ABV Chicago Craft Beer Podcast

Another Dark Lord Day approaches, so we review a vertical of 3 Floyds’ signature special release with a little help from the Chicago Tribune’s beer columnist Josh Noel. Should you ever age a Dark Lord? Is it really just a decent beer? Are the variants worth it? The answers will probably not shock you. But we do our best to contribute to the conversation by talking about the changes to the fest itself, this year’s variants, and 3 Floyds’ place in local beer culture. There’s also some Goose Island talk, thoughts on the next era of beer, Josh’s day of karmic realignment, and the most Indiana story ever. Jud Jud.

Beers Reviewed:

Dark Lord (2012)

Dark Lord (2013)

Dark Lord (2014)

Dark Lord (2015)

Bourbon Barrel-Aged Vanilla Bean Dark Lord (2015)

Jarring metal music transitions courtesy of the lineup for this year’s Dark Lord Day, which you can find here: http://www.darklordday.com/schedule/

 

Direct download: ABV_Chicago_118_Dark_Lord.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:08am CDT

Nothing is certain and all of life is a lie. We drink five Midwestern barrel-aged stouts without knowing what they are to test their true quality and our very confidence in ourselves. And it is discovered that we, in fact, are terrible. But major surprises abound as we mostly play a new game we should call “Is This Bourbon County?” And we learn that spotting a fresh stout in a sea of aged beers is not as easy as one would expect. There’s also stuff about Everclear, pro-wrestling, Wu-Tang, the “Clue” movie, Craig’s hog, and Ryan’s newest brewery idea. Is it getting existential in here, or is just me?

 

Beers Reviewed, Blindly

Wild Onion Drӓgo (2015)

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout (2013)

Dark Horse Bourbon Barrel Plead the Fifth (2013)

Bell’s Black Note (2012)

Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Stout (2013)

Direct download: ABV_Chicago_117_MW_BA_Stouts_Blind.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:14am CDT

We’re all too eager to try more from Boston’s Trillium Brewing Company as we were positively gobsmacked by their beers last time. This time around, we have MC Johnsen from Worth 1000 Beers to help us review these five offerings and steer us into some serious streams of consciousness. We talk a bit about Trillium’s expanded production and second location, saison brewing, and hop blindness. For the digressions on this one, we go deep on candy (of course), feeling cheese, bad accents, ranch-flavored things, elbow dancing, and The Eagles. There’s an exciting announcement for our Patreon patrons; Craig shares his report on new craft beers at U.S. Cellular this season; MC promotes her “RAW” event at the Metro; and Ryan joins the creamy revolution.

 

Help nominate us for a Podcast Award by going to podcastawards.com and entering “ABV Chicago” in the Arts category between April 15th and April 30th.

 

Rankings

 

Ryan

  1. Pot & Kettle Oatmeal Porter
  2. Sleeper St. IPA
  3. Double Dry-Hopped Fort Point Pale Ale
  4. Melcher St. IPA
  5. Free Rise Saison

 

MC

  1. Melcher St. IPA
  2. Double Dry-Hopped Fort Point Pale Ale
  3. Pot & Kettle Oatmeal Porter
  4. Sleeper St. IPA
  5. Free Rise Saison

 

Craig

  1. Double Dry-Hopped Fort Point Pale Ale
  2. Pot & Kettle Oatmeal Porter
  3. Sleeper St. IPA
  4. Melcher St. IPA
  5. Free Rise Saison
Direct download: ABV_Chicago_116_Trillium_Again.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:17am CDT

Check. Check. Is this thing on? Everybody wants some Mikerphone Brewing, and we find out exactly why on this episode. With a mixed 4-track of Mike Pallen’s beers, we have our asses rocked by a few of the best beers we’ve had in a long, long time. We share an update on Mikerphone’s new location, and discuss New England style IPAs, beers as musical instruments, and the fault of first impressions in craft beer. But then there’s some disgusting stuff about buckets, Gloria Estefan, Halloween masks, and girdles. Also, there’s some weak high fives, Craig’s day of action, and a game about Nirvana lyrics. Goodnight, Chicago!

 

Beers Reviewed

 

Nature’s Candy Peach Berliner Weisse

Special Sauce Double IPA

G Funk Era Golden Ale (w/ grapefruit)

Smells Like Bean Spirit (Batch 3) Breakfast Stout

Direct download: ABV_Chicago_115_Mikerphone.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:05am CDT

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