Chicago Beer Society

Day of the Living Ales, the region’s largest celebration of cask-conditioned beers, was held on March 5. Twenty-six breweries from Chicagoland and beyond provided 44 different beers, while 500 attendees sampled the beers over two sessions and cast ballots to decide the 2011 Champion Real Ale of Chicagoland.

The winners:

1. Goose Island Beer Company Skully (saison aged in oak barrels with fresh strawberries, honey, and Champagne yeast)
   
2. Goose Island Beer Company Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout
   
3. Three Floyds Zombie Dust

In addition, the cellar staff awards an annual Golden Tut Award to the brewery/beer that best exemplifies the overall cask ale experience. The winner for 2011:  Firestone Walker Double Jack Double IPA.

Congratulations to the champions, and thanks to all the breweries and their brewers for supplying such an outstanding list of beers. Take a look at the event program to see what was featured.

DotLA/NotLA could not take place without our great volunteers, sponsors and supporters. Any beer event requires a lot of effort, but the logistics of a cask event are even more complex. And everyone who organized, set up/broke down, stillaged, spiled, tapped, served, sold, etc. was an unpaid volunteer. Many put in many hours and traveled great distances to help us – they all deserve your thanks.

We also owe a great debt to our sponsors, the Brewers Supply Group, Cicerone Certification Program, and Owen & Engine. Thanks also to Goose Island, Marion Street Cheese Market, the Cellars at Jasper Hill, and Gene’s Sausage Shop & Deli for the great selection of appetizers, meat & cheeses. Goose Island Wrigleyville has been the gracious host of this event every year. Thanks to all GI-W staff for their assistance during the planning and functioning of this event, especially to manager Daria Olechowski.

Of course, events like this could not take place without the support of our members and guests who attend and make DotLA so much fun. The two sessions sold out in record time and proved once again that the passion for real ales is growing every day.

Cheers!

Approximately 120 members and guests attended the 34th Annual Fall Tasting & Dinner at Reza’s Restaurant. A whopping selection of 18(!) craft beers were available for all to sample in our now-standard walk-around format. Then, after careful evaluation, attendees cast ballots  for the top beers  in both session beer and strong beer categories. After such exhausting work, Reza’s family-style dinner was a welcome respite!

The 2010 winners were:

Strong Beers
First place: Two Brothers Brewing Co. Cane & Ebel Rye IPA
Runner up:  Goose Island Beer Co. Dominique Belgian-Style Sour Oak-Aged Pale Ale

Session Beers
First place: Revolution Brewing Co. Iron Fist IPA
Runner up: Goose Island Brewpub Schwarzbier

Filling out the rest of the impressive field were (in alphabetical order):

• Arcadia Brewing Co. Panama Red (thanks to Map Room)
• Bear Republic Brewing Co. Apex (thanks to Map Room)
• Crown Brewing Co. Crown Brown
• Destihl Restaurant & Brew Works Belgian Sour Wheat Beer
• Flatlander’s Restaurant and Brewery Buster’s Brown Ale
• Flossmoor Station IPA
• Flossmoor Station Marzen
• Lakefront Brewery Holiday Spice Lager
• Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. Big EddyRussian Imperial Stout
• Metropolitan Brewing Dynamo Copper Lager
• Mickey Finn’s Brewery Scotch Ale
• Revolution Brewing Co. Skara Brae Scotch Ale
• Rock Bottom Chicago Belgian-style Dubbel
• Rogue Ales John John Hazelnut Barrel-Aged Brown Ale

CBS thanks all of the brewers, distributors, and taverns who made such a great selection possible; the board members and volunteers who solicited those donations and helped tap the beers; and especially event organizers Brad Reeg and Brian Turner for all of their work behind the scenes.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2010 Chicago Beer Society Spooky Brew Review Homebrew Competition. After a record number of entries last year, we had a solid but much more reasonable 274 entries this year – still quite an impressive showing for the 19-year-old Little Homebrew Competition that Could.  We also had many new participants this year – brewers, judges, and stewards – and we really appreciated your support. Next year we plan to return to the city limits, to the new Haymarket Pub & Brewery.  It will be a blast!

