Category: CBS Event Recaps

Perfect weather brought out a record crowd (approximately 470 wristbands were distributed) to LaBagh Woods for our umpteenth annual picnic. Suitably we offered 15 beers and 1 cider, all of which were completely drained by 6 pm. The list, in alphabetical order:

• Belhaven Wee Heavy (6.5% Scotch Ale)
• Founders Centennial IPA (7.2% American IPA)
• Goose Island Special Ordinary Bitter (3.5% English Ordinary Bitter)
• Gordon Biersch Schwarzbier (5% Schwarzbier)
• Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest (5.8% German Oktoberfest)
• Half Acre Daisy Cutter (5.2% American Pale Ale)
• Lakefront East Side Dark (5% Munich Dunkel)
• Metropolitan Krankshaft (5% Kölsch)
• Mickey Finn’s Hefeweizen (5.5% Bavarian Hefeweizen)
• New Belgium Hoptober Golden Ale (6% Autumn Ale)
• North Coast Red Seal (5.9% American Amber Ale)
• Rock Bottom Saison (5.6% Belgian-style Saison)
• Rogue Maierfest (6% American Octoberfest)
• Southern Tier Harvest Ale (5.7% English Extra Special Bitter)
• Tyranena Bitter Woman (5.7% American IPA)
• Woodchuck Amber Cider (5% amber cider)

Attendees voted in the featured food competitions and the winners were awarded attractive trophies. We also had separate blind judging for chili and ribs and awarded 1st place trophies to the champs. There were 8 rib competitors this year, 20 chilis, 24 salsas, and plenty of desserts (I don’t have the official count, sorry!).

The Winners:

Ribs – Popular Vote
1. Tim Norris
2. Pigsiclicious
3. Randy Mosher
4. Todd Boza

Ribs – Blind Judging
1. Todd Boza
2. Pigsiclicious
3. Rich Larson
4. Howard Miller

Chili – Popular Vote
1. Thomas Griffin
2. Rodney Kibzey
3. Adam Murphy
4. Dmitry Shub

Chili – Blind Judging
1. Thomas Griffin
2. Jean O’Malley
3. Dan Lehnerer
4. Robert Watts

Salsa – Popular Vote
1. Ed Seaman
2. Jennifer Proesel
3. Brian Bernard
4. Tom Stetter

Dessert – Popular Vote
1. Lowell Defrance
2. Livia Glatz
3. John Warnik
4. Adam Murphy

Many thanks to our friends for their generosity: Laura Blasingame (Map Room), Kevin Blodger (Gordon Biersch), Greg Browne (Mickey Finn’s), Pete Crowley (Rock Bottom Chicago), Matt Gallagher (Half Acre), Doug & Tracy Hurst (Metropolitan), Patrick Karnick (Woodchuck), Russ Klisch (Lakefront Brewing),
Harry Mihailidis (New Belgium), Wil Turner (Goose Island Clybourn), and Rogue Brewing.

With tremendous weather, record-breaking crowds, and tons of great food (and just enough beer) the 2009 CBS picnic may have been our greatest ever. Thanks to everyone – members and nonmembers – who made it such an excellent day.

The Chicago Beer Society and Murphy’s Bleachers presented A Midsummer Day’s Ales, Saturday Aug. 1 at Murphy’s, directly across from the bleacher entrance to Wrigley Field.

Approximately 90 members and guests thoroughly enjoyed the great selection of beers and the amazing food prepared by Murphy’s Bleachers chef Jeanne Carlson and Murphy’s Bleachers proprietor James Murphy (man, that was a great pig roast!). Thanks to Murphy’s for such splendid hospitality – we hope to come back for other events very soon.

Those in attendance also cast ballots for the top Session Beer and Summer Beer. The winners:

Most Favorite Session Beer:
Flywheel, Metropolitan Brewing Co., Chicago IL
Honorable Mention (Tie):
1809 Berliner-style Weisse, Brauerei Weihenstephan, Freising, Germany
Hex-A-Gone Brown, Goose Island-Clybourn

Most Favorite Summer Beer:
Amarillo APA, Brickstone Restaurant & Brewery, Bourbannnais IL

Honorable Mention:
Golden Cap Saison, New Holland Brewing Co., Holland MI

Day & Night of the Living Ales, the region’s largest celebration of cask-conditioned beers, was held on March 7. Twenty-two breweries from Chicagoland and beyond provided 41 different beers, while 500 attendees sampled the beers over two sessions and cast ballots to decide the 2009 Champion Real Ale of Chicagoland.

