“The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true”

It has been trending for at least two years — craft breweries are not just bottling, but canning their most popular brews. There are can-fans (even canned craft beer festivals) and of course, opposers. Beer’s fruity cousin, cider, is no exception.

Though Woodchuck Cider doesn’t quite fit into the “craft” category, it does have a nearly cult-following. Woodchuck President and CEO, Bret Williams, announced May 1 that their amber hard cider would now be available in cans.

The can craze has been met with mixed reviews by consumers across the alcoholic-beverage board. This particular topic has been bouncing around Chicago in particular as our local breweries expand to meet demand. There was quite the uproar after Goose Island started canning their 312 Urban Wheat Ale in March and now Two Brothers is canning their Outlaw IPA. Chicago Craft Beer Week is bringing this particular battle to light as both bottled and canned beverages are highlighted throughout the city.

It doesn’t matter where you stand on the bottle/can debate: we all know that a can makes for an entirely different drinking experience than a bottle. I suggest pouring it into a glass regardless of the vessel it comes in.

All Aleheads might not be ciderheads, but I think Woodchuck’s amber cider is really quite good. It’s nice in warm weather, especially when you don’t want something too heavy. It’s especially useful in social situations: for example, if you have friends who “don’t like beer” or, my personal favorite, “can’t drink beer,” cider of any kind is a great alternative so they won’t feel left out at your beer-nerd events (though, why do we invite them in the first place?). It’s also gluten-free for those people who unfortunately can’t digest gluten, or are just into that whole trend.

The idea for the Woodchuck cans apparently came from fan suggestions. Proof that they really do read your suggestions; or at least that they notice when hundreds of people suggest the same thing. According to the website, 12oz cans are available in 12 packs for $14.99 (SRP).

The announcement came in one of their “Woodchuck Hard Cider’s Cider Maker’s Corner” overly-produced promotional Youtube videos — #5 to be exact, which was uploaded and linked in a Tweet by the company on ‘May Day.’  Also according to the site, the can production process included installing a “Cask Canning Line System” and a “custom made 4,650 gallon Feldmeier Bright Beer Tank” in the Middlebury Cidery.

While the cans are the newest addition to the Woodchuck line, the bottles aren’t going anywhere, but they have changed. You might have noticed that brown bottles have replaced the green ones. Ironically, the brown bottles are “greener” than the green.

If you’ve never seen Woodchuck’s CEO, he’s exactly the kind of guy you would imagine having such a passion for cider. It’s worth watching the video just to see him sitting at his desk, flannel shirt, baseball cap and all, cracking open a can and taking a sip before exclaiming “Wow, that tastes good.”

So, is it better in the bottle or the can?
I’ll let you be the judges.

For once, sanity prevails.

During my recent trip to Portland (more on that in the coming weeks), something amazing happened in Alabama. I would be remiss in my duties as an Alabama Alehead if I didn’t let our readers know about the situation.

The day before I left for Oregon, the Gourmet Bottle Bill was on the Special Order Calendar in the Alabama House. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Free the Hops, the grassroots organization that is the heart and soul of the Alabama craft beer movement, the Gourmet Bottle Bill had passed the Alabama Senate and the House’s Economic Development and Tourism Committee. To get to the Governor’s desk, it just had to pass the House.

Of course, all Alabama craft beer fans know that “just passing the House” is far easier said than done. Just like their Federal counterparts, the Alabama House is a lot messier, more combative, and more batshit insane than the Senate. The folks who make up the Alabama House are “colorful” to say the least. Listening to a House session is the surest and easiest way to lose  your faith in democracy and/or your sanity. With that in mind, I knew it was going to be a bumpy ride. Still…I wasn’t prepared for what happened.

All along, the Free the Hops brain trust felt “fairly” confident that the bill, which didn’t even come up for a vote last year, would pass in 2012. They had good support, strong sponsors, and a track record of passing bills with no deleterious effects (the Gourmet Beer Bill in 2009 and the Brewery Modernization Act in 2011). But as soon as the Gourmet Bottle Bill  came up for a vote, things quickly fell apart.

The bill was presented by Rep. Mike Ball who noted that it was a fairly straightforward bill that simply raised the size of allowable beer containers from 16 ounces to 25.4 ounces…something that was already legal in close to a third of the counties in Alabama. After Ball spoke, all reason and common sense went out the window.