Of course, that doesn’t mean we didn’t have a great time in The Loft at Rock Bottom Warrenville this year. Banquet manager Kelly Montelo couldn’t have been more supportive, not only taking care of the room setup and beer/food logistics, but also tending bar during our stay and even helping judge our women-only Witches’ Brew category. Thanks a lot! We also had great support from brewer Davin Bartosch and his assistant brewer, Dave Fairbanks (who also entered an English IPA in our competition). RB Warrenville serves excellent beers and has a tasty menu, so make sure to visit them often.

But now let’s cut to the chase: the winners.

Daryl Hoedtke of Chicago and CBS captured Best-of-Show with his Orval clone (“Lavro”),  while Justin Klink of Bloomingdale capped an impressive sweep of the American Ale and India Pale Ale categories by also earning Runner-Up BOS with his IPA.

The Witches’ Brew attracted fewer entrants, but the highest quality, as Kate Jones from CBS and Eileen and Heather Uchima from UKG were the outstanding co-champs. On the Spooky side, multiple winner Calvin Rowland (UKG) showed a creative streak with his astounding Litter Box, while Crazy Ron Stazuk’s streak of incredibly foul Smashed Pumpkin victories was ended on a DQ (OK, we were sick of just the smell of his entries). Instead, the judges recovered from their apoplexy and awarded the traveling trophy (a 15-year old burst can of malt extract and a “Mr. Beer” kit) to Daniel Dugan’s “Scary Cherry Sludge.” The complete results are available here.

Thanks to all entrants, judges, and stewards, and special thanks to our crew – Chief Steward and Cellar B*tch Luann Fitpatrick; Art Director and master factotum Zemo Holat; Beer Registrants Joe Preiser, Jeff Sparrow, Matt Mayes, Meg Rutledge, and Mark Staelgraeve. Finally, a special nod to Lu, Joe, and Ed Bronson for their extraordinary beer disposal skills at the end of a very long day.

See you next Halloween!

Cheers,

Steve Hamburg and Keith Stocker, Organizers

Day & Night of the Living Ales, the region’s largest celebration of cask-conditioned beers, was held on March 6. Twenty-one breweries from Chicagoland and beyond provided 43 different beers, while 500 attendees sampled the beers over two sessions and cast ballots to decide the 2010 Champion Real Ale of Chicagoland.

The winners:

1. Flossmoor Station Bourbon McElroy Imperial Stout
2. Goose Island Beer Company Oaky Rose Flemish Brown
3. Surly Brewing Darkness

In addition, the cellar staff (also consulting a list of nominees from the professional brewers session, held earlier) awards an annual Golden Tut Award to the brewery/beer that best exemplifies the overall cask ale experience. The winner for 2010:  Three Floyds Admiral Lord Nelson Strong Bitter.

Congratulations to the champions, and thanks to all the breweries and their brewers for supplying such an outstanding list of beers. Take a look at the event program to see what was featured.

DotLA/NotLA could not take place without our great volunteers, sponsors and supporters. Any beer event requires a lot of effort, but the logistics of a cask event are even more complex. And everyone who organized, set up/broke down, stillaged, spiled, tapped, served, sold, etc. was an unpaid volunteer. Many put in many hours and traveled great distances to help us – they all deserve your thanks.

We also owe a great debt to our sponsor, the Brewers Supply Group who also arranged the shipping of out-of-town casks. Thanks also to Goose Island, Marion Street Cheese Market, and Andy’s Deli for the great selection of appetizers, meat & cheeses.  Above all, we want to thank John Hall, Greg Hall and Goose Island Beer Company for their support of the Beer Society over the last 23 years. Goose Island Wrigleyville has been the gracious host of this event every year. Thanks to all GI-W staff for their assistance during the planning and functioning of this event, especially to manager Daria Olechowski.

Of course, events like this could not take place without the support of our members and guests who attend and make DotLA/NotLA so much fun. The two sessions sold out in record time and proved once again that the passion for real ales is growing every day.

Cheers!

The results of the 12th Annual Brewpub Shootout are in.

There were 14 participants this year, including the soon-to-open Revolution Brewing, recently-opened The Lucky Monk , and first-time participant, Half Acre. The area Rock Bottoms once again paired up into North/South and East/West teams, and the usual sellout of some three hundred CBS members gathered in the Irish-American Heritage Center‘s beautifully-remodeled Erin Room.

Awards were presented in three categories (Best Beer, Best Food, Best Beer/Food Pairing) , with the top three in each taking home an attractive trophy. The attendees cast their ballots and the awards were presented near the end of the event.

