Flossmoor Station Brewery

So far I'm doing a terrible job of keeping up with this blog in the new year. I'm just finding myself so busy with work, home brewing, and all sorts of other things that I've been slacking with beer reviews. As promised, I'm trying to do more reviews of actual breweries and brew pubs, and not just beer. Today's post took me to the south suburbs of Chicago to Flossmoor Station Brewery. This brewery is unique in that its a part of a real train station. I'm not 100% sure which line runs to this station, but I believe its the electric line.

This is a brew pub that I've been to quite a few times. It's not really central to where I live but it's close enough that I can justify making it out there every now and then, especially since it usually involves trying some new beers. My first time here I ordered their taster flight and was able to figure out which of their brews really stood out to me. My personal favorite is the Pullman Brown Ale. I guess you could consider it a flagship beer as it's one of three beers (the other two being an IPA and golden ale) available in bombers at most liquor stores in the Chicagoland area. Pullman is a great full bodied brown ale. The caramel and chocolate malt really stand out in this beer, along with a little bit of oak. It's on the heavier side so a bomber will usually do you for an evening. It's a great beer for just sitting back and relaxing with.

The specific trip I'm going to be writing about was on January 19, 2012. I know its been a couple weeks but I've stepped up my beer geek game to the point where I've started taking tasting notes on my phone's notepad app. I think it'll make writing these blogs a lot easier and more thorough.

One reason I love Flossmoor Station is because of its classic feel. I like the fact that it's right off the train tracks and is an actual train station. Call me cheesy or old fashioned but I think that adds to the charm of the place. One thing I'll say off-the-bat is that you have to try the beer cheese soup. Flossmoor one of my favorite places to get this dish, and I don't think I'm being hyperbolic when I say its some of the best I've personally had. It's always a great way to start an evening at this spot. I was excited to learn that the special of the night was the Belgian Abbey Ale, which the waitress informed us was Flossmoor's take on a classic dubbel style. I was excited for this beer since I'm a big fan of dubbels, and at 3 bucks a pint there wasn't much more to do than order a round.

The Belgian Abbey Ale surprised me in a few ways. When the beers were brought to the table I was surprised because they weren't as dark as I'm used to with dubbels. This beer poured a warm auburn color with a thin white head that left a little lacing on the side of the glass. I got a mixture of fruitiness and malty sweetness in the bouquet, along with a hint of cinnamon. The first taste provided a lot of fruitiness and malty sweetness on the tip of my tongue which was quickly followed by a spicy bitterness which evened the beer out nicely. This brew finished with some cinnamon and orange peel in the aftertaste. All this was accompanied by a medium body with a good amount of carbonation present throughout the tasting. While I did enjoy this beer, it wasn't quite what I expected since it's plugged as a dubbel. It did compliment my meal very well though. I ordered the Brew Pub Club and it was fantastic. The ingredients were incredibly fresh. Simply writing about it makes me want to go back right now. The french fries here are especially good and I thought they really brought out the spiciness in the Belgian Abbey Ale. I don't know how the fries are made, but I would eat a fry and then take a sip of beer and I felt like the flavors were instantly magnified. I'm not a food connoisseur or a beer/food pairing pro, so for all I know pairing a dubbel with french fries may be incredibly faux pas but frankly I don't care. It tasted good and I guess that's what matters.

After two Belgian Abbey Ales, beer cheese soup, and a club sandwich with fries it's safe to say I was pretty full. I had to make room for two more things. One item was desert. I haven't had any pie from Flossmoor before, but I love key lime pie and they happened to have it on the menu while I was there so I ordered it and it was easily some of the best key lime pie I've ever had. Apparently the chef makes all the pies and let me just say the guy is doing something right. I couldn't get enough of it and wished I had eaten it a little slower once the piece was gone.

More importantly though, I decided to finish my night with one last beer, and I opted for the Bourbon Barrel Aged Pullman Brown Ale. I've been on a bourbon barrel aged beer bender (excuse the alliteration) these last few months so I figured why not extend my streak. Note: This beer won a gold medal at the Festival of Barrel Aged Beer in the Classic Porter/Stout category, so props to the guys in the brew house that make this magic happen. I had no idea about this until I did a little research online, but it's not surprising in the least bit.