In past years, the irascible Alvin Holmes has been the bugaboo of Free the Hops, but this year, that honor fell to DuWayne Bridges. Here are Bridges’ totally logical arguments against the Bill:

1. Sometimes when people get pulled over, they argue that they’ve only had one beer. But now that “one beer” could be a really big beer!
2. People often feel obligated to finish their bottle of beer. That’s no big deal if it’s a 12-ounce bottle, but what if it’s a 22-ounce bottle and you still have 10 ounces left that you absolutely have to drink!
3. Buying a 22-ounce bottle of beer somehow means the purchaser will have bought more total beer than if they bought a six-pack of 12-ounce beers (math is not big in Alabama).
4. DuWayne Bridges made some mistakes as a young man involving alcohol and would like to prevent other folks from repeating said mistakes.
5. Since his trouble-filled younger days, DuWayne Bridges has found Jesus. And since beer is essentially the anti-Christ (Jesus turned water into wine after all, not barleywine), it is only moral for DuWayne Bridges to vote against any beer-promoting bill.

Sadly, Bridges arguments weren’t even quite as cogent as I’m making them out to be. But despite the fact that he sounded like an almost cartoonishly incompetent, nonsensical buffoon, it appeared on the surface as if he had swayed at least a few people. While the Bill received a majority of votes, it fell well short of the 3/5ths needed and failed. And that was the end of the 2012 Gourmet Bottle Bill…

…or was it?

After much teeth-gnashing and garment-rending (and angry Tweets from yours truly and other pro-craft Alabama Aleheads), the Free the Hops wunderkinds got back on the wagon. While noting that chances were very slim, they explained that it would be possible for the bill to get back on the docket the next day if they pulled the right strings. It seems that the Gourmet Bottle Bill had been caught up in some “political crossfire” (their words, not mine). This happens often in Alabama. If Legislator A angers Legislator B by voting against Legislator B’s bill, a situation arises whereby Legislator B and his or her supporters/cronies get “revenge” by voting en masse against Legislator A’s bill. It’s what politicians call “gamesmanship” and what normal human beings call “childish lunacy”.

Nevertheless, Free the Hops sincerely believed that the bill was killed over some backroom shenanigans…not because of the content of the bill itself. So they pushed, coaxed, and cajoled…and the bill popped up 10th on the next morning’s docket. That might sound great, but getting through 9 bills in the Alabama House takes approximately 17 months. There were meaningless, irrelevant speeches. There was endless housekeeping. There were amendments…after amendments…after amendments. And, oh, the filibusters. A housing bill forced a two-hour filibuster which stretched on and on and on. Finally, after a seemingly eternal discussion about veto overrides, the Gourmet Bottle Bill was back on the table. It was discussed for mere moments…and then quickly and easily passed.

After a few days of hemming and hawing, the Governor signed the bill on Wednesday, May 16th making the Gourmet Bottle Bill the law of the land. Alabama now joins the other 49 states in allowing the sale of 22-ounce and 750-ml beer bottles. Never have I sighed with such relief over the repeal of such a ridiculous restriction. It’s amazing being so ecstatic about being given the right to do something that I would be allowed to do if I lived ANYWHERE else in the country. Ah well, when you live in Alabama…you live in Alabama.

So hats off to Free the Hops for once again rising to the challenge and making the impossible possible. I can’t wait to legally purchase my first bomber in Birmingham (as soon as I get through the 20 or so “insurance” bombers I bought in Oregon). In 24 hours, Alabama’s Aleheads went from dejection to elation thanks to the good folks at FtH.

Before I wrap up, I’d like to remind everyone to purchase your tickets to this year’s Magic City Brewfest (June 1st and 2nd at Sloss Furnaces). It’s the best beer event in Birmingham and there will be a ton of great brews, bands and food. Look for Brother Barley there…I’ll be the guy wearing a shirt, pants and shoes (and possibly a watch).

Enjoy your big beers everyone! They’ll be on the shelves starting August 1st. Just make sure if you get pulled over that you remind the officer you only had one beer.

In the end, I often find myself looking at a beer I don’t fully understand, noting how much more expensive it is than the American-style brew from a brewery I know, and then putting it back on the shelf and buying the “better deal.”

So it was with heightened interest that I actually purchased and tried De Dolle Special Extra Export Stout the other day. Why did I do it? Well, the guy at the package store said “You should try this,” and then graciously allowed me to buy a single bottle, that’s why. And I don’t say no to that sort of thing. It’s part of my “accepting things from strangers” rules–if the thing is beer, then you always say “yes, yes, a thousand times yes.”

What do I expect? I have no idea. “Belgian stout” is such a nebulous pseudo-style that seems like it can taste anywhere from “stout” to “quadrupel” at will. And I am afraid of all the extra descriptors–were “extra” and “export” really needed after “special”? Anyway, on to the tasting.

De Dolle Special Extra Export Stout

NOTES: 330 ml bottle (METRIC SYSTEM RAAAAAGGGHHHH) poured into a tulip glass.

ABV: 9%, Belgian foreign export stout

APPEARANCE: Explosive carbonation fills the whole glass and then takes ages to dissipate. Extremely carbonated. Not sure if this is somehow my fault, but it takes a half hour to really pour the whole thing.