To see what you missed, check out the program (PDF) listing all of the featured beers and food items/pairings. Kudos to Three Floyds for providing a bonus beer & food pairing.

12th Annual Chicagoland Brewpub Shootout Awards:

Beer
1. America’s Brewing (Bourbon Fass Bavarian Gerste Wein)
2. Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery (Dry-hopped Panama Limited Red Ale)
3. Goose Island Clybourn (Frankenporter)

Food
1. Rock Bottom N/S (Lombard & Orland Park)
2. The Lucky Monk
3. Rock Bottom E/W (Chicago & Warrenville)

Pairing
1. Rock Bottom N/S (Lombard & Orland Park)
2. Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery
3. BrickStone Restaurant & Brewery

As always, this was an unbelievable event. Thanks to all of the Brewpubs, Brewers, Chefs and their Assistants for making this possible; to the staff at the IAHC for their assistance;  and, of course, thanks to our great members who continue to make the Shootout one of the best beer events in the world!

Approximately 120 members and guests attended one of the most memorable Fall Tastings in recent memory. Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro was our host for the evening, and wow – they were great. The room was beautiful, the staff couldn’t have been more helpful, and the food was both plentiful and delicious. And then there was the beer…

Thirteen outstanding beers were presented in a walk-around blind tasting, and after the ballots were cast, Older Viscosity, a wood aged Imperial stout from Port Brewing, San Marcos, CA was selected as champion beer. It narrowly edged out Claire’s Impure Thought, a Russian Imperial Chocolate Raspberry Stout from Rock Bottom Chicago. The voting was so tight there was a tie for third place between 1871, a pre-prohibition lager from Emmett’s Tavern & Brewing Company and Daisy Cutter Pale Ale from Half Acre Beer Company.

Filling out the rest of the impressive field (in presentation order):

• Capital Oktoberfest (thanks to Louis Glunz Beer, Inc.)
• Lakefront Local Archer (Harvest Ale)
• Flossmoor Station Black Magic Black IPA
• Shoreline Batch 200 Black IPA
• Goose Island Clybourn Black Cat Export Stout
• Mickey Finn’s Gudendark Dunkelweizen
• Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel (thanks to Map Room)
• New Belgium Tart Lychee Wild Ale
• Lunar Darkside Dubbel

CBS thanks all of the brewers, distributors, and bar-owning friends who made such an incredible selection possible. We also owe a great debt to the organizers and volunteers who made this event possible and who did their hardest work behind the scenes.

To our members and guests and attended, it was great having you! Hope to see you at our next event, the 12th Annual Chicagoland Brewpub & Microbrewery Shootout, coming up in the new year. Make sure your membership is current to assure your exclusive opportunity for tickets.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2009 Chicago Beer Society Spooky Brew Review Homebrew Competition. We had 304 entries this year, the most ever! Thanks to all the brewers who entered beers in this year’s competition.

When the dust settled and judging was completed, Calvin Rowland of Bolingbrook and the Urban Knaves of Grain won Best-of-Show with a superb Applewine (BJCP category 28C); CBS’s own Dave Phillips and his team (Kyle Swansen, Tony Kline) were runners-up with their Specialty beer (category 23), a hoppy Belgian Pale Ale with brettanomyces; Ron Stazuk kept his streak alive by capturing the Spooky and Smashed Pumpkin awards again. After a post-event review revealed a clerical problem with the Witches’ Brew scoring, co-winners were named:  Cindy Pillar and Katie Quiter with “Scary Spice,” who brewed a pumpkin ale with cinnamon and clove,  and Stephanette Smith with “Inky Pawprint,” a very fine dry stout. Also, special kudos to Michael Shannon of the Midnight Carboys for earning 1st place honors in 4 categories and 9 ribbons overall. Well done! The complete results are available here.

The organizers owe a great deal of gratitude to brewers Ryan Clooney and Rob Hunter and all of the staff at Emmett’s Tavern & Brewing Company in Palatine for their incredible hospitality in hosting the event. Everyone on site was unbelievably helpful and patient; the lunch and beers were outstanding. We encourage everyone in the region to visit Emmett’s – great businesses like these deserve our support!

But even more, we really have to thank all of the Chicago area judges and stewards who stepped forward and did such a great job getting through our record number of entries.

Cheers,

Joe Preiser and Steve Hamburg, Organizers

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.