Chicago - Monday

Having breakfast in our own time is a great advantage of staying in a flat. Derek is up first again and is powering around the kitchen.

He’s already made tea and is getting ready to cook breakfast. Bacon sandwiches.

“You can’t go wrong with bacon.” I say unimaginatively.

"It would be better with brown sauce."

Can't argue with that.

There’s also porridge. Derek is definitely improving my travelling diet.

We wander down to Goose Island. It’s not far. Maybe 10 minutes. And it’s a beautiful day.

Inside the brewery, we get chatting with Brooke Bell (Director of Operations) while we wait for Mike. She gets us coffee, which is nice.

When Mike shows up, we load up on protective gear and enter the brew house. It’s nothing new to me, having been around the brewery several times. Well, almost nothing new. They now have a mash filter in addition to more conventional brewing vessels. Hearing Mike’s explanation of how it’s used, it makes total sense to have installed one.

In the pilot brew house, we chat with brewer Emily. We'll be brewing with her on Wednesday. An LK from Truman.

Time for lunch. We go to an Italian deli and get a 9-inch sub - roast beef and provolone cheese, in my case. We can all only manage half. I save the rest for later. Just as well I do.

When we're done eating it's time for a zoom chat with Jeff Alworth. Which is fun.

You can hear us rambling away here: https://player.fm/series/beervana-podcast/pod-exra-derek-prentice-ron-pattinson-and-mike-siegel

We continue over to the barrel warehouse for a look around. It’s in an unmarked building a couple of miles from the main brewery.

There’s a big stainless tank just inside the entrance.

“What do you use this for?” Derek asks.

“Last time it was to infuse Bourbon County Stout with dates. It takes a lot of dates to impart a noticeable flavour. Several thousand pounds, in this case.”

He shows us a photo. Man, that’s a lot of dates.

“There’s not much to see.” Mike says as we enter the main hall If you’d come a few weeks ago, it would have been full. But we’ve just packaged Bourbon County.”

There are still thousands of barrels, despite the open spaces.

Next stop is The Beer Temple, where we're recording a podcast with Chris Quinn, the owner, and Mike Schallau of Is/Was Brewery.

It’s a rather attractive bar and bottle shop. The bar is flooded with natural light, making it a bright and cheerful spot for a beer. I can’t help taking a peek in the shop. And checking out the price of St. Bernardus Abt. $23.99 for a four-pack. That’s $6 a bottle. I pay 2.30 euros.

We’ve a little time before recording and I get a Beachwood Brewing Sole Magic, 5.8% ABV. Quite a restrained West Coast IPA. Not bad.

We settle into a back room with mikes and headphones. All very professional looking.

We discuss Black Eagle, the history of Truman and Derek's long history of brewing in London. Black Eagle gets broken open and we sip as we chat. My sort of recording session.

Once we're done, we also get suck into Brewery Yard and Obadiah Poundage. I haven't tried either for a while. Brewery Yard is less bitter and still very Bretty. Obadiah Poundage is pretty much unchanged from last time I had it.

While we're drinking them Matt Becker passes by on his way to the bog. We’re old mates. He has a brewery in Brighton, Michigan. He also makes invert sugar. Some of which he’s brought along for our Wednesday brew. We join him and Luke in the bar for a couple of beers.

My next beer is Beachwood Brewing Citraholic 7.1% ABV. A bit more upfront IPA from the same brewery. Is citra the hop that smells like Izal? Not in this beer. It's a classic citrussy IPA.

We walk to Metropolitan Brewing, which is on the Chicago River. They specialise in German styles. That’s fine by me. I love me a good Lager.

I get an Oktoberfest. Which is pretty damn good. Lovely malt character. 

We sit outside on the patio overlooking the river. A pair of rowing boats glide along the dark water, racing each other. It's all rather lovely.

We chat of this and that. Beer and Matt's brewery. It’s starting to get a little chilly. Nothing I can’t cope with.

My next beer is a Zwickl. Also, pretty nice. Buttery with a good firm bitterness.

They close at 9 PM. What? Why does everything close so early here? It’s weird for a city of this size.

“Why don’t you come back to our B & B?” Matt suggests. “I’ve brought a couple of growlers of my beer.”

Sounds good to me.

We sit in the communal area. Which is, er, quite idiosyncratic. Looks like the place is run by old hippies.

Matt’s beers are in very impressive copper growlers, with built in taps and CO2.

The first is a Berlner Weisse he took 18 months to brew. It's bone dry, effervescent and a little tart. And with lots of Brettanomyces character. Pretty damn good. Proper mixed fermentation. Way better than the kettle-soured shit masquerading as the style.

The next is a Dark Mild. A very agreeable beer, malty and smooth.

We don't stay too late. We've a busy day tomorrow. Back at the flat, Derek and I finish our sandwiches. Just as well we saved them. Somehow, we never got around to eating dinner.

Heaven Hill is my night-time chum.



Goose Island Taproom
1800 W Fulton St,
Chicago,
IL 60612.
https://www.gooseisland.com/fulton-brewery/


The Beer Temple
3173 N Elston Ave,
Chicago,
IL 60618,
http://www.craftbeertemple.com/


Metropolitan Brewing
3057 N Rockwell St,
Chicago,
IL 60618.
http://www.metrobrewing.com/
 

My flights were paid for by Goose Island and my accommodation by Chicago Brewseum.