Founders Brewing Company has been influencing the way Midwesterners drink for almost two decades, so we show our appreciation by drinking their beers to excess. We review eight diverse 12-ounce offerings from the Grand Rapids brewery, only pausing briefly to play a little Founding Fathers trivia. Well, actually, the beers are so good that we get obscenely inebriated and talk about Craig’s DJ name, fond Breakfast Stout memories, getting Hop Fades™ for FoBAB, and who’d win in a fight between us. It’s that kind of show, folks!

 

Ryan

1. Backwoods Bastard

2. Breakfast Stout

3. Imperial Stout

4. Mosaic Promise

5. Dark Penance

6. Devil Dancer (2012)

7. KBS

8. Harvest Ale

 

Craig

1. Breakfast Stout

2. Dark Penance

3. Imperial Stout

4. KBS

5. Backwoods Bastard

6. Devil Dancer (2012)

7. Mosaic Promise

8. Harvest Ale

We have five beers new to bottles from Chicago-area breweries and find that you don’t need a lot of experience to impress us. Five unique styles are up for our review, and we unsurprisingly get hammered in the process. There’s a few GABF remnants, Ryan consults his Urban Dictionary, and Craig talks about Mega Man for a while. Trust us - you won’t even need to use a continue.

 

Ryan

1. Middle Brow Robyn

2. Cahoots Brewing Barrel-Aged AmEn

3. 51st Ward The Krispy Karl

4. Arcade Brewing Mega Milk Stout

5. Forbidden Root Sublime Ginger

 

Craig

1. Middle Brow Robyn

2. Arcade Brewing Mega Milk Stout

3. Forbidden Root Sublime Ginger

4. Cahoots Brewing Barrel-Aged AmEn

5. 51st Ward The Krispy Karl

After three straight days of drinking at the Great American Beer Festival, we open a few beers in the hotel and play back a bunch of interviews with brewers that all won gold medals (in our hearts.) You’ll hear interviews with brewers from Yazoo, Wicked Weed, Comrade, Almanac, Transient, River Dog, The Rare Barrel, and Melvin. There’s also a brief appearance by a well-lubricated Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head. We sift through our memory of the hundreds of beers we tried and deliver our top experiences, but we cover many other aspects of the fest as well. Craig recaps his What The Funk?!? experience, and Ryan makes fun of our terrible drunken interview questions. Wu! Tang! Wu! Tang!

 

Beers enjoyed on this episode:

 

Crooked Stave Mama Bear’s Sour Cherry Pie

Casey Brewing and Blending Saison First Blend

Avery Rufus Corvus

We try to have the most sincere show in hopes of a visit from The Great Pumpkin Beer, as we try 8 of them. Kim Leshinski of Hail to the Ale and Chicago Beer Gals is our guest. As a BJCP Judge and a homebrewer, she carves up some serious knowledge on the intricacies of the style and drops in a candle on what Chicago breweries have to offer. Kim also talks about her many beer-centric endeavors including her experience working on the branding for Alarmist Brewing and what it was like to collaborate on a shark-themed saison with Lake Effect. We also learn that Craig got kicked out of an all-female craft beer event. Good grief.

 

 

Craig

 

1. Stevens Point Whole Hog Pumpkin Ale

 

2. Ten Ninety De Ogen

 

3. Southern Tier Pumking

 

4. Schlafly Pumpkin Ale

 

5. Lakefront Imperial Pumpkin

 

6. Cigar City Good Gourd

 

7. Slapshot Gourd Damn

 

8. Dogfish Head Punkin

 

 

Kim

 

1. Stevens Point Whole Hog Pumpkin Ale

 

2. Ten Ninety De Ogen

 

3. Southern Tier Pumking

 

4. Lakefront Imperial Pumpkin

 

5. Dogfish Head Punkin

 

6. Slapshot Gourd Damn

 

7. Schlafly Pumpkin Ale

 

8. Cigar City Good Gourd

 

 

Ryan

 

1. Stevens Point Whole Hog Pumpkin Ale

 

2. Southern Tier Pumking

 

3. Ten Ninety De Ogen

 

4. Lakefront Imperial Pumpkin

 

5. Schlafly Pumpkin Ale

 

6. Cigar City Good Gourd

 

7. Slapshot Gourd Damn

8. Dogfish Head Punkin

Episode 36 - Chicago After Dark

 

Turn the lights down low, because we’re drinking six dark Chicago beers of varying styles. We attempt to eloquently marvel at dark malts and their multiple applications, but then we play another filthy round of Beers Against Humanity. Aside from our usual reviews, topics include cat huffing, actresses named Emma, Robot Dong, proper cookie pairings, awkward sexy talk, and Randy Mosher. And we’ll be very pleasantly surprised by a few beers. (This episode is rated NC-17 for audio nipple.)