AROMA: Sour cherries and intense, vinous, sweet fruit aromas. Grape? Some archetypal Belgian funkiness on the back end, but mostly a fruit bomb. Smells kind of like a quad.

TASTE: After smelling it, I was afraid that this was going to be all fruit, but here it’s clear that this actually is a “stout.” There’s helpings of roast, and fruit and a low level of sour tang. There’s enough roastiness to keep it from being totally out-there, which I appreciate. There’s some booze, but it definitely doesn’t taste like 9% abv beer. These elements all work together in good harmony. Think like, chocolate-covered cherries.

MOUTHFEEL: Prickly carbonation. I don’t know what was going on with this bottle, carb-wise. I’ve experienced this with a few beers from Belgium. In this case though, it makes the mouthfeel lighter than a 9% beer would normally be, which is okay with me.

DRINKABILITY: Really quite high, for something so strong and with a good amount of residual sugar.

OVERALL: I am pleasantly surprised. It’s a very satisfying balance, especially as it warms. You’ve got equal elements of sour, roast and fruit working in harmony. It’s got it all. It’s almost like they just took a quadrupel (which I often find too sweet and cloying) and added a roasted element to dry it out just a tad. I give it a praise-worthy 3.5 hops.

I find cooking with beer to be one of the most morally vexing issues of our time. Sure, food is good; some may argue a necessity. Food that tastes good is better still… and adding beer makes everything better. Right?

And yet, I was raised to never waste beer- and I’m talking cheap swill of the sort you wouldn’t order for your worst enemy. Beers like Genny Cream and Milwaukee’s Best. During my formative years beer was regarded as a sacred beverage, and you always had to finish your beer. God forbid if you accidentally spilled a beer, you were duty-bound to drink an equal volume of the same in tribute. All-in-all, I think this outlook is good and worthwhile- we live in a wasteful society, and I despise the notion of drainpours… those beers brewed in such a way that they are rated to be not worthy of your consumption. Get over yourself, people. It’s just beer.

That’s why it’s so hard for me to dump a perfectly good beer into food I’m preparing. I like to cook- nothing fancy mind you. I like to grill meat. I like to cook breakfast. By far the favorite culinary weapon in my admittedly limited arsenal is the crockpot. It’s hard to mess things up; most recipes throw out suggested figures like “cook on low 4-6 hours” (I appreciate a large margin for error when cooking). You can throw a bunch of ingredients in the slowcooker before you leave for the day and come back to a home wafting delicious aromas, with no danger of burning your domicile to the ground. The meal can be kept fresh and hot for the whole family, despite staggered schedules and varying supper times.

That’s why I was excited to stumble across a crockpot recipe that is cheap, easy, hearty, and greatly improved by beer. Does my shriveled Alehead heart feel a pang when I added the fermented ingredient? Sure, a little, but it grows three sizes when I sample the final product.

What You’ll Need

3-Lbs Polish-style Kielbasa or preferred smoked meatish product, cut in 3″ pieces

6-pack of lightly-colored, hop-forward, economically-priced ale (Any Pale Ale or IPA  worthy of your fridge will do)

30-ounces canned or bagged sauerkraut

1 cup spicy mustard

What To Do

Put all the meat, sauerkraut, and mustard in the crockpot. Open and dump one of the beers into the crockpot. Turn to low, and cook for roughly 5 hours. Drink 1 beer every hour, as needed.

What You Get

A hearty, hoppy Bavarian concoction that works for family dinners, pot-luck parties, or tail-gate get-togethers. A plus- the leftovers kick ass.

Pro Tip

With the last couple leftover servings, chop up the meat and fry it with the remaining kraut in a pan with a little butter or bacon grease until brown. It looks like this:

Final Thought

So is this worthy of an Aleheads post? Not really, but I’m suffering from writers block and we haven’t put up any new content in about a week, and Brother Barley is sending the whole crew email composed solely of text-based emoticons with judgmental expressions.

So, I pose to you, Alehead Nation: do you like to cook with beer? What’s your favorite recipe? Easy, cheap, and meat-based preferred.

The “summer feeling” you’re looking forward to also means big money to brewers of yellow, fizzy beer. In a completely unscientific survey of beer commercials on cable TV, it turns out that they all had three features in common:

-They take place on a beach, a golf course, or at a cabin on a picturesque lake.

-The beer in question has been brewed for its “refreshing” character, which sometimes means adding a tablespoon of iced tea powder or artificial lime flavoring.

-There are attractive women wearing almost no clothing throughout the ad.

Does that formula sound familiar? It’s been polished by marketing agencies and breweries who have been seeking to perfectly distill summer into a glass (or an ad). They’re getting close, too; doesn’t the Michelob Ultra 19^th Hole Iced Tea Beer sound like fun? Warm, summery, delicious fun?