The Bourbon Barrel Aged Pullman poured an opaque, dark brown color with a whispy off-white head and slight lacing. The bouquet was dominated by vanilla, oak, and chocolate malt. The bourbon characteristics were heavily present. The first sip of this beer was very sweet with the caramel and chocolate malt shining through. This was followed by a warm oak/vanilla bite in the middle of the sip which led into a finish of bourbon and vanilla with an aftertaste dominated by roast and bourbon. This beer really took on the characteristics of the bourbon barrels nicely. I also felt like the original Pullman Brown Ale was able to retain its own distinct characteristics on top of the kick provided by the bourbon barrels. The bourbon definitely dominated this beer, but I don't have any issue with that. I've mentioned my affinity for bourbon in past posts. This beer had a very heavy mouth feel with very little carbonation present. Overall I really enjoyed this offering from Flossmoor Station. I thought it was another fine example of bourbon barrel aged craft beer. I will definitely be fighting hard to get a ticket to the 2012 Festival of Barrel Aged Beer. I've been really impressed with variety of characteristics that this technique can lend to various beer styles.

I think by now it's easy to tell that I'm pretty partial to Flossmoor Station. I always have a great meal and several great beers each time I come here. This place is consistently putting out solid brews and I'm really excited for whatever it is that they've got in store for 2012. I hope to have many more posts about their beer over the next year.

Tomorrow, I'll be posting on my trip to Limstone Brewing Company so be looking for that sometime in the evening. Until then, Cheers!

Finch's Brewing Co., Dirtier Bird Barrel Aged Doppelbock

I've been hoping to come at you with this review for a while now. Today's beer is a special treat for me, as its one I've been looking forward to ever since I heard it was going to be bottled. Today's review is of Finch's Dirtier Bird Barrel Aged Doppelbock. This beer was unveiled at the Festival of Barrel Aged Beer in late 2011, and won second place in one of the categories if I remember correctly. I wasn't able to make it to the festival, so I had to wait for this brew to be released to the general masses. I've been digging Finch's Pale Ale and Golden Wing for a while now, but I've been want for something new from them since I haven't been able to find their IPA in the suburbs anywhere, (although I think I've tracked down a bar that has it, more on that another day). It's safe to say I was ecstatic when I saw this brew in my local Binny's. Id been trying to find it since I heard it was released and had almost given up until I stumbled across it by accident.

This beer pours a nice warm amber/light brown color, with a good inch and a half of tan head on top. The head disappeared rather quickly, but left about half a fingers worth on top throughout the tasting. There was a lot of lacing on the side of my tasting glass. This was a very good looking beer and I couldn't wait to taste it.

My first scent of this brew was all malt and bourbon. The bourbon scent wasn't as strong as some other bourbon aged beers I've had, so the sweetness from the malts was able to shine through which complimented the style nicely in my opinion. After searching through the malt and bourbon, I got some sweetness. The sweetness kind of reminded me of vanilla.

I was surprised to find that my first sip of this beer didn't contain an overwhelming amount of bourbon. My initial sip was all malt, and I was really able to appreciate this beer as a doppelbock first and foremost. As the tasting progressed the bourbon became more prominent and my palette was met by the vanilla sweetness I had smelled in the bouquet. The malt continued to play a significant role throughout the tasting though, which surprised me because I'm so used to being overwhelmed with bourbon whenever I try bourbon barrel aged beer. I think the highlight of this beer's taste is the fact that its able to keep its doppelbock character while also taking in what the bourbon barrel had to offer. I can't stress enough how well balanced this beer was with each taste. One thing I'd note though is that as the beer warmed, the bourbon became a little more prominent which added a nice contrast to tasting it when it was chilled.

