CHAOS Audio Slideshow

Part 17: Worst of the CHicago Beer Festival

Although the Beer Festival did have many wonderful surprises, it also had it's fair share of massive disappointments.

Here are the worst brews of the Chicago Beer Festival:

Image via Brew Notes

Leffe Blonde: 

Tasted like Delirium Tremens was brewed in a shoe. Very disappointing.

Alex's Food & Drink Blog Rating: 4









Brickstone Hop Sinner: 
9.5% Double IPA. They also wash your cups for you. Hoppy! Like drinking wheat grass.

Alex's Food & Drink Blog Rating: 4

Image via Great Brewers

 Julian Hard Cider:

Clear as water. Pretty low alcohol content.

Alex's Food & Drink Blog Rating: 5

Image via Phoo-d

Rogue Chipolte Ale:

Since the favorite beer of the competition was a Rogue, it seems fitting that the worst would be as well. This beer had a strange mix of smokey and spicy flavors that, although it should be applauded for it's ingenuity, fell very flat on the taste buds.

Alex's Food & Drink Blog Rating: 4

Part 16: Best of the Chicago Beer Festival

A representative pours a glass of purple haze. Photo by Alex Rich

The Chicago Beer Festival held its inaugural event this Saturday at Union Station. This blog was there to taste as many of the different varieties as possible, and then posting twitter reviews about each one.

Unfortunately, due to time constrains (not to mention the staying power of the human liver), not every beer was tasted and some vendors skipped entirely.

Here are the best of the best from the Chicago Beer Festival:

Image via 365 Beers

1) Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar

This beer tastes amazing. The nuts gave the beer a wonderfully sweet aroma. Although it was good to sip, overkill could be a problem. It would work wonderfully as a sweet desert beer.

Alex's Food & Drink Blog Rating: 9 of 10

Image via Wyder's Cider

2) Wyder's Dry Pear Cider

Very tasty if you like sweet, smooth drinks. By far the best Cider of the festival, with a very nice pear taste and the right amount of sparkle.



Alex's Food & Drink Blog Rating: 8 of 10

Image via AllWomen'sTalk

3) Bell's Oberon Summer Ale

Sweet and not too hoppy. Very nice aftertaste. Light enough for a nice summer afternoon on the back porch.


Alex's Food & Drink Blog Rating: 8 of 10

Image via Summit Brewing

4) Summit Brewing Extra Pale Ale

Very nice taste for a Pale Ale. A great balance of hops and sweetness.

Alex's Food & Drink Blog Rating: 8 of 10

Honorable Mentions (Rating of 7):

Crispin Fox Barrel Pear: much more pearful than the other. Still good.
Blue Moon Blackberry Tart: very berry.
Shiner Bock: very good.
Delirium Tremens: very sweet.
Uinta Dubhe Imperial Bock IPA: wow. Very alcoholic, dark beer.
Emmett's Victory Pale Ale: very good. Not too hoppy.
Hamburger Mary's Peanut Butter: Rich, dark. You can actually taste the peanut butter.
Rock Bottom Red Ale: Very sweet

Finally, the award for best named beer goes to Big Muddy Brewing Companie's Saluki Dunkel Dog (rated a 6).

Part 15: Yeast and Flavor in Beer

White Labs California Ale Yeast. Image via Beer-Wine.com

This blog will soon post an audio diary on making beer with liquid yeast instead of dry yeast.

The liquid yeast used was White Labs' California Ale Yeast.

In doing research, a helpful article by Christohper White entitled "7 Fascinating Facts About Yeast" proved to be quite interesting.

Of the 7 interesting facts, perhaps the most interesting is that yeast provides most of the flavors and aromas in beer.

To an untrained brewer, taste could be thought of as coming from the variety of grains or hops that the brewer decided to boil with his beer. White says this isn't true.

All of the flavors already in the wort are changed by the yeast, adding 600 flavor and aroma compounds to the finished product.

"For example yeast change the way malt and hop compounds taste and smell," he writes. "Hops are affected because different yeast strains adsorb different amounts of iso-alpha-acids, which account for 60 percent of beer’s bitterness. Malt components are affected because they are metabolized by yeast."

Yeast does much more than produce the alcohol that makes beer worth drinking.

Part 14: The Chicago Beer Festival Is Upon Us

Chicago's own Goose Island is one of the breweries on display

.*

There are only six days before the inaugural Chicago Beer Festival graces us with it's tastings and charming atmosphere.