 

Ryan

1. Goose Island Night Stalker (2012)

2. Ale Syndicate Omega Midnight

3. Only Child Night Terrors

4. 5 Rabbit 5 Vulture

5. Metropolitan Arc Welder

6, Off Color Scurry

 

Craig

1. 5 Rabbit 5 Vulture

2. Goose Island Night Stalker (2012)

3. Ale Syndicate Omega Midnight

4. Only Child Night Terrors

5. Off Color Scurry

6. Metropolitan Arc Welder

 

 

 

Perennial Artisan Ales’ Abraxas is Craig’s favorite beer, so we drink it four times. Actually, we have a mini-vertical and experience two variants - one far superior to the other. Our third different guest named Chris joins us to drink our beer and chat about 80’s “extreme sports” movies and Santana. We also pair the amazing beers with some Bee’s Knees Mexican Hot Chocolate Almonds, Ryan’s Cinnamon Toast Crunch cookies, and some Spicy Man Jam. And yes, we get a little emotional over Barrel-Aged Abraxas. Sexual chocolate!

 

 

Ryan & Craig

 

 

1. Barrel-Aged Abraxas

 

2. Abraxas (2012)

 

3. Abraxas (2013)

 

4. Coffee Abraxas (2013)

 

 

Chris

 

 

1. Barrel-Aged Abraxas

 

2. Abraxas (2013)

 

3. Abraxas (2012)

 

4. Coffee Abraxas (2013)

 

 

 

Episode 34 - The Hoppening

 

This week, we resist the bacteria-born urge to kill ourselves by downing six random hoppy beers!  We’ll regale you with stories of our trip to Decorah, Iowa, and then get off topic a lot as the beer tastes better and better. Then we spend half of the time insulting each other, and Ryan explains to Craig why M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening” is so bad that it deserves tribute. Prepare for the TWISTTTTTTT.

 

Ryan

1. Toppling Goliath - Sosus

2. New Glarus - Scream IIPA

3. Toppling Goliath - King Sue

4. Bells - Mars: The Bringer of War

5. Bells - The Oracle

6. Modern Times - Fortunate Islands

 

Craig

1. Topplng Goliath - King Sue

2. Bells - Mars: The Bringer of War

3. Toppling Goliath - Sosus

4. New Glarus - Scream IIPA

5. Modern Times - Fortunate Islands

6. Bells - The Oracle

Ich Bin Ein Berliner Weisse episode! We review five local takes on the style and try some with traditional raspberry and woodruff syrups. We start with a table-setting traditional Berliner Weisse and end with Ryan putting crushed-up Skittles in his beer. And there's the long-awaited meeting of Upton Sinclair and Nicki Minaj. For such a low-ABV show, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the amount of spilling, squirting, and sexual dampness. Wait, come back!

 

Craig

1. DryHop Brewers - The World Needs Fewer DJs

2. Transient Artisan Ales - Blueberry Peach Maigre

3. Three Floyds - Deesko!

4. Marz Community Brewing - Bubbly Creek

5. Off Color - Fierce

 

Ryan

1. DryHop Brewers - The World Needs Fewer DJs

2. Three Floyds - Deesko!

3. Transient Artisan Ales - Blueberry Peach Maigre

4. Off Color - Fierce

5. Marz Community Brewing - Bubbly Creek

Horse Thief Hollow is a South Side neighborhood brewpub that is churning out quality brews and delectable food, and we were invited to sample a whole lot of it. Head brewer Dave Williams and owner Neil Byers share a mic and their craft with us. Neil discusses some of the thoughtful choices made in distinguishing the business from the many nearby Irish pubs and how they manage to keep up with the considerable demand they’ve created. Dave educates us on yeast pitching, aging on oak spirals versus barrels, contracting hops and much more. They also stuff us full of delicious food and share the last bottle of their World Beer Cup Silver Medal-winning sweet potato beer. A post-episode nap is highly recommended.

Craig

1. Cheval Deux (2013)

2. Annexation (w/ Galaxy hops)

3. 6410

4. 773

5. The Caretaker

Ryan

1. Cheval Deux (2013)

2. Annexation (w/ Galaxy hops)

3. 6410

4. The Caretaker

5. 773

Brewer Chris Betts brings some of his Transient Artisan Ales for us to sample, and we couldn’t be happier. Humble and soft-spoken, Chris is one of the only brewers in Chicago focused on handcrafted barrel-aged sours, and the buzz that has followed is rightfully earned. We’ll learn about Chris’ history at Witch’s Hat and One Trick Pony, his “barrel library”, how he manages wild yeasts and bacteria in his beers, and why staying small can be a good thing. There’s also pertinent news on the Reserve Society and what we can expect to drink from Transient in the near future. And there’s a puppy. So freakin’ cute.

 

Craig

1. Oud Bruin (Wild Turkey barrel)

2. Obelus Galaxy (Red wine barrel)

3. Salarium

4. Obelus Galaxy

 

Ryan

1. Obelus Galaxy (Red wine barrel)

2. Oud Bruin (Wild Turkey barrel)

3. Salarium

4. Obelus Galaxy