3 local brews that are new (well at least 2 are), and Mark  shows up with a couple of older bottles he picked up in 2016.  We recorded this show at our local tavern, John’s in Winfield, so we could check out the new handheld digital recorder.

First up we have a classic Belgium Trappist beer, apparently fairly rare in the US. Then it’s back to Illinois for our next three, a robust porter from Algonquin’s Scorched Earth Brewery, and two barrel-aged first editions from Alter Brewing in Downer’s Grove, and Metal Monkey in Romeoville respectively.

We finish up with one of the most expensive beers we have tasted, a 2016 barrel-aged winter ale from Fremont Brewing.

They’re all good in their own way, and it’s a great start for the stout fellows’ 2017!

  • Brouwerij der St. Benedictusabdij de Achelse, Achel 8 Blond, Trappist Ale, 8%
  • Scorched Earth Brewing, Algonquin, IL – Rugged Coalminer, Robust Porter, 5.9%, 35 IBU
  • Alter Brewing, Downers Grove, IL – Elder Lord Farquad, red wine barrel-aged quad, 11%, 24 IBU
  • Metal Monkey, Romeoville, IL, Asmodeus, Bourbon barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout, 12%
  • Fremont Brewing, Seattle WA, Ancient One B-Bomb, 14%, 65 IBU

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

Pubcast 197 – Lena and Generations Brewing

Amber, Brewery, Craft Beer, Hefeweizen, Irish Strong Ale, Russian Imperial Stout

Phil and the lovely Kimberlee recently headed out to north-west Illinois to visit the Galena Territory area. On the way they stopped by Lena Brewing and got an interview with brewers Tim and Andy, tasted some  samples and brought a selection of bombers back for show tastings.

With John Karwoski’s help, Mark and I try their 38° Hefe — 5.8% ABV 13 IBU, one of their most popular summer brews. This is followed by Póg Mo Thóin, Amber Ale – 4.5% ABV, 20 IBU.  We will have reviews of some of their other offerings in another show.

We then head to Generations Brewing, in Freeport IL, and bring back a couple of howlers of their special offerings.  Ken McMullen from Hopvine Brewing is on-hand to help us taste these and we start with Cherry Czar, a Russian Imperial Stout with cherry puree, 10.4% ABV, 58 IBU.
Last up is Tawny Ale, an oak-aged Irish strong ale, 6.9%, 22 IBU.
Play the show from our player below