This beer had a medium body, there was a lot of carbonation present throughout the tasting, which I think helped make the flavors less intense and more enjoyable. The aftertaste was mostly bourbon, with a slight hint of vanilla and malt. The aftertaste lingered for a pleasant amount of time. I found myself tasting it quite a while after finishing the bottle. Another pleasant aspect of this beer is that there wasn't a whole lot of heat left behind from bourbon. I attribute this to the moderate 6.5% ABV, but it was still nice to have a variety of tastes left on my palette after finishing each sip that weren't overpowered by alcohol.

Overall, I thought this beer was fantastic. I really enjoyed the subtlety of it. I didn't feel overwhelmed by any individual flavor. I felt like the malt and bourbon worked very harmoniously together. The sweetness of the malt was complimented by the subtle flavors of the bourbon and made for a very pleasant drink on a cold January night in the Chicago suburbs. I will definitely be going back tomorrow and grabbing a bottle for the beer cellar. I think it'd be interesting to see what this beer would be like with some more time spent sitting around.

Note: I did a little internet research before buying this beer, and found a lot of reviews that rated this beer very poorly. I don't know if there was a problem with some bottles off the line or what, but I had no issues with lack of carbonation or off flavors. I know that all beer drinkers have varying palettes, but a lot of the issues I read about on beeradvocate.com and ratebeer.com were not present in my bottle. If you're a serious beer drinker my advice is to go find a bottle of this brew and make the judgment for yourself.

Revolution Brewing Co.

Well I promised myself this year I'd visit more Midwestern breweries and I was able to make good on that promise this weekend. Since I had today off from work, I decided to head up to Revolution Brewing Co. in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. It wasn't too far of a drive, and I've had some of Revolution's brews at other bars around the area so I'd been meaning to make the trip for a while.

The brewery itself is a brew pub/brewery. The restaurant is in the front, the brew house is in the back. our table was near the back and they have big window that looks out over the fermenters and kettles. We went there in the evening so there's wasn't any action in the brew house.

I started off with the Iron Fist Pale Ale, and my girlfriend ordered the cheddar ale soup. I always like to try cheddar ale soup at different places because I've found it tastes different every where. The pale ale was a dark copper color, and was brought to the table with a light white film over the top. The scent had floral and earthy tones. I was a bit worried at first because floral/earthy hops usually don't sit well with my palette. To my pleasant surprise, this brew had a very pleasant mild taste. It wasn't as citrusy as a lot of pale ales that I've had in the past. I thought that the floral/earthiness of the hops was actually quite pleasant. The earthiness wasn't really dominant. The malt actually shined through in this pale ale, which again surprised me. The hops came through in the middle of the taste and hung around briefly during the finish. Overall, I really enjoyed this beer and it was a great beer to start off my meal with. i also thought it complimented the beer cheese soup well. The beer cheese soup was very thick, but I thought the beer flavor came out really well and since the pale ale wasn't super hoppy these two went well together.

For my meal I ordered the pulled pork sandwich with french fries. It was really really good. It was a traditional pulled pork sandwich on a roll. What really set it apart for me was the spicy cole slaw on top on the sandwich. It gave the sandwich a really nice amount of heat that paired well with the barbeque sauce. I'm not food expert, but I thought it was a simple, yet delicious, dish. I think it would have gone really well with the IPA they had but I was feeling a bit full so I saved my last beer for after the main course.

I finished off my trip to Revolution with the Eugene porter. It poured an opaque dark brown color, with a small amount of tan head on top. It had a sweet/roasty scent too it, which I'd attribute to the chocolate and roasted malts. I thought this beer tasted great. It had a good amount of sweetness too it that was evened out by some hoppy spiciness and roastiness from the chocolate malt. This brew finished with roastiness from the malt that lingered rather pleasantly. It was a great beer to finish my meal with. And as a porter it was a great substitute for dessert.

Overall I really enjoyed Revolution Brewing Co. The food was great, the beer was even better. I'd definitely head back to this place for a few brews next time I'm in the neighborhood. It seems like they rotate their brews pretty regularly, and they had a quad on tap that seemed pretty tasty. I'd also love to go back for that pulled pork sandwich paired with their IPA. I think that'd be a great combo. If you're ever on the northwest side of chicago, I would definitely check this place out. Their beers are becoming pretty prominent around Chicago, but its always fun to check out where it all begins. Cheers!

