Chicago Beer Society

For the sixth consecutive year, CBS will be sponsoring the region’s largest celebration of cask-conditioned ales, with some 40 casks of real ale from Chicagoland breweries and some very special guests. As always, this promises to be a spirited event for Chicago real ale enthusiasts. Attendees will be able to sample the beers and then vote for the 2010 Champion Real Ale of Chicagoland. Last year, Surly Brewing from Minnesota earned the title for the second consecutive year with their Tea-bagged Furious IPA. Will a local brewer take back the honor in 2010? You decide! As usual, the casks will be coddled and cared by CBS’s own nationally-renowned cellarmen.

The first casks arrive at the Goose Island Wrigleyville Garage

Day & Night of the Living Ales will be held at Goose Island Wrigleyville, 3535 N Clark St, Chicago, over two sessions: 1-5 pm and 6-10 pm (9:45 last call). Only 250 tickets per session will be sold. The price is $35 for CBS members, $40 for nonmembers.  Join CBS at the same time you book your tickets and you can pay the member price.  Admission includes a tasting glass, beer samples and appetizers (artisanal meats and cheeses). All attendees must be at least 21 years old.

As of Wednesday, February 17, the entire event (yes, both sessions) is completely sold out. Ticket orders that could not be filled will be returned; Brown Paper Tickets will no longer process orders. If you were unable to get tickets, your best bet is to post your interest on our CBS-HB listserv. There are inevitably some last-minute cancellations, and these are often posted here. Thanks once again to all of you for your enthusiastic support of this cask ale event!

As always, we recommend that you take public transportation or arrange for a designated driver (but because space is so limited, we cannot offer a discounted designated driver ticket). Goose Island Wrigleyville is located approximately 2 blocks west of the CTA Red Line Addison station (one-half block south of Wrigley Field). The CTA 22 Clark bus runs past the front door all night; taxis are also an easy option.

Here is our preliminary list of casks for 2010 DotLA/NotLA:

• Emmett’s Tavern & Brewing Co.: Victory Pale Ale
• Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery: Bourbon McElroy Imperial Stout, Thammy English IPA, Joppy Joppy Joy Joy Jalapeno IPA (pin)
• Goose Island Beer Co.: Catwoman’ Black IPA, Oaky Rose Flemish Brown, Snow Leopard Mild, SupercalifragilisticCITRAalidocious, Traditional Honker’s Ale
• Goose Island Clybourn Brewery: Belgian Blonde, PMD Mild
• Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant (Bolingbrook): Coffee-Infused Schwarzbier
• Half Acre Beer Co.: Ginger Twin India Red Ale, Over Ale American ESB
• Lucky Monk Pizza & Beer Co.: Grale Amber Ale, IPA
• Lunar Brewing Co.: Moondance IPA
• Metropolitan Brewing Co.: Keller Krankshaft Kolsch, Zwickel Dynamo Copper Lager
• Mickey Finn’s Brewery: Bighead APA. Legspinner Barleywine, R.K.’s IPA
• Moylan’s Brewery and Restaurant: Wet Hopsickle IPA
• New Belgium Brewing Co.: Ranger IPA
• Piece Brewery & Pizzeria: Dynfunctionale, Roland the Headless Assistant Brewer
• Revolution Brewing Co.: Willie Wee Heavy
• Rock Bottom Chicago: Coffee Oatmeal Stout, Wooly Bear IPA
• Rock Bottom Lombard: Argus’ India Brown Ale, iPale, Pritchard #4 American Stout
• Rock Bottom Orland Park: Imperial Stout, Two Bags of Crystal IPA
• Rock Bottom Warrenville: King of Hearts Imperial Red
• Surly Brewing Co.: Darkness, Mild, Oak Aged Dry Hopped CYnic, Tea-Bagged Furious
• Three Floyds Brewing Co.: Admiral Lord Nelson ESB, Blackheart English IPA
• Two Brothers Brewing Co.: Cane and Ebel, Resistance IPA

Come out and enjoy the best beers and best foods from Chicago area brewpubs and microbreweries as CBS presents the Chicagoland Brewpub & Microbrewery Shootout for the 12th consecutive year. Sample a bunch of beers and each brewery’s food item and then vote for your favorites (beer, food item, and beer-food combination). Winners will be announced at the end of the event. Support your favorite brewery or brewpub – or discover a new favorite. Either way, you get to taste the very best beer and food that Chicago has to offer.

The Shootout runs from 1-5 pm in newly-remodeled space at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N Knox Ave, Chicago. An event flyer and ticket order form was mailed to members (valid as of December 1, 2009) in early December. As of Sunday night, December 27, orders have been processed and the event is now officially sold out. There will be no ticket sales to nonmembers. If your order arrived after the sellout was reached, your check will be returned. Tickets were mailed in early January.

