ABV Chicago Craft Beer Podcast

When you are gifted a mix of beers from Hill Farmstead and The Alchemist, you stop everything and drink them. Thanks to listener/Patreon supporter/forever friend Josh Sissman we have five canned beers from both nü-classic Vermont breweries, and we review them with a tactical precision unseen for nigh on 50 episodes. But we still find time to announce our most exciting brush with fame, the last place you want to find pine needles, our wildly different perception of the Mosaic hop, check the creamy chart, ask for a percent on every unit sold - in perpetuity, and fear the inevitable naked Craig torture.

Beers Reviewed

Hill Farmstead Brewery - Society & Solitude #5 (Imperial IPA)

Hill Farmstead Brewery - Society & Solitude #12 (Imperial IPA)

The Alchemist - Alena (American IPA)

The Alchemist - Beelzebub (American Imperial Stout)

The Alchemist - Luscious (British-Style Imperial Stout)

Direct download: ABV_Chicago_256_The_Full_Vermonty.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am CST

When Neil Fisher crushes your porch with a big box of WeldWerks beer for sampling, you don’t hesitate to revel in the flavorful delights contained within. Recorded in October, this 2nd edition (in ten episodes) of us marvelling at the expertly-crafted hype-machine beers from the Colorado brewery includes likely the best beer either of us have had all year. But there’s also some important contributions to the ABV Chicago canon, like “flerbals” and “flavor aliens,” so you can hear what that’s all about. And to really bring the magic to this sequel, there are two games: one about WeldWerks beers, and one with an unmentionable name about discontinued snack items. #keepinitflerbal

Beers Reviewed

Fake Item Box (New England-style Milkshake Session IPA w/ lactose and vanilla)

Blackberry Cobbler Berliner (Kettle sour w/ blackberry puree, vanilla, graham crackers, and lactose)

Piña Colada Milkshake (New England-style Milkshake Double IPA w/ toasted coconut, pineapple puree, and vanilla)

Cosmic Torero (New England-style Double IPA)

Mexican Medianoche (Imperial stout aged in Woodford Reserve barrels for 20 months, aged on vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, and cacao nibs)

Direct download: ABV_Chicago_255_WeldWerks_2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:05am CST

Adults have proven time and again that all childhood nostalgia is better with booze, so beer advent calendars became a thing. Bitter Pops makes one of the best surprise 24-packs of beers, and they’ve outdone themselves this year. So we’re outdoing ourselves by reviewing and ranking the first 12 beers of the calendar. Yes, there is some light caroling (Craiging?) and some overall Xmas music appreciation chatter. But we also share a tasty holiday punch recipe, shamelessly mine for retweets from Xmas-adjacent celebrities, turn up our noses at Winter Craig, and assert that hot beer is the next big trend. #hotkvass

And a partridge in a pear tree.

Calendar Beers Reviewed

  1. Sketchbook Brewing/Bitter Pops - Catch Me If You Can (Brown ale w/ orange zest, cinnamon, clove, ginger and nutmeg)
  2. Alarmist Brewing - Dorado Fields (New England-style IPA)
  3. Great Lakes Brewing Co. - Christmas Ale
  4. Half Acre Beer Co. - Cape Dune (India Pale Lager)
  5. Penrose Brewing Co. - Blackberry Lemon Rosé (Sour ale)
  6. Stone Brewing - W00tstout 2018 (Partially barrel-aged stout with pecans)
  7. Solemn Oath Brewery - Kidnapped by Vikings (American IPA)
  8. Central Waters Brewing Co. - Cassian Sunset (Bourbon barrel-aged stout w/ coffee, cinnamon, and vanilla beans)
  9. Off Color Brewing - Known Gnome (Porter)
  10. Noon Whistle Brewing - Freshman @ Life (Kolsch)
  11. BrewDog - Choco Libre Nitro (Mexican hot chocolate imperial stout)
  12. Deschutes Brewery - Jubelale (Winter Ale)
Direct download: ABV_Chicago_254_BP_Advent.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:30am CST

Have a fellow beer lover in your life that you want to spoil during the holidays? Or are you heading to some ugly sweater, ornament-decorating, cookie-binging holiday party and need a beer to bring that’ll help you make it through? We enlist the help of Ryan Tracy from Beer on the Wall to suggest some beers that make good gifts for all different types of drinkers. In addition, because we’re on site, we talk about our sponsor Beer on the Wall from their start to their very exciting future, which includes expansion and a second location. And because Ryan is fully aware of our usual antics, we talk about beer pranks, whale lists, gnome sharing, jewel heists, forest nymphs, creepy doll basements, hot dog beers, wrestling-style intros, meads n’ improv, and a weird faith in Taco Bell. Come on out to Park Ridge - they’re rippin’ Undies out here.

Beers Reviewed

Hailstorm Brewing - Hotel Life (Lager)

Brickstone Brewery - APA (Galaxy And Huell Melon Dry-Hopped)

Lake Effect Brewing - Barrel-aged Super Shake (Chocolate malt-inspired Imperial Stout)

The Ale Apothecary - Ralph (Mixed-fermentation wild ale w/ white fir tips)

Superstition Meadery - BlackBerry Hex (Blackberry mead)
Schloss Eggenberg - Samichlaus Classic (Doppelbock)

Direct download: ABV_Chicago_253_Beer_Gifts.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:47am CST

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