Category: General CBS News

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!