If you weren’t lucky enough to score a ticket, your best bet is to check our CBS-HB listserv, as occasionally there are a handful of last-minute cancellations.

To our members who we could not accommodate, we are very sorry. We have looked into expanding the event, but the participating brewpubs, breweries, and their staffs have said that expanding the attendance would be too difficult for them to handle logistically.

Join us at Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro (3906 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago) on Saturday, November 14 for the 33rd edition of the country’s oldest tasting of commercial beers. This will be a blind tasting to allow you to judge the specially procured beers strictly on their own merit. When the formal tasting ends, all the beers will be available for your enjoyment. There are a limited amount of seats available. Reservations are due by November 7 and pre-payment is required. Everyone must be 21 or older to attend. NO REFUNDS.

Mrs. Murphy and Sons specialize in contemporary Irish cuisine and they’ve prepared a great menu for us that includes:

• Irish Cheese and Meat Platter
• Field Greens, Toasted Walnuts & Cashel Bleu Cheese with Cider Vinaigrette
• Cider Braised Pork Loin -and- Irish Stew
• Roasted Red Skin Potatoes -and- Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage
• Irish Brown Soda Bread and Butter
• Apple Crumble with Whiskey Whipped Cream

Tickets are $45 for CBS members, $55 for nonmembers. As always, nonmembers who sign up for CBS when making reservations get to pay the member rate. Check out the official event flyer for all the tasty details and use the attached form to reserve your tickets. We look forward to seeing you on the 14th!

The Chicago Beer Society emphasizes responsible consumption and recommends public transportation or the use of a designated driver for all our tasting events. Mrs. Murphy and Sons is located a short walk from  the CTA Brown Line stop at Irving Park and is convenient to multiple bus lines and easily accessible by cab.

Hard to believe, but our wacky annual Spooky Brew Review homebrew competition is celebrating its 18th consecutive year!

Our host this year will Emmett’s Ale House at 110 North Brockway Street in Palatine, IL (conveniently located virtually adjacent to Metra’s Union Pacific Northwest Line station). As usual, SBR will feature judging in all categories of the BJCP Style Guidelines. But the highlight is always the judging of the special Spooky (scariest) and Smashed Pumpkin (Worst of Show) categories, which definitely should not be missed. For the third year in a row, we’ll also include Witches’ Brew, an open category for beer, mead, and cider brewed only by women.

NOTE: All entries for the Spooky and Smashed Pumpkin categories must be drinkable. Anything deemed otherwise by the Competition Committee will be DISQUALIFIED, and that’s very hard to do.

So, please plan on entering, judging, stewarding, or just attending Spooky Brew Review 2009 — it definitely doesn’t get any crazier than this!

The competition package (including rules & regulations, entry forms, bottle labels, and a style chart) is now available for download here in PDF format.

Judges and Stewards – we need you! If you are interesting in serving as a judge or steward on October 31, please contact competition organizers Joe Preiser (joe @ chibeer.org, 630-759-4569) or Steve Hamburg (stevie @ chibeer.org, 773-878-0177). All general questions can also be directed to the organizers.

The Great Taste of the Midwest at Olin-Turville Park in Madison, WI is always one of the country’s best beer festivals. It’s become so popular that the limited (now 6000) tickets sell out WAY in advance. This year was no exception – the event was declared a sellout almost as soon as tickets went on sale. But, as has been the case for eons, CBS offers its members an exclusive festival package that includes a coveted ticket to the Taste and round-trip bus transportation from either Chicago or Warrenville. Tickets were sold via a members-only mailing and, not surprisingly, were completely sold out by June 1.

Tickets will be arriving via snail mail very soon. If you didn’t make the cut, your checks will be returned.

Here’s the 411 for those who have scored tickets:

• City bus departs from Goose Island Clybourn (1800 N Clybourn) at 9:30 am, returns ~9 pm
• Suburban bus departs from Rock Bottom-Warrenville (Winfield Rd & I-88) at 9:30 am, returns ~9 pm
• No smoking or glass containers on the buses
• You must be at least 21 years old to attend
• Festival tickets will be distributed on the buses
• Don’t be late for the ride home – most hotel rooms in Madison are already booked!

The Chicago Beer Society and Murphy’s Bleachers present A Midsummer Day’s Ales, Saturday Aug. 1 at Murphy’s, directly across from the bleacher entrance to Wrigley Field. Weather permitting, Murphy’s will swing open its French doors and offer up the sidewalk café for another fantastic CBS event. Attendees will also be able to take a guided tour of the Murphy’s rooftop.