Here's the break down:

What: There will be many breweries (50+), locals from Chicago to international breweries, on site for sampling, tasting, and talking through their approach to beer. Check the "Who" list below for more details.
Where: Union Station at 210 S. Canal St.
When: There are two sessions. The first is in the early afternoon from 1-4 pm and then another from 6-9 pm
Cost: $40

Who (taken from the groups Facebook Page) and what Beers:

Goose Island: Matilda, Sofie, Green Line, 312
Central Waters: Glacial Trail IPA, Mud Puppy Porter, Ouisconsing Red, Satin Solstice Imperial Stout
Emmett's: Victory Pale Ale, McCarthy Red Ale, Imperial Stout
Summit: Unchained Black Ale, Maibock, Pilsner, EPA
Uinta: Baba Black Lager, Monkshine, Dubhe, Wyld
Bridgeport: Hop Czar, Dark Rain, IPA
Uncommon Brewers: Bacon Brown, Golden State, Baltic Porter
Milwaukee Brewing: Louie's Demise, Booyah, OGI
Brooklyn: Stout, Brown, Weisse
Jullian: Hard Cider
Duvel: Duvel Single, La Chouffe, Houblon Chouffe, Liefmans Cuvee Brut
Ommegang: Hennepin, Abbey, Witte, BPA
CBA: Redhook ESB, Widmer IPA
Shock Top : Shandy, Shock Top
Hamburger Mary's: Peanut Butter Porter, Speakeasy Saison
Artisanal Imports: Bockor Omer, La Trappe Quadrupel, St. Feuillien Saison, Cuvee des Jacobin Rouge, Sunner Kolsch

Delirium Tremens Belgium Ale 

Gouden Carolis Cru Golden Ale (Limited Release)

Bulldog Brewing: Industrial Harbor IPA, 11 Mile Lager, Roby Red, Black Wheat
Wild Onion Pub: Dunkel Vice, Paddy Pale, Summer Wit

Chicago Beer Co: Windy City, Pale Ale
Argus: Pegasus, CalSteam, Jarret Payton Wheat
Firestone: Union Jack, Double Jack Double IPA
Woodchuck: Amber, Private Reserve Belgian White
Sierra Nevada: Pale Ale, Topredo, Seasonal
Spaten: Lager, Optimator, Hef
New Belgium: Fat Tire, Ranger, Shift, Dig
NAB: Magic Hat #9, Magic Hat Seasonal, Pyramid Hef
Crispin: Original, Foxburrow Pear
Boston Beer: Summer Ale, Lager, Cherry Wheat, Girffin's Bow, Tasman Read, Dark Depths, Cinder Block
Total Beverage: Afligem Blonde, Weihenstephaner Hef
Diageo: Guinness Black Lager, Parrot Bay Pouches, Red Stripe
Paulaner: Maibock, Weiss, Edelhill
Lakefront: Fixed Gear, Bridgeburner
Southern Tier: 2XIPA, Hop Sun
Abita: Purple Haze, Barley Wine

*The Goose Island image via Grapes and Grains

Part 13: The Beer Diet

Many people choose to give up drinking beer for Lent, a little sacrifice to hopefully better themselves for the Easter season.

Some people, however, take a different approach for those 40 days: a Beer-only fast.

This isn't something thought up during a 3 a.m. chat between two wasted frat brothers, but in fact goes far back 300 years when Bavarian monks would brew strong beer and give up on solid foods. Many people have done this fast since, included an editor of a German newspaper and an Iowa beer blogger.

Here's the CNN video:

The Iowa blogger says he lost 22 pounds during Lent.

Part 12: Chicago Home Brew Shops

Here are some places where a brewer can purchase supplies in Chicago:

Via Google Maps

1) Brew Camp
Where: 2039 West Belle Plaine Avenue in Chicago
What they have to offer: Brew Camp not only has beer making supplies, but they also offer classes for new brewers for $20.

Via Google Maps

2) Brew and Grow
Where: Two locations in Chicago. On the North Side at 3625 N Kezie Ave and 19 S Morgan St
What they have to offer: Brew and Grow offers equipment for both beer making and hydroponic growing. They also offer weekly classes on Thursdays (7 p.m.) and Sundays (10 a.m.) at their North Side location and Wednesdays (7 p.m.). There is a $20 fee. 
Brew and Grow also offer homemade Absinthe kits.

