Tonight, we have the story of five breweries local to Chicagoland who opened amidst a global crisis, and the five beers that lifted the spirits of two weary beer reviewers. It’s ABV Chicago with your Local News - new breweries and new beers with your old friends, Ryan and Craig. First, we open with a few surprising new buttons, then to one person’s battle cry for ska; and later, a lactose-free label? You won’t believe your ears. Then at 10, it’s the new series: Jaws of Justice. All that after your number one source for arbitrary beer reviews recorded remotely from Chicago. 

Beers Reviewed  

Art History Brewing - Gravitace (Czech-style Pale Lager)

Goldfinger Brewing Company - Vienna-Style Lager

Histrionic Brewlab - After (FX) (Pale Ale)

Brothership Brewing - DDH Earth Go Hard (New England-Style DIPA)

Azadi Brewing Company - Kadak (Mumbai Chai Cutting Stout)

The bitterly cold winter months call for rich and bready lagers, and the bock beer is ready to swaddle you in warming flavors. For this show, we try five very different bock beers that speak to the diversity of the style and contribute to the sudden inebriation of the hosts. We uncover the history of bocks while acknowledging the vast differences between substyles, but we can’t resist driving the bock pun thing into the ground. Listen for Craig’s surprising personality test, our two-decades late XXX movie review, the latest market advice on Beanie Babies, our VagueCast about The Crown, and the top three societal contributions of House of Pain. We also play a game of Stumptappd for bock beers. Whatever you do, please don’t look bock in anger. 

Beers Reviewed

Alarmist Brewing - Sebastian (Bock)

Great Central Brewing Company - Weizenbock

Forbidden Root Brewing Company - Beanie Weather (Bock beer w/ orange & spices)

Maplewood Brewing Company - Silver Morning (Doppelbock)

Pipeworks Brewing Company - Genuine Bock Beer

We’ve long sought out the strange and elusive beers of Connecticut’s Ordinem Ecentrici Coctores - or OEC Brewing, informally - so we have a ritualistic orientation with six beers from their little secret society. There’s a lot to love from this diverse lineup - not the least of which is that one of them comes in a freaking blue bottle. Also, we explore our legal options in a trademark dispute, let the funk do the talking, and play two games about stock symbols and airport codes. For Asgard!

Beers Reviewed

Rosé de Pétanque (Blended sour w/ coriander, orange peel, and blueberry juice)

Coolship Lager Black (Czech-style black lager)
Tempus (Blend of lagered and oak-aged young saison, 1 year-old lambic style ale, and 4 year-old saison aged in red & white wine barrels)

Aether (Dry-hopped sour ale)

BiFrost (Nordic-inspired Cryogenic Double Pale Ale)

Phantasma (Sour porter aged in cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and marsala barrels)

We send off this season’s Deep Wood series by opening up some of their finest ‘wines. Big on barrel variation, this lineup of barleywines and ryewines features a few of the best things Revolution has ever done with these styles - and our rankings diverge quite a bit. We speculate on the next Deep Wood lineup, fail at recreating Honey Nut Cheerios, zoom in on physical pictures, praise the “Rock N’ Roll Racing” soundtrack, and discuss fonts for a solid ten minutes. (This episode was maximized for CDBass® Boost Power.)

Beers Reviewed

Straight Jacket (Bourbon barrel-aged barleywine)

Honey Jacket (Bourbon and rye barrel-aged barleywine w/ honey)

Mineshaft Gap (Cognac barrel-aged barleywine)

Ryeway to Heaven (Bourbon and rye barrel-aged ryewine)

Apple Brandy Barrel Ryeway (Apple brandy barrel-aged ryewine)