Summer is flying by, so don’t miss this opportunity to enjoy an outstanding selection of beer and some great al fresco dining. The beer theme for the event is session beers and summer seasonals, and the line up will include a 3.5% farmhouse table beer from the maker of Saison Dupont, two beers from Jolly Pumpkin Ales, and many more from our friends in the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild. We’ll have k ölsch-style beers from as far away as Cologne and as nearby as Bolingbrook and Fulton Street.

Are you partial to hops? We’ll have a couple of APAs, a hoppy lager from one of Chicago’s newest breweries, and a dry-hopped Pils from Rock Bottom Chicago. Looking for some malt and body, we’ll have a brown ale from Wil Turner of Goose Island, and the new Golden Cap Saison from New Holland Brewing Co.  We’ll also throw a Berliner Weisse into the mix. The current beer list includes:

• 1809 Berliner Weisse, Brauerei Weihenstephan, Freising, Germany
• Avril, Brasserie Dupont, Belgium
• Bam Bière and Weizen Bam Bière, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Dexter, MI
• Gaffel Kölsch, Private Brewery Gaffel, Köln, Germany
• Amarillo APA, Brickstone Restaurant, Bourbonnais, IL
• Willow Street White Ale and Hex-A-Gone Brown, Goose Island Clybourn
• Goose Island Honkers Ale and Summertime, Goose Island Fulton Street
• Blueberry Wit, Lunar Brewing Co.
• Hugh Hefnerweizen and Dry-Hopped Czech Pils, Rock Bottom Chicago
• Flywheel Bright Lager, Metropolitan Brewing
• Helles, Rock Bottom Orland Park
• Summerbrau Kölsch, Gordon Biersch, Bolingbrook
• Dog Days Dortmunder-style Lager, Two Brothers Brewing
• Golden Cap Saison, New Holland Brewing, MI

Bring your appetite, and you won’t leave hungry. The ploughman’s lunch created by Murphy’s Bleachers chef Jeanne Carlson will be built around three great cheeses:

• A British classic from Neal’s Yard Dairy (probably Lincolnshire Poacher)
• Bermuda Triangle, an award-winning aged goat cheese from Cypress Grove Chevre, CA.
• Grand Cru, the flagship Gruyère from our award-winning friends at Roth Käse, Monroe, WI.

This ploughman’s lunch isn’t just cheese and baguette. Look for fresh tomato chutney, house-baked Irish soda bread, fresh fruit, thinly-sliced smoked duck breast and country-style pate. And then save room for a pig roast with sides, prepared by Murphy’s Bleachers proprietor James Murphy. Once summer is gone you’ll be crying in your beer that you missed this event!

Tickets are $35 for members, $40 for nonmembers. To reserve yours, just download and mail in the official ticket order form.  Nonmember tickets may also be ordered online via Brown Paper Tickets. A limited number of tickets will also be available at the door. Of course, you must be 21 or older to attend. Valid ID required.  All ticket sales are final.

As always, we recommend that you take public transportation or arrange for a designated driver.  Murphy’s Bleachers is located at the corner of Waveland and Sheffield, across the street from the bleacher entrance to Wrigley Field (approximately 1/2 block west and 1 block north of the CTA Red Line Addison station).  The CTA Clark, Addison, and Irving Park buses run late and are a short walk.  Taxis are also an easy option.

We look forward to seeing you at the Bleachers!

Our annual picnic is always one of our most anticipated events, and with good reason:  Every year we supply an extraordinary beer selection backed up by a seemingly endless feast of ribs, chili, salsa, and desserts that are whipped up by our amazing members who compete for trophies in hotly contested competitions (view 2008 results.).

Last year we managed to hold the picnic on the rainiest day in a century, but no matter – we still had an impressive crowd and survival stories that will likely last another 100 years. This year we’ve bribed every local meteorologist to predict bright sunshine and warm temperatures, so it’s in the bag!

So, plan on bringing the family and your craft beer lovin’ friends – all are welcome and nobody ever goes home hungry or thirsty. The food is amazing – better than you’ll get in any restaurant. And the price? FREE to all CBS members and family who bring a food item to share, or $5 (fidollars) if you come empty handed. Nonmembers bringing foodstuffs pay $5; empty-handed nonmembers must pay $10, but what a deal!

Grab your folding chairs, horseshoes, lawn darts, croquet sets, wiffle balls and bats, etc. and enjoy a great afternoon of phenomenal food, beer, and fun. If you’re interested in participating in the rib competition, contact Randy Mosher. If you want to compete for the chili, salsa, or dessert trophies, just bring along your entry and sign up on-site.

Location: LaBagh Woods, Grove 1 in the Cook County Forest Preserve just off the Edens Expressway on Chicago’s North Side (auto entrance on east side of Cicero Avenue, north of Foster). We’re about 1.5 miles from the Jefferson Park stop on the CTA Blue Line, where you can hop a 92 Foster Avenue bus. It’s also not far to the Forest Glen stop on the Metra Milwaukee District North line.