Shmaltz Brewing Co, He'brew Jewbilation 15

I've had to make a New Year resolution to do a better job of keeping up with this blog. Among the other things I'm trying to do this year, I'm going to try to write 4-5 reviews a week and hopefully do a lot more writing on Midwestern breweries, as well as hit the major brew festivals in the area this Spring and Summer. I'm feeling pretty motivated, so I hope that carries on.

I think I've picked a pretty good beer to start 2012 off with. Today's review is of Jewbilation 15 from Shmaltz Brewing Co. Prior to picking this beer up I hadn't tried anything from Shmaltz. I've seen their beers around but just haven't gotten around to trying any, and I think I've definitely started out on the right foot.

This beer pours an incredibly dark brown color. It was very opaque. When I tilted the glass, there was a bit of maroon color in the light. There was about a half inch of light brown head after the initial pour and it dissipated pretty quickly, little to no film on top of the beer and no lacing on the sides of the tasting glass.

Jewbelation 15 had a very malty scent to it, with a little bit of sweetness and alcohol mixed in. The sweetness has a hint of molasses and raisins to it. This brew weighs in at a whopping 15% ABV so the alcohol scent wasn't all that surprising. It was similar to the scent one would get from bourbon aged beers. Overall though the malt was the forward smell in this beer.

The malt was the dominant character of the taste of this beer, as it was in the bouquet. The label touts 15 malts and 15 hops. I was drinking this beer at room temperature, so the first tastes that jumped out to me were chocolate malt and raisins. This beer was very sweet, as one would expect from a beer that depended so heavily on malts. After digging through the chocolate and raisin profile, I got some molasses and bourbon with a tiny bit of hoppiness breaking through halfway through the sip. A hot alcohol taste accompanied the bourbon profile, but it was not unpleasant by any means. (I enjoy bourbon though so I may have a slight bias).

Surprisingly, this body had a medium mouth feel. I was expecting it to be dense and syrupy like a barley wine, but it actually had a surprising amount of carbonation. The aftertaste was a mix of raisins, alcohol, and sweetness from the malt. Despite the claim of 15 hops on the label, I got little to no hoppiness during and after each taste. The lack of hop profile was by no means an issue though. I'm sure the hops served more of a balancing purpose than a flavoring purpose. I really enjoyed the after taste of this brew. It was a pleasant sweetness mixed with a slight hint of coffee and bourbon. The heat from the alcohol died away pretty quickly.

Overall I thought this beer was great. And a little fact I forgot to mention at the beginning of this post is that it only costs 6 bucks (in Illinois at least). If you handed me a sample of this beer without telling me what it was, I'd think it was a 15 dollar+ barley wine. I definitely plan on picking up another couple bottles of this and aging them. I will also be trying some other beers from Shmaltz. I've heard mixed reviews but this beer has left a great first impression on me. I would definitely suggest this beer to friends. I really cant stress the quality for the price enough either.

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I should have another post by the end of the weekend. I have a bottle of Sarachi Ace from Brooklyn Brewery sitting in the chiller at the moment that is tempting my taste buds, and I don't know how long I can hold off. I suppose the result of the Broncos game tomorrow will determine my mood and therefore how well I'm willing to drink. Until then, Cheers!

Frambozen, New Belgium Brewing

Well I'm happy to say this review is one that I had originally not planned on writing. I have been searching for Frambozen since I found out it was ready to be shipped out. I checked New Belgium's website and was under the assumption that this brew would not be making it to the fine state of Illinois this year. Fortunately, as fate would have it, I journeyed into one of the liquor stores that I rarely visit and as I was searching the shelves for something good, the last six pack of Frambozen caught my eye. I was very excited because it's a beer I've been wanting to try for a while, and until I found it at this liquor store I had pretty much given up on trying it this season.

