f96h2 CBS Event Recaps, General CBS News

Results from the CBS Picnic and War of the Ribs/Chili/Salsa/Desserts

On the rainiest day in Chicago history, a dedicated crowd of approximately 75-80 members and guests crowded under the permanent shelter and a virtual village of E-Z Ups to sample eight commercial beers, homebrewed beer and root beer, and the food entries in our annual War of the Ribs/Chili/Salsa/Desserts.

Given the smaller attendance and the travel difficulties, we limited the beer list to those that were stored closest to the picnic site or brought by attendees (special thanks to Greg Brown of Mickey Finn’s for enduring a 3-hour drive from Libertyville!). This was half of those originally advertised, but proved to be the perfect quantity for our own “Barmy Army.” The menu: America’s Brewing Baltic Porter, Founders Centennial IPA, Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Märzen, Lagunitas Dogtown Pale Ale, Mickey Finn’s Hefe Weizen, Ommegang Rare Vos, Sprecher Hefe Weiss, and Southern Tier Phin & Matt’s Pale Ale.

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 only 3 rib competitors this year, but remarkably we had 11 chilis, 13 salsas, and 7 desserts.

The Winners:

Ribs – Popular Vote and Blind Judging (identical results)
1. Randy Mosher
2. Paul Marvine
3. Pigsilicious

Chili – Popular Vote
1. Thomas Griffin
2. Robert Watts
3. Doug Lenzo

Chili – Blind Judging
1. Julie/David Rice, Fred Hersh
2. Robert Watts
3. Thomas Griffin

Salsa – Popular Vote
1. Ray Spangler (special guest Bloatarian)
2. (tie) Linda Maher
2. (tie) Camille Romero

Dessert – Popular Vote
1. Jennifer Caputo
2. Julie Rice
3. Nancy Cline

Thanks to everyone who braved the elements to turn doom and gloom into a wonderful afternoon of beer, food, and friends. While we hope for better weather in 2009, this year’s edition will stand as one of our most memorable picnics ever.

f96h2 CBS Event Recaps

2008 Night of the Living Ales Recap

Night of the Living Ales, the region’s largest celebration of cask-conditioned beers, was held on March 1. Twenty breweries from Chicagoland and beyond provided 40 casks of real ale, while over 500 attendees sampled the beers and cast ballots to decide the 2008 Champion Real Ale of Chicagoland. After spirited voting, Surly Brewing‘s Tea-bagged Furious (Hoppy) emerged as the champion. Goose Island-Fulton captured second place with its Imperial Stout with Chicory, while Rock Bottom-Orland Park took third with its unusual M&D Peanut Butter Brown. Congratulations to the champions, and thanks to all the breweries for supplying such an outstanding list of beers.

NotLA IV simply could not take place without the support of CBS members and guests. We also owe a great debt to the Siebel Institute of Technology and World Brewing Academy and the Brewers Supply Group for their sponsorship this year; Roth Kase USA for supplying the fabulous cheese for the fourth straight year; above all, we want to thank John Hall and Goose Island Beer Company for their unstinting support for CBS over the last 20 years. Goose Island Wrigleyville has been our gracious host every year. Thanks to Reggie, Minda, Daria, and all their staff for their help.

We realize that this year’s event was much more crowded than it should have been. We’re sorry that we oversold tickets, but can assure everyone that we will substantially limit capacity in future years. We know that this may exclude some of you, but this will definitely provide a more comfortable environment and a better experience for all who attend.

Here’s the full list of breweries and their beers:

Goose Island Brewpub – Clybourn Avenue
1. Debbie’s Special Bitter
2. Pub Stout

Goose Island Brewery – Fulton Street
3. Matilda w/Juniper Berries & Branch Tips (pre-brett)
4. Honker’s Ale (dry-hopped)
5. Matilda w/Lime & Orange Peels (pre-brett)
6. Imperial Stout w/Chicory (Bourbon County pre-barrel)

Piece Brewery & Pizzeria
7. Big Black Moriah Smoked Porter
8. Mooseknuckle Barleywine

Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery – Chicago
9. Blitzen Belgian Strong Golden
10. Siegle d’Houblon de Moineau Belgian Rye-P-A
11. Who Are You Wit?

America’s Brewing Co – Aurora
12. Rex Grossman’s Big Play Barleywine
13. Kyle Orton’s Statistically Strong Scotch Ale

Brass Restaurant & Brewery – Lake Barrington
14. Anticipation Pale Ale

Emmett’s Tavern & Brewing Co – West Dundee, Palatine, Downers Grove, Oswego
15. McCarthy Red Ale

Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery – Flossmoor
16. Bitter Harvest American Pale Ale
17. Milky Way Stout
18. X-IPA

Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant – Bolingbrook
19. Schwarzbier

Govnor’s Public House – Lake in the Hills
20. Randall Road IPA (dry-hopped)

Lunar Brewing – Villa Park
21. Kind Ale IPA
22. Orion’s Oatmeal Pale

Mickey Finn’s Brewery – Libertyville
23. Rye Stout
24. Irish Red Ale

M.T. Barrels – West Dundee
25. HopHead Heaven IPA

Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery – Orland Park
26. King of Hearts Imperial Red
27. M&D Peanut Butter Brown
28. Naughty Scot
29. Hopbomb IPA

Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery – Warrenville
30. Belgial Dubbel
31. English IPA

Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery – Yorktown
32. Valentines’ Double IPA
33. 630 Suburban Wheat
34. McCoy’s Pomegranate Stout

Two Brothers Brewing Co. & Taphouse – warrenville
35. Cane & Ebel

Lagunitas Brewing – Petaluma, CA
36. Old Gnarlywine

Three Floyds Brewing – Munster, IN
37. Decimator Doppelbock
38. Blackheart English IPA

Surly Brewing – Brooklyn Center, MN
39. Oak-aged Bender (Malty)
40. Tea-bagged Furious (Hoppy)

Chicago Beer Society CBS Event Recaps

Brewpub Shootout Results

The Tenth Annual Brewpub Shootout is over!

There were 15 Chicago area Brewpubs invited and they served beer paired with a dish of food for more than three hundred CBS members. The awards for the CBS Brewpub Shootout are awarded based on popular vote from those members that attended the event. There are awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd Favorite Beer, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Favorite Food Dish and 1st, 2nd and 3rd Favorite Overall Beer and Food Pairing.

The attendees vote and submit their ballots before the event is over and the votes are counted and awards are presented near the end of the event.

The Awards Follow:

Beer
1. Kind Ale IPA – Flossmoor Station Restaurant and Brewery
2. Hvedegoop Wheat Wine – Three Floyds Brewing Co.
3. American Barleywine – Rock Bottom Yorktown

Food
1. Emmett’s Tavern and Brewing Company – Grilled Duck Breast with a Blackcurrant Glaze, Jasmine Rice Cake and Braised Leeks.
2. Rock Bottom – Crispy Prosciutto wrapped Shrimp atop Barley Encrusted Beef Tenderloin with Blood Orange-infused Wort Glace.
3. Gordon Biersch – New Orleans Style Marzen Barbeque Shrimp on French Bread

Pairing
1. Rock Bottom – Crispy Prosciutto wrapped Shrimp atop Barley Encrusted Beef Tenderloin with Blood Orange-infused Wort Glace. Paired with American Barleywine (Yorktown).
2. Goose Island Brew Pub – Braised Beef Oxtail served on a Crustini with Bone Marrow Demi Glace. Paired with aged La Deuxieme Beligian Dubbel.
3. Emmett’s Tavern and Brewing Company– Grilled Duck Breast with a Blackcurrant Glaze, Jasmine Rice Cake and Braised Leeks. Paired with Destitute Dick’s Colonial Ale

As always, this was a superb event (and the tenth anniversary!). We wish to thank all of the Brewpubs, Brewers, Chefs and their Assistants for coming out to support this event. We also wish to thank our great members and we hope you had as much fun as we did!

Chicago Beer Society CBS Event Recaps, General CBS News

Fall Tasting Results

The Beer List for the recent Fall tasting was not announced before the event because it is a blind tasting event. The beers are voted on by the attendees and the top three beers are announced after everyone finishes dinner.

Just in case you were not able to attend the Tasting, we’re posting the beers that were donated and the winners list is below.

The beer list for this year’s Fall Tasting:

#1 Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Chateau Jiahu
Chinese Historical beer

#2 Piece Brewery & Pizzeria
Dark and Curvy
Dunkelweiss

#3 New Holland Brewing Company
Mad Hatter IPA
American IPA

#4 Mickey Finn’s Brewery
Saison
Belgian-style saison

#5 Arcadia Brewing Company
Shipwreck Porter
Barrel-Aged Baltic-style porter

#6 Unibroue
Maudite
Belgian-style strong dark

#7 Goose Island Brewpub
XXX Porter
Hoppy robust porter

#8 New Belgium Brewing Company
Eric’s Ale
Belgian-style peach lambic

#9 Rogue Ales
Shakespeare Stout
American stout

#10 Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery – Chicago
Morning Buzz Porter
Porter with coffee

#11 Lakefront Brewery
Barrel-aged Cherry Lager

#12 Brouwerij Verhaeghe
Echt Kriekenbier
Flemish red with cherries

#13 Sprecher Brewing Company
Dopple Bock
German-style doppelbock

#14 America’s Brewing Company
Imperial Stout
American imperial stout

#15 Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery
Hoppy Little “O”
Belgian-style double IPA

#16 Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
World Wide Stout
Triple imperial stout

Bonus beer: Rock Bottom Chicago Shimkos’ uber-hopped Pale Ale

And these are the three beers that won.

Fall Tasting Beer Winners:

First Place: Arcadia Brewing Company – Shipwreck Porter
Second Place: Brouwerij Verhaeghe – Echt Kriekenbier
Third Place: Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery – Hoppy Little “O”

Thanks to everyone who donated beer! Thanks to the always hospitable Rock Bottom for being such great hosts! Congratulations to the winners! And thanks to the CBS members and guests who attended and once again helped us have a great event!