It doesn’t. And it certainly doesn’t taste that good either. So what do you do if you’re a craft beer fan and you still want a good summer beer? You want something refreshing, but not bland and preferably local, creative and new, too. Luckily, you don’t have to settle for anything but the best American craft beer for your refreshment needs this summer. For the following list of unique and delicious summer-perfect craft beers, I’ve raided German history for some unreal lager styles. They invented the stuff, and American craft beer makers have elevated the styles to new levels of deliciousness.

German Brewing Law #2,109,165: All Kölsch must be drunk while wearing a blue jacket.

Kölsch: There are few styles so technically weird and historically rich as Kölsch. It’s the name given to the top-fermenting light ales made in Cologne, Germany. Served in an unusual 200mL glasses called a ‘stange,’ you’re supposed to drink Kölsch quickly so that the draft doesn’t go stale. As far as taste goes, it’s incredibly lager-like, with a small hint of noble hops and delicate fruity sweetness. And while you can lager it, you don’t have to in order to get its clean flavor, which makes it a tempting recipe for novice homebrewers.

The best-rated American take is COAST Brewery’s 32/50, which nails the Kölsch’s signature balance between floral hops and lager smoothness. Goose Island also makes a Kölsch that might be a little easier to get your hands on, and just as refreshing.

Maibock: Even summer has its rainy, awful days, and the Maibock is just what it takes to get through them with a smile. It’s among the most amped up, hopped and malty of the bock styles, which are already pretty bold as far as lagers go. The classic American example of the Maibock is Rogue’s Dead Guy Ale. If that one’s too familiar, why not try High Point Brewery’s Ramstein Maibock? It skews towards the lighter and more refreshing side of the style, which could be nice if that thunderstorm clears up.

Keller beers. A beer named after the cool cellars that the style originated in, Kellerbier is an unfiltered lager with plenty of hop aroma, little carbonation, and lots of malty sweetness. It pairs surprisingly well with fresh spring air, especially when everything is in bloom. The Sam Adam’s Alpine Lager nails the style, and you should still be able to find it at your local beer store.

“Something else.”

Tea beer. Alright, enough laughing – not every tea beer is as unfortunate as Coors Light Iced T. The folks from Toronto’s Mill St. Brewery have been canning their Lemon Tea Beer for the past couple of years, and it’s… something else. This reviewer says it’s “a lot better than you might think.” The flavor is closer to Earl Grey than Nestea, but it’s a great summer sipper in any case.

By now, you’re probably salivating at the thought of cracking a delicious beer after some heavy-duty yard work. Soon enough, summer will be upon us, and now you’ve got a few ideas about what beers can match such an epic season.

Andrew is a Community Coordinator at Appliance Help, an online retailer for parts for refrigerators, and he can’t wait for his German pilsner to finish lagering in time for patio weather.

It all began harmlessly enough. A group of foolhardy compatriots gathering under starlight to sample a selection of fermented treasures. There were rich, redolent barleywines. Bracing, bitter IPAs. Strong, complex Imperial Stouts. There was no hint of the terror to come. No indication of the foul, remorseless beast…biding its time.

We talked of past glories and future plans and laughed loud into the night. At that moment, disarmed by the strong ales we had consumed and the convivial atmosphere, the beast chose the perfect moment to attack.

It stood alone on the countertop…a pallid, pink sentry. A gaunt, dead man with hollow, black eyes and a rumpled top-hat he clearly stole from a murdered hobo stared out from the bottle. His fist was raised in the air in a salute both desultory and mocking. Behind him, a matrix of leaves and swine. Everything about the object screamed “WARNING: DO NOT TOUCH”…but we paid those claxons no mind.

Three glasses were procured and the bottle was unsealed. A wisp of visible gas escaped from the top in the shape of a malevolent spirit. It winked at us once and then dissipated into nothingness. We did not take that as a good omen.

We poured the liquid of the damned into our snifters and then sat back for a moment, reeling. The second the beer escaped its livid, pink confines, the world changed. The pale, white moon transformed into a blood-red disc. Three comically oversized vultures circled overhead…staring at us with lifeless, crimson eyes. A skeletal old man in priestly vestments rolled by in a cart pulled by a headless donkey. He pointed at us with one desiccated, bony finger and cackled…a sound like razorwire being pulled through a urethra.

We chalked these events up to happenstance, naturally, and proceeded on our misguided errand. We held the glasses in our hands and breathed deep the tainted liquid’s aroma.

Reader, I am not ashamed to admit that I descended into madness for a moment. The fetid, execrable scent of the potable hit my olfactory bulb like the devil’s own warhammer. Spoiled, rotten scents of maggot-infested ham, thin, over-sweetened maple syrup, and the charred, still-smoking bones of the innocent wafted forth from the glass. The tortured denizens of the 9th circle of Hell would have considered the aroma to be cruel and unusual punishment.

