Pubcast 297 – The Firkery

This is the first podcast of 2019, and we have a cavalcade of brewers and friends of the show, who were all at Skeleton Key Brewing for a cask real ale event. The Firkery crew comprises Hopvine brewer Ken McMullen, Ugly Trucking‘s Travis Beard, and craft beer nerd Kevin Herbst, and it is their mission to bring back cask ales, and they’ve got beer engines to distribute it from.

In this edition, we talk with some of the craft celebrities who were present, including my co-host and brewer at Church Street, Chuck Fort. And in order of appearance we have –

  • Chuck Fort, Church Street, Itasca – who tells us where to point your bung when casking real ale
  • Oliver Bulley, Dry City Brew Works, Wheaton – who has exciting news about the next Firkery event
  • John Karwoski, ex-tavern owner and friend of the show – who just likes to drink good beer
  • Bruce Dir, Tighthead Brewing, Mundelein – who has Boxcar Porter on tap tonight, and damn fine beer it is too
  • Dan Burr and Matt Molitor, Scallywag Brewing, Downers Grove – who give us an update on how their new brewery is coming along and when to look for an opening date
  • Mark Hedrick, Alter Brewing, Downers Grove – who really likes cask ale and has interesting ‘expansion’ news about Alter
  • Don Hardy, breweriana collector and Big Guy for the Chicago Area Microbreweries FB group – who if you don’t join the group you should do, and if you don’t know Don you should. Thanks to him for supplying a few of the photos while The Brit was rushing around interviewing folks!
  • AJ, Miskatonic Brewing, Darien – who happened to horn in on our chat with Mark, but was able to tell us about their cask offering
  • Steve from Bradford – who is a regular at Skeleton Key, and am ex-pat Brit, so he should know real ale
  • John Schopa, Skeleton Key Brewing, Woodridge – who tells us about their cask offering, plus a collaboration release now probably all gone as you read/listen to this, but the backstory is interesting
  • Matt Lakota, 25 West Brewing, Bloomingdale – who provides an update on how they are doing and where they are going

And finally, the tables are turned on The Brit as the guys from Midwest Brew Review, interview him on the origin of the tap handles used for this Firkery event. They have a great video YouTube channel, so please head over and subscribe!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.