3) Bev Art Brewer and Winemaker Supply
Where:10033 South Western Avenue in Chicago
What they have to offer: Bev Art offers more in-depth classes for brewers and winemakers which cover are held over the course of two sessions for beer and three sessions for wine. Classes cost $99.00 but do not include the ingredients for either process, which must be purchased separately.

Part 11: Home Brew Package

This is a video package on the Home Brew Shop in St. Charles, IL.

Part Ten: Beer Stats

Home brewing and the brewing of craft beers seems to be a growing trend in the past few years. Here are some statistics from the Brewers Association and the Beer Institute:

The World of Beer Inforgraphic. Via Submit Infographics.

• Craft beer brewing provides for 100,000 jobs in the U.S. This stat seems more important with all the talk of jobs and job creators in the media and on the Republican primary trail
• Craft Brewing may be recession proof. In 2010 growth in the Craft Brewing industry went up to 11% by volume and 12% by dollars, a respective 1% uptick in both spots
• In 2011, 1,927 breweries operated in the U.S. The U.S. also added almost 200 breweries from the year before.
• 1979 was the worst year for breweries. The bumber of breweries dropped down to it's lowest point: 44 breweries.
• In 2010, American brewers made 19.5 gallons of beer for each American.
• In IL, there is a 75% tax credit for small breweries who put out less than 4.9 million gallons

Part Nine: Video Tour of the New Chicago Beer Company

To finish up the trifecta of posts about the New Chicago Beer Company, here is a video tour and an interview with Jesse Evans, the owner. All the video is original.

(Note to Professor Brown: This isn't my package for class, just bonus video)

Part Eight: New Chicago Beer Co.'s Brewing Set-Up

New Chicago Beer Co.'s sign. Photo by Alex Rich.

One of the principle aims of the New Chicago Beer Co. is getting people involved in brewing through demonstrations and classes, a home brew blog, or guided tours

"We want people to see the process," Jesse Evans said.

The brew house will hold the major beer making apparatuses, massive vats that will run 4-5 times a week producing strong ales, protected behind glass, so tours can see the process in real time. An intimacy that will allow viewers to be so close to the brewing they will "be able to see if the brewer has dandruff."

Massive vats will run floor to ceiling holding the beer as it ferments.

A restaurant and nano-brewery will eventually be put here. Photo by Alex Rich

It's industrialization on a small level, which allows the brewers to experiment. In another room, which they plan to turn into a restaurant and tasting room, the company will run a nano-brewery, producing 100 gallons of beer at a time, and allow the brewers to try new recipes on guests.

"The city needs more breweries than we have now," Evans said. "We're the pioneers."

Part Seven: An Introduction to New Chicago Beer Company

Jesse Evans, owner of the New Chicago Beer Co. Photo by Alex Rich.

In 2003, Chicago natives Jesse Edwin Evans and his brother Samuel began their first brewery in Oakland, California. They started small, brewing two recipes and working out of their home, selling to whatever bars or liquor stores would take their product.

"We had a really good opportunity," Jesse said. "We were basically doing a home brewing set-up that was not as nice as this at all. It was like one turkey frier."

A few years later, after selling off their company in California, the brothers are starting on an entirely new undertaking on Chicago's South Side. In an old meat packing plant, a dilapidated old building undergoing major renovations, the brothers hope to be brewing beer by this summer.

But the brewery will be part of a larger ecosystem of businesses, including a restaurant and bakery, that will be housed in the building at 1400 West 46th St. The goal is to have a completely self-sufficient food and drink collective. The Chicago Reader has a good graphic on how this will be achieved, but the basic rundown is this:

1. Beer production produces lots of waste from grains used to make malts and produce different flavors, which are usually discarded. At New Chicago Beer Co., they will be used to produce bio-gas when mixed with thousands of pounds of animal waste from a nearby animal processing plant (the 50/50 mix of carbohydrates and animal fat is best for producing bio gas).
2. The bio-gas, is then put into a massive turbine (which used to be an engine on a decommissioned military bomber) which uses the natural gas to create steam power, which will heat the building, create electricity, and, perhaps most importantly, heat the kettles that will brew cook the beer.

The eco-friendly experiment in brewing will 

Part Six: Homebrew Slideshow

This slideshow is a beginner's guide to home brewing equipment.

Photos by Alex Rich.

Part 4: The Chicago Beer Riots

I'm currently doing research for my beat, and I came across this great story via BeerHistory.com:

Chicago has always been a divided city due to the mosaic of neighborhoods that ebb and flow over the map like a petri dish full of malformed amoebas. But this was even more true back in the 1850's, well before Mayor Cermak famously united the Eastern European neighborhoods with the African American neighborhoods to defeat the Irish-run machine that was controlling the city.