Ah, but that odor was but a trifle compared to the taste. Ignoring all common sense and earthly reason, we sipped the oily flux. It ran roughshod across my tongue like the four horsemen of the apocalypse and tore through my innards like a rusty claymore. The taste was akin to being strapped to an ancient barber-surgeon’s table, having one’s mouth clamped open with iron vises, and allowing a gaoler to pour the liquified remains of long-dead pig fetuses, putrified breakfast table scraps, burning stinkweed, and the material manifestation of sin into one’s gullet.

The moment the hellfire entered our mouths, we were changed men. Even after escaping the initial descent into lunacy, we knew we would never recapture our innocence or sanity. Even now, days after the event, I see things…indescribable things. There are moments when I feel I am in a waking nightmare. My world fills with the lurid pink of the bottle…and the cold, dead eyes of the mocking stranger with the hobo-hat appear in my peripheral vision. They dance just out of my line of sight as I hear the corpse-priest’s endless cackle. This is my reality now.

Why, Rogue…why? Why have you foresaken all humanity and made a pact with evil incarnate? How could you produce an offering of such indescribably noxious qualities that it could make grown men want to tear out their own tongues?

The Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale should have never come to pass. My encounter with this unnatural creation has left me a scarred, empty shell of my former self. Never again will I have a moment of joy or contentment. Life has no meaning. The world grows cold…

…it was a not a good beer is what I’m saying. Please don’t buy it.

Reason the first for this year’s third rendition of CCBW: It’s a “week” lasting 11 days. Now that’s my kind of week! You know that when they’ve got so many cool events to cram into a beer festival that 7 days isn’t enough, you’re probably looking at a surplus of opportunities to drink good beer.

As such, with more events being added to the master list daily, you need someone to wade through the big ‘ole list and cherry-pick the absolute coolest of the cool events. That man-boy is ME. So here we go, the coolest events of Chicago Craft Beer Week 2012, arranged in chronological order. Click on each venue in bold to go straight to the event page.

Thursday, May 17

Beer Under Glass: This one I’m including just because of its importance, but don’t plan on attending–it’s already sold out. For those who are not Chicago natives and don’t know, this is sort of the popular, yuppie-ish kickoff event of CCBW. If this a political campaign, it would be the “inaugural ball.” Folks sipping on local craft beer and sampling tapas and small plates from area restaurants at Garfield Park Conservatory. The kind of thing that I’m sure is a lovely time, but good luck getting tickets.

Bigby’s Pour House, “Craft Beer Week Kickoff Festival”: I am not going to ignore the suburbs in this post, let it be known. I’m here to highlight any opportunity to try good Chicago brews, and that should be pretty easy to do on the cheap at this western suburb bar, which is offering HALF OFF ALL TAPS (their emphasis) for the night. That’s enough to sell me! And with Yelp reviews like this, it doesn’t look like the need my help anyway. But mostly I included this one because unlike Beer Under Glass, it’s not going to be sold out.

Friday, May 18

Half Acre “Not at Brewery Party”: I love the name of this event. Guess where it is? It’s not at the brewery! Where is it? Nobody knows yet! But because Half Acre, perhaps my favorite Chicago brewery, is throwing it, I’m quite sure that it will be awesome. I will be very curious to see where this party will be hosted and what the theme of sorts will be.

The Bavarian Lodge, “Solemn Oath Brewery Launch Party”: Solemn Oath is a very intriguing new brewery based in the southwest suburb of Naperville, and information about them and their beers has been scarce. Partnering with The Bavarian Lodge, which is one of the very best beer bar/restaurants anywhere in the Chicago area, they will be pouring some of their first-ever beers for public consumption, in “American, Belgo-American, traditional wood-aged, and experimental styles.”

Saturday, May 19

Bridgeport Art Center, “Mash Tun Festival”: Several great events this afternoon, but the one that I’m most interested in is this beer festival run by perhaps my favorite Chicago beer bar, Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar, in celebration of the first issue of their new Chicago beer publication, Mash Tun: A Craft Beer Journal. The $40 ticket gets you “unlimited pours of flagship beers, 4 tickets for rare and specialty brews, a Maria’s tasting glass, a copy of the Mash Tun Journal as well as some snacks. Food trucks will be attending and vending.” To this, I say “YES,” because that is how you do beer-festing. I’m more interesting in something like this than the similar Craft Day Afternoon happening this afternoon, which is charging $60 and hasn’t announced any of what may be available. Announced breweries for the Mash Tun Festival include “Half Acre, Three Floyds, St. Feuillien, Dogfish Head, Stone, Founders, Lagunitas, 5 Rabbit, La Trappe, Pipeworks, Great Lakes and others.” So yeah, good hands, folks.

Haymarket Pub & Brewery, “Beerfly Alleyfight”: This is quickly becoming one of the signature events of CCBW as well. Essentially, this is the other side of the coin from the Mash Tun Festival—where that previous fest focuses on opportunities to try many different beers, this event focuses on the thought going into each selection. In this competition, a single homebrew is paired with a food dish, which is then paired with a piece of local art. Attendees vote to determine an overall winner. The location at Haymarket Pub & Brewery is a definite reason to consider attending.

