Category: CBS Event Recaps

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!

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.