Before the Irish got control, however, the English and the Know-Nothings controlled the city (think Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York). Mayor Levi Boone, the great nephew of Daniel Boone, didn't like the Germans or the Irish very much, and decided to make those feelings known by enforcing a ban pubs being opened on Sundays and increasing the licensing fee from $50 to $100.

Jokes about the beer-loving Germans and Irish aside, this did not sit well with the ethnic minorities who, after a hard week's work, wanted nothing more than to sit down and have a pint or two on the Lord's Day. So they decided to organize.

via The PBH Network

First, the immigrant community organized legal defense funds in support of tavern owners who refused to comply. A trial was scheduled for April 21st, and when a massive crowd came out to support the accused, the Mayor ordered the police to forcibly disperse them. As part of Boone's "reforms," he refused to hire immigrants as police officers, making the fight not just about some beer on a Sunday, but about the clash between established American families and the second-wave immigrants from Europe.

The ensuing brawl led to over 60 arrests and 1 death, but perhaps more importantly led to the ousting of Boone at the next election.

Additional information was found at The PBH Network and The Encyclopedia of Chicago

Part Three: The Great Homebrew Taste-Off

(Photo by Alex Rich)

In the film 24 Hour Party People, Steve Coogan (playing famed Factory Records chief Tony Wilson) says, "Jazz musicians enjoy themselves more than anyone listening to them does."

The same could also be said for home brewers. They enjoy the craft of making their beer and drinking it often times far more than anyone else does. Which makes sense, because it is a labor of love and often times the product is far inferior to commercially available beer with their access to fresh ingredients and industrial-strength brewing equipment.

But there is also a sense of competition among those who brew, to try and do their best and better other brewers. So there will be many taste-offs and competition to see who really has the upper hand.

Tasting Andrew Canning's (full disclosure: he is the author's roommate) IPA, which he claims to taste the same as a Sierra Nevada was like tasting a beer after someone dumped a handful of lawn clippings into it. The hops were so overpowering, and hit the drinker so violently, making it almost impossible to taste any sweetness at all. Bittering is important in the brewing process, but that amount of hopiness was unforgivable.

Meanwhile, a second beer (brewed by the author) in the American tradition of light beers, was also on had. This beer was a little too sweet, possibly due to adding too much sugar to the brew. It was more enjoyable, but less sugar would have brought out a more hoppy flavor.

This taste test was an exercise in two extremes, and the next round should go much better.

Part Two: Gross Residue

Beer Fermenting with Fermentation Hose (Photo by Alex Rich)

by: Alex Rich

When the fermentation process begins, there will be a gross, sickly looking residue of the hops, or, to use the not-so-technical term: "blow off."

There are three ways to deal with this (although it's not really a huge problem, it could lead to more residue in your bottles and a chalky taste at the end of your swig).

The first option is the one pictured above, using a fermentation hose. Although this will not get rid of all the blow-off, it is a better way to get rid of those hops particles that will eventually turn into sediment in the bottom of your bottle.

The second option is to do a two-stage fermentation. The above picture is of a single-stage fermentation in a glass carboy, and all of those particles in the top will settle at the bottom of your carboy when as fermentation completes. Two-stage fermentation means you would ferment the beer in a bucket for the initial few days, when "blow off" is at it's height, and then transfer the beer to a carboy for the final stage of fermentation, filtering out most of the nasty bits.

The third and final option is to simply do both. When the beer is in the initial stage of fermentation, attach the fermentation hose to get rid of some of the nasty bits, and then transfer into the carboy and remove the hose. Very simple and will lead to a better tasting finished product.

Part One: An Introduction

There has been something of a revolution in food and drink in this country, perhaps spawned by the popularity of cooking shows where a red faced chef yells at some poor kid just out of cooking school that he didn't reduce a tomato based sauce enough. It is an age of the informed eater and drinker, where the consumer's palate is informed and put to the test.

Gourmet has become mainstream, even traditional American stalwarts such as the cheeseburger and beer have been replaced by local farm-raised beef hand-fed by a benevolent farmer topped with truffles and organic lettuce grown upside-down coupled with a micro-brew made from hops grown on the roof and malt extract imported from a former monastery in Bavaria.

This blog will be an exploration of that world, a hands-on expedition into the heart of Chicago's "gourmet casual" dining experience.