Sunday, May 20

Farmhouse Tavern, “Macho Man 3Floyds Jolly Pumpkin”: Forget “best event of CCBW,” I am ready to preemptively award this idea BEST BEER EVENT OF ALL TIME. Quoting the site: “Last year on May 20th we lost a pillar of American Pop Culture, Randall Mario “Randy” Poffo also known as “The Macho Man” Randy Savage. There will be a minute of silence to honor “The Macho Man” followed by an “OOOOOHHHH YEAAAHHHHH!” that will shake the ground of River North! Video of his best moments will be looped on the Tele, and a complimentary SLIM JIM will be handed out to every guest and after the moment of Silence.”

Oh. My. God. Also, this event boasts 16 drafts from 3 Floyds and 10 drafts from Jolly Pumpkin. How do you beat this? The answer is that “you do not,” any more than other wrestler could best Randy Savage. Because HISTORY BECKONS THE MACHO MAN, OH YEAHHHHHHHHH!

I WANT HOGAN! IN THE STEEL CAGE AT SUMMERSLAM, OHHH YEAHH!!

Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar, “Discovering The Flavors of Beer”: There are so many opportunities not only to drink during CCBW, but to learn. At this event you’ll have an opportunity to sit down and speak with Dave Kahle, one of only four Master Cicerones on the planet Earth. Seriously, when else would you get these opportunities?

Monday, May 21

Fountainhead, “Perennial Artisan Ales and Half Acre Night”: Fountainhead is another one of the city’s very best beer bars, but I often feel like it isn’t known by quite as many people. It’s also notable for its intense whiskey focus and delectable “whiskey flights,” for people interested in that sort of thing. This event brings back former Half Acre brewer Phil Wymore, a very friendly and sociable guy who I met and interviewed when I visited his new St. Louis brewery, Perennial, on the day of their soft opening last fall. Come check out his new beers and a special collaboration with his former employer.

I’ve always loved the Fountainhead logo.

Tuesday, May 22

Fountainhead, “Local Cask Night”: We return to Fountainhead again for an event focused on cask-conditioned real ale! Described by the bar as their signature CCBW event, they describe it thusly: “We get casks from all our favorite local breweries & we line up across the bar. You order your beer & we pour it directly from the cask.” Sounds great, if you’re a passionate cask beer fan.

The Green Lady, “South of 80: A Celebration of Downstate Brewers”: I live south of I-80, in what is automatically referred to as “downstate” Illinois, so it is cool to see an entire event focused on spotlighting brewers who are situated south of Chicago proper. “Save the Craft” organizers, Guys Drinking Beer put this event together, and I commend them for taking some downstate beer up to Chicago for the event. Chicago drinkers, this could be a good chance to try quite a lot of stuff you’ve never even heard of before.

Wednesday, May 23

Acre, “Faux BAB”: This mini-festival is a play on words reference to the yearly Festival of Barrel-Aged Beers (FOBAB) put on by Illinois Craft Brewers Guild. Not too much to tell here, but it’s a pretty cool-looking, upscale bar (suitable for fedora-wear) and it will boast a good lineup of barrel-aged rarities from breweries like Goose Island, Lost Abbey, Jolly Pumpkin and Great Divide, for 25 barrel-aged offerings in all.

Thursday, May 24

“Division Street IPA Crawl”: Here’s a chance to visit three cool bars (Jerry’s Sandwiches, SmallBar Division, Bangers & Lace) located within half a mile of each other that will each be tapping local IPAs. By this time in the week you could probably use a walk. Or a stumble.

Timberlanes Bowling Alley: “Bowling with the Brewers”: Another premise that seriously, when else would you get to do this? CCBW has rented out all eight lanes of this small bowling alley for a night-ending bowl party from 10 p.m. onward. Go have fun and bowl with other beer geeks and whichever local brewers show up to close out the night. You know that some good craft beer will probably show up with them.

Friday, May 25

Revolution Brewing Kedzie Production Facility, “Grand Opening Party”: The grand opening party of the official production facility of former brewpub Revolution Brewing is officially the “closing party” of Chicago Craft Beer Week, even though events continue for two more days (why, I don’t know). It’s sure to be a good time, if last year’s closing party at the Revolution brewpub on Milwaukee Ave. was any indication. This will be the first time for most Chicago beer geeks to get a peek at the new facility that will be producing fantastic Revolution beers on a mass scale. I for one can’t wait to get cans of Anti-Hero IPA. This event is sold-out already, unsurprisingly, but check out the craaaazy list of 28 Revolution beers on tap.