In very tight balloting, Surly Brewing‘s Tea-bagged Furious  IPA emerged as the repeat champion. Rock Bottom-Yorktown captured second place with its unique ShamRock Stout, while California’s Bear Republic took third with its Apex Imperial IPA.  In addition, the cellar staff (also consulting a list of nominees from the 12-1 professional brewers session) awards an annual Golden Tut Award to the brewery/beer that best exemplifies the overall cask ale experience. Moylan’s Batch #1000 Double Kilt Lifter was chosen for its superior clarity and conditioning.  Congratulations to the champions, and thanks to all the breweries and their brewers for supplying such an outstanding list of beers.

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. To all our devoted members and friends who put in many hours and traveled great distances to help us, we can’t possibly say “thank you” enough!

We also owe a great debt to the Brewers Supply Group for their sponsorship; Marion Street Cheese Market (Oak Park) for their fabulous cheese; Andy’s Deli for the creative meat trays.  Above all, we want to thank John Hall, Greg Hall and Goose Island Beer Company for their unstinting support of the Beer Society over the last 22 years. Goose Island Wrigleyville has been the gracious host of this event every year. Thanks to GI-W’s General Manager Reggie Snead, GI Catering and Special Events Director Sandra Duncan, and all their staff for their help.

Of course, events like this could not take place without the support of our members and guests who buy tickets and attend. Last year we sold way too many tickets than the limited space would comfortably allow.  Many of you spoke up about this and we listened. More importantly, we acted. That’s why we split the event into two sessions and capped ticket sales so we had half the number of people at each session. We’ve already heard some positive feedback, but we know we can always improve, so keep those cards and letters coming.

Cheers!

The 11th Annual Brewpub Shootout is over!

There were 12 participants this year (with the area Rock Bottoms pairing up in North/South and East/West teams; two scheduled brewpubs couldn’t make it at the last minute due to extenuating circumstaces) and the usual sellout of some three hundred CBS members. Awards are presented in three categories (Favorite Beer, Favorite Food, Favorite Beer/Food Pairing) , with the top three in each taking home an attractive trophy. The attendees vote and submit their ballots before the event is over 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.

By the way, the awards as announced at the Shootout were presented as 1,2,3 when they should have been 3,2,1. So, the list below is correct and apologies to all for the mix-up. The 1st and 3rd place plaques will be swapped at the February meeting of the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild. We promise to be much more careful about this next year!

11th Annual Chicagoland Brewpub Shootout Awards:

Beer
1. Rock Bottom E/W (Chicago & Warrenville)
2. Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery
3. Rock Bottom N/S (Orland Park & Lombard)

Food
1. Rock Bottom E/W (Chicago & Warrenville) – Seared Kobe Beef Medallions with Andouille Potatoes, Spinach, Balsamic-Chipotle Glaze, Tomato Emulsion and crispy carrots.
2. Gordon Biersch – Ahi Tuna marinated in Sriracha, soy sauce, toasted black and white sesame seeds. Served on a fried wonton topped with namasu.
3. Rock Bottom N/S (Orland Park & Lombard) – Seared Barley-Encrusted Lamb Chop and Porter Marinated Sea Scallop served atop Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Cilantro-Lime Pesto and Chipotle Mango Sauce, topped with crispy onion slivers and fried carrot strings.

Pairing
1. America’s Brewing – Bol Le Hautes Terres with Peat Smoked Scotch Ale.
2. Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery – Killer Chocolate Silk Tart with Killer Kapowski Baltic Porter.
3. Rock Bottom E/W (Chicago & Warrenville) – Seared Kobe Beef Medallions with Andouille Potatoes, Spinach, Balsamic-Chipotle Glaze, Tomato Emulsion and crispy carrots. Paired with CBS Düsseldorf Alt.

As always, this was a spectacular event. Thanks to all of the Brewpubs, Brewers, Chefs and their Assistants for coming out to support us. And, of course, thanks to our great members who continue to make the Shootout such a popular and enjoyable day.