Frambozen pours a dark red, almost ruby color. Its a very warm and inviting color, very appropriate in my opinion for a Christmas beer. There is about a finger and a half of tan head and disappears pretty quickly and leaves a thin layer across the top of the beer. This is a little lacing on the side of the glass.

The scent this beer gives off is a mixture of malt and raspberries. There is a hint of sweetness from the malt and a predominant sour note from the raspberries. I thought that I smelled a little alcohol in the mix, but was unsure since this brew is only about 6.5% ABV. I also caught a subtle hint of earthy hops as I searched a little deeper. The raspberries really dominate the bouquet of this beer though.

I thought that this beer had a really interesting taste to it. The idea of a raspberry beer that is not a wheat beer is in itself an interesting concept. I was intrigued to see how the caramel malts would interact with the raspberries. I was very skeptical if I would even be able to make out more than a hint of the raspberries. My first sip of this brew was full of that raspberry sourness that I had smelled at first. The sweetness from the caramel malt is briefly present at the beginning of the sip before your palette is overwhelmed with the sweet/sour bite of the raspberries. I think enough caramel malt was used so that it balanced the sour of the raspberries to the point where it was a pleasant sour that one would get from one of the more mild Belgian sours. This beer definitely reminded of a sour with a sharper bite that didn't completely dominate the palette. Near the end of the sip the sourness mellowed out into the level of sweetness mixed with sourness that one would get from eating a raspberry without sugar.

This beer had a medium mouth feel, with a lot of carbonation present. The aftertaste was a mix of malt with sourness. I think the after taste is the only place where this beer kind of let me down. I felt like the flavors kind of separated after the sip was done, and I was left with this awkward malty/sour taste that transitioned into a malty taste after the sourness wore off. It wasn't unpleasant, it was just kind of strange and didn't reflect the rest of the drinking experience.

Overall, I enjoyed this beer. I think I may have over hyped it a little bit but it was definitely an interesting beer. I thought the use of the raspberries in a brown ale was very unique and made for an interesting combination of flavors and tastes. I would definitely recommend trying this brew if you can find it but I also wouldn't over hype it like I did.

Anchor Brewing, Anchor Porter

I know I'm still taking a lot of time in between posts, but in my defense it is the holiday season and I'm busy shopping, eating, celebrating birthdays, etc, etc. I've stocked up on some solid beers so I should be churning out more posts more frequently now. On a positive note the Binny's by my house has finally joined the 21st century and decided to start selling a "creat your own six pack" option which is great news for this blog because it means I will be able to try a greater variety of beers instead of having to buy one sixer at a time.

Today's beer, Anchor Porter, is one that I've been really excited to drink all week. Anchor is a classic brewery in the world of American Craft Beer, and while I'd still consider myself new to them I have tried enough of their beers to know they when it comes to beer, Anchor doesn't mess around.

This beer pours a very dark brown, almost black color. I noticed the head parfaited a little bit with about a finger of tan and white colored head. The head lasted as a prominent film throughout the tasting. There was a heavy amount of lacing on the glass.

Anchor Porter had a very sweet scent. It smelled like chocolate with a tiny hint of roast as I continued to smell it. The sweetness was accompanied by a smooth and pleasant maltiness.

The first taste of this beer was incredibly smooth. The sweetness from the smell translated beautifully into the taste. The sweetness from the malt was the predominant taste in this beer but as you near the end of the taste the roastiness from the chocolate malt surfaces. This is a subtle bite about midway through the taste that gives the beer some bite to counteract the sweetness.

This beer had a medium body, as well as a lot of carbonation. When I swished it around, I got a little bit of chewiness but it lasted briefly. This beer had a sweet aftertaste with a hint of roast that balanced out the sweetness very nicely, and didn't linger very long. It's hard to say a porter is crisp but this beer had a very strong flavor, yet didn't overwhelm the palette. It was an incredibly easy to drink porter. Anyone who is skeptical of dark beer should definitely give this beer a whirl, because it's not your average run-of-the-mill porter.