Saturday, May 26

Whole Foods Market Lincoln Park, “CCBW Beer Brunch”: There is a similar event going on this morning over at Haymarket, but I choose to specialize this one because it features the beer/food pairings of a guy called Chef Won Kim, who I’ve been hearing more and more about lately. He seems to have a lot of connections to some of the area’s smaller brewers and homebrew collectives, and this seems like a very good opportunity to learn about some of the area’s most nano of nanobrewers.

ALL WEEK LONG

A few of these events will be happening on a daily basis, and I want to recognize them as well.

Maple Tree Inn, “A Little Slice of Heaven”: This goofy-looking, walrus-themed restaurant in the far south suburbs has a pretty darn impressive list of craft beer accolades. All throughout the week it is hosting its “A Little Slice of Heaven” event, showcasing barrel-aged beers, particularly those aged in Heaven Hill barrels. This includes many of the different Goose Island Bourbon County Stout variants, including BCS Coffee, BCS Vanilla, BCS Bramble Rye and others. And while I don’t choose to drink the Anheuser-owned Goose Island myself, they include so many other beers during the event like Founders KBS and Firestone Walker that I can’t resist letting people know about this event. Keep on rockin’, you walrus weirdos.

I’m so confused. Also, he’s clearly drinking wine.

Nellcote, “Lambic and Pizza Pairing of the Day”: Sure, a few of the lambics in the pairings are fruity Lindeman’s offerings, but there’s a few others as well. And props for the weirdness inherent in deciding to pair lambics and pizzas.

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As you can no doubt see, there are a dizzying array of possible events to attend. These are only the ones that capture my own imagination, when it comes to craft beer appreciation. I would encourage you to continue checking the Chicago Craft Beer Week master list of events for any that are added at the last minute and decide which of them appeal to your own interest in beer.

Regardless of what you choose, however, that ultimate takeaway can be nothing but the realization of what a golden age the Chicago craft beer scene is now entering. If you’re a beer fan in the city, you should feel privileged to live here at a time when you can enjoy such a grand array of choices. I hope to see you out there during Chicago Craft Beer Week, enjoying the opportunities!

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From: Ripped Van Drinkale
To: Everyone

*Partially, anyway.

Because I interviewed these two simultaneously over the phone, I’ve condensed all of their dialogue into one amorphous mass that I have dubbed “Arcade Brewery.” They didn’t seem to mind.

Kid Carboy Jr.: Obvious questions first–how did you guys meet one another and decide you wanted to open a brewery?

Arcade Brewery: Well, four or five years ago, I was in an experimental noise punk band called Careful.* We were looking for a keyboardist and my friend brought Chris to me. I was also homebrewing and running this community-based art project. As part of that, I created a project called Public Brewery, and we would invite people to homebrew sessions, or convert a gallery into a public brewery; people could come in and work with me collaboratively to create beers together that would then be served at the end of the art show.

We wanted to do something like that concept on a bigger scale. People are really getting into this idea of being able to participate in beer production, so we thought ”maybe we can involve crowdsourcing in the creation of labels or even recipes.”

*This is Lance, if you care.

Carboy: Why did you choose to use Kickstarter, and just how necessary is the funding you’re raising here? What other kind of funding do you have?

Arcade: It’s definitely going to be very useful. *laughs*  And we’re going to be giving a lot back to the people who are donating. It’s really a way for us to get our names out there. The $30,000 we’re trying to raise, that isn’t a necessity for us to get the business started, but it will get us started sooner than we could have otherwise.

It’s also important to note that we’re using this fundraising not just to get the brewery open but also to develop the website to the point where we can do all of the community-based stuff that we have always planned to do. This cash will be paying off all the little fees and helping to keep us afloat until we’re actually legal and licensed.

Once operational, the business will be an alternating proprietorship. We’ll be using New Chicago’s brewing equipment when they’re not using it, but we’re also purchasing our own fermenters and bright tanks to keep that aspect separate. And we’ll be using their bottling line.

Carboy: How confident are you in the Kickstarter’s success? Do you have any realistic expectation of someone investing in one of the really expensive tiers, like the $7,500 reward or the $10,000 reward?

Arcade: I’m extremely confident in it. It’s done really well so far. We would be thrilled if someone would come in on one of those tiers, but either way it’s caught the attention of some other investors already. Currently we’re on track to meet or exceed our goal of $30,000.

Carboy: Your starting of lineup of beers is pretty balanced: An IPA, a honey ale, an oat-milk stout and a kolsch means a little something for everyone, pretty much. What other styles of beers will you explore in your seasonal and limited releases?

Arcade: I think we both prefer sessionable, drinkable beers for the most part. We’re probably going to be making those types of brews to begin with and then develop more complexity as we develop our brand. But I think a lot of our beers tend to be very sessionable. We’re not really that into a lot of super heavy or alcoholic beers. It’s just something I think we’ve found we’ve gotten a little tired of.  We want to concentrate on big flavors and drinkability, not alcohol content.