For a copy of the official picnic flyer so you can save or print out the event information, click here.

You are cordially invited to the annual celebration of the American Homebrewers Association’s Big Brew Day. Homebrewers all across the country will be brewing batches of beer at the same time, including some of us. There are even some standard recipes (which we rarely follow).

Brewers, if you’re planning on coming, contact Randy Mosher (see phone below) so he can save some room.

Of course, the party is mostly non-brewing participants, thank god, as we’d burn down the neighborhood otherwise. It functions as a warped open house event. Doors will be open from 8 am (brewers earlier by special arrangement). As far as food and drink, this is a pitch-in. We usually have a ploughman’s lunch midday, then get the smoker fired up (usually by Joe Preiser, Pitmaster) and eat a hot meat dinner later. We’ll have a grill available as well as the smoker. Don’t show up empty handed. Beer, meat, sides, snacks, and desserts are all welcome. If somebody wants to take charge of Julep fixins, it is Derby Day.

We will have a big pile of firewood for the firepit. You might bring a lawn chair with you if you care what you sit on.

Date & Time: May 2, 2009 8 am-until Roger leaves.

Location: Chez Mosher-Cline, at 1604 W. Lunt Ave, Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Lunt is 7000 north; that’s 4 blocks from the lake, 2 blocks east of Clark, about a 5 minute walk from the Morse Ave Red Line CTA stop. 773-973-0240. Also easily accessible from the Metra UPN North line stop (Rogers Park), just a couple of blocks away.

For the fifth consecutive year, CBS will be sponsoring the region’s largest celebration of cask-conditioned ales, with some 40 casks of real ale from Chicagoland breweries and some very special guests. As always, this promises to be a big firkin deal for area real ale enthusiasts. Attendees will be able to sample the beers and then vote for the 2009 Champion Real Ale of Chicagoland. Last year, Surly Brewing swooped in from Minnesota and nicked the title with their Tea-bagged Furious (Hoppy). Will a local brewer take back the honor in ‘09? You decide!

Last year we attracted a record crowd, but it was often uncomfortably crowded. As a result, we’ve split the event into two sessions and limited attendance to only 250 people for each session.

Day and Night of the Living Ales will be held at Goose Island Wrigleyville, 3535 N Clark St, Chicago, over two spirited sessions: 1-5 pm and 6-10 pm (9:45 last call). Admission includes a tasting glass, beer samples and appetizers (artisanal meats and cheeses). You must be 21 or older to be admitted. As of Tuesday evening, March 3, both sessions are now sold out. Thanks!

Thanks once again to all our members and guests for your continuing support of this event. Extra thanks to the Brewers Supply Group for their sponsorship this year.

As always, we recommend that you take public transportation or arrange for a designated driver. Goose Island Wrigleyville is located approximately 2 blocks west of the CTA Red Line Addison station (one-half block south of Wrigley Field). The CTA 22 Clark bus runs past the front door all night; taxis are also an easy option.

Come out and enjoy the best beers and best foods from Chicago area brewpubs and microbreweries. Sample a bunch of beers and each brewery’s food item and then vote for your favorites (beer, food item, and beer-food combination). Winners will be announced at the end of the event. Support your favorite brewery or brewpub – or discover a new favorite. Either way, you get to taste the very best beer and food that Chicago has to offer.

The Shootout runs from 1-5 pm at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N Knox Ave, Chicago. Tickets are $45 for members, and – due to the overwhelming demand – nonmember tickets will not be available. You must be 21 or older to attend this non-smoking event. NOTE: due to the enormous demand for tickets, the following policy is in effect:

• An event flyer and ticket order form will be mailed to members only (membership must be valid as of December 1, 2008). Each individual member is allowed to purchase one ticket. Couple members may purchase two tickets. Please do not include orders or requests for additional tickets. Ticket requests must be postmarked no earlier than Monday, December 15th.  Please do not mail your request early. Ticket requests not meeting these criteria will not be honored.
• Orders will be filled based on postmark date. Once we reach capacity, all unfilled orders will be returned and a sellout will be posted here.
• If you are unsure of your membership status, please send an email inquiry to membership@chibeer.org (you can use the form on the Contact Us page). If you are not a member, join by December 1, 2008 to be included in the Shootout mailing.

We’re sorry that we have to enforce such strict guidelines, but space is extremely limited and the demand is extremely high. We cannot even guarantee tickets for all our members. Thanks for your unbelievable support for the Shootout. Best of luck with your ticket orders and hope to see you at the IAHC!

As of Monday, December 22, the Shootout is completely sold out. Tickets, or returned checks for orders we were unable to fill, will be sent shortly by postal mail.