Overall I would have to say that this is one of the best porters I have had in my short time as a craft beer enthusiast. It was very easy to drink, and I really liked how the sweetness and the bitterness from the chocolate malt and hops balanced each other out almost perfectly. This is a beer I will be telling everyone to at least try once. As for me, I've found a new favorite beer.

Avery Brewing, Imperial Stout

I'm sad to say that I have been so busy these last couple of weeks that I really haven't been able to keep up with this blog. I've tried a lot of really good beers and I'm kicking myself because I haven't taken the time to write about them. I'm going to do a much better job keeping up with this thing from here on out. There's too much good beer out there and I've taken it upon myself to make sure that the few people who read this blog hear about it.

I decided to celebrate my comeback with a monster beer. That is, The Czar from Avery Brewing. This beer is a part of their Dictator Series that I wan in love with early in November when I reviewed the The Kaiser. This beer is as big, if not bigger, than the Kaiser. It definitely knocked me for a loop. I was expecting a big, flavorful, powerful beer and that's exactly what I got. This beer also taught me to follow the rule of "the darker the beer, the warmer it should be served." As the beer warmed the best developed more and more, which was really cool to experience.

This beer pours a very dark brown color, and sits opaque in the glass. Initially it had about one finger of head, but this fell back into the beer pretty quickly. There were some signs of carbonation along the side of the glass, and a light film on top of the beer the whole time I was drinking. It left a lot of lace on the sides of the glass throughout the tasting.

The scent of this beer was pretty interesting. I got some subtle hints of chocolate and coffee. It had a very prominent sweet quality to it, and underneath the sweetness there's a tiny bit of alcohol that I could smell. The label mentions toffee and molasses and I got a little bit of those flavors as well as the malty sweetness.

My first few tastes of this beer were very underwhelming and I was a little concerned for a little while. I had put this beer in the fridge and in hindsight I wish I would have chosen to not chill it at all. When i first tasted this beer I could taste the chocolate malt, alcohol, and molasses and that was it. And the flavors I could taste were very subtle. So I let the beer sit for 20 minutes and came back and could taste a lot more. I got hints of coffee, toffee, and the molasses was a lot more prominent. I felt like the malts stood out more as well. I was even able to enjoy the slight bite from the hops as I sipped. This beer should definitely be enjoyed at room temperature, or slightly chilled. The beginning of the taste has a strong sweetness to it mixed with alcohol and some slight fruitiness. There is a little bite in the middle from the hops that evens out the sweetness perfectly and the finish is coffee with a hint of alcohol. The alcohol is impossible to avoid in this beer, as it sits at 10.5% ABV and has a 1.104 original gravity. The alcohol is by no means unpleasant though. It's just unavoidable so if you don't like that flavor in your beer this isn't the brew for you.

This beer had an incredibly heavy body. There wasn't a whole lot of carbonation and when I drank it I found it to be almost chewy. The mouth feel was very interesting. I felt like this beer was thicker than others, it was very hard to freely swish this beer around in my mouth. It definitely lacked the watery characteristics that a lot of other beers usually have. Its the first time I could significantly notice the heaviness of the body. The aftertaste of this beer was really nice, especially considering how heavy it was. The alcohol didn't linger at all. It finished with a nice coffee taste that wasn't overpowering by any means. I actually enjoyed its lingering quality.

Overall I thought this beer was awesome, especially after I had it when it warmed. I felt like the heavy body was kind of weird, but as I finished the bottle I got used to it and it really wasn't a big issue. It just caught me off guard initially. If you're into imperial stouts, I would definitely pick this one up. I plan to grab a bottle and cellar it for a couple years and hopefully by then this blog blows up and by then everyone will read a blog post on the cellared bottle. But I digress, go get yourself a bottle of this bad boy. It's a great winter beer and if you enjoy stouts get yourself an early Christmas present.

I plan to write many more posts for December. It would be blasphemous not to. I plan to do an ultimate review of King Henry from Goose Island on Christmas Day. Thats their bourbon barrel barley wine and its supposed to be insane. It better be for 25 bucks a bottle. I hope every one has a very happy holiday season, and make sure to check back soon for a new post.