Carboy: So how will the actual crowdsourcing aspect for ideas and recipes work, then?

Arcade Brewery “Grapefruit IPA.”

Arcade: This will all be based around the website. Right now we’re in beta. As we develop this with our tech people we’re going to have a much more sophisticated system than just the forums that are in place now. And it’s certainly not something simple and random like “throw us your recipes.” People have been confused about this, and some people even seem think we’re going to let customers brew the beer! We’ll have a system on the website that will make it much more easily understood.

Essentially, though, we would lay out templates for what we want for the seasonal beer and then have people submit suggestions for certain elements, like adjuncts, other ingredients, etc. So like, we could say “We’re going to make a pumpkin ale in the fall,” and then perhaps canvass for opinions on spices or specialty malts. We feel that we can have at least four beers like that per year once we’re up and running. And obviously it will work far in advance; we’ll be accepting submissions and opinions for a fall beer in early summer.

We’ll also be adding more features to the user accounts over time, including fully editable profiles. They’ll be able to tie their profiles to the Arcade beers that they’re drinking and the ones they’ve helped give opinions on creating.

We also want to post videos and how-to’s on how we’re brewing a lot of our beers step-by-step so people can see their contributions in action.

Carboy: Another project of yours are the “Six-Pack Stories,” where each of the beers in the six-pack has a panel of an original comic. Which beers will be released as Six-Pack Stories, and how big will the batch sizes be?

Arcade: Each one will be a special release beer. And you can actually have multiple panels on each beer label. Each bottle in the six-pack will be different, with the full six-pack telling a self-contained story. The stories won’t carry over to multiple six-packs–as far as contacting these comic artists to do the work, spreading it over multiple six-packs would be really difficult.

As for batch sizes, we’re still working on that as to whether we’re going to hold off on those beers until we can work with New Chicago’s larger 20-barrel system. Chances are with those six-packs, we’d be doing at least 20 barrels for each series release, at a minimum.

We haven’t decided on any beer styles for Six-Pack Stories releases, because the comics story and the artwork will inspire us in the creation of the beer itself.

Carboy: So is everything you make going to be in six-pack format then, or will there be special release bombers as well?

Arcade: Everything is in six-pack format.

Carboy: Not to play devil’s advocate, but wouldn’t cans really allow you the maximum amount of art space for comics on beers?

Arcade: You know, I’ve just never been a personal fan of beer in cans, despite their popularity today. So despite the artwork maybe lending itself to cans, I just prefer it in a bottle. It’s a taste thing, I suppose.

Carboy: What do you think of a brewery like Half Acre then, putting all their regular releases in 16 oz. cans?

Arcade: I think they pull it off really well, but I still don’t prefer beer from cans. Plus, we just like how the Six-Pack stories will look on our bottles.

By the way, we’re also going to use those bottles to do these bottle caps that double as game tokens. You’ll be able to go to certain places around the city that will have Arcade swag and turn certain amounts of bottle caps for Arcade merchandise.* Supplies will be limited, of course.

*I would do this.

Carboy: How much more expensive are Six-Pack Stories releases going to be than year-rounders and seasonals? You just don’t see a lot of “special releases” in six-pack format.

Arcade: We really don’t want to price ourselves out of the game. So we’re currently thinking it will be around $12.99 for the Six-Pack Stories releases.*

*For special, limited-release beers, I personally think this is quite reasonable, especially compared to paying $10 for a bomber.

Carboy: Finally, when is the current ETA for getting things open and getting Arcade Brewery beer on the streets?

Arcade: Right now what we do is largely dependent on the progress of New Chicago as well, but things are moving along. I’m going to say that January/Feb. 2013 is the current conservative estimate.

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I want to thank Lance and Chris for reaching out to me and for sharing information about their project with us here at Aleheads. I look forward to actually getting to taste some of the brews that they’ve designed, and if I’m able to score a private tasting in the city at some point, I will report back here. Until then, go check out the Arcade Brewing kickstarter, Facebook, website and related etcetera.

One of the key points in these screeds has always been the idea that freeing up the market for craft beer will create economic growth. Naysayers could argue that even the “freest” beer market simply wouldn’t have much of an impact on a local economy. Well, to those who say “nay”, I simply say this: Asheville, North Carolina.

Today, Oskar Blues became the third (!) major regional brewery to announce expansion into the Western half of the Tarheel State.*

*Soon to change their name to the Alehead State.

Earlier this year, we saw Sierra Nevada and New Belgium announce their intentions to open East Coast HQs in Mills River, NC and the River Arts district of Asheville, NC respectively. Now Oskar Blues has selected a location in Brevard, NC…just 15 miles from the new Sierra plant and 30 miles from the New Belgium facility.

Imagine…just a few months ago, Asheville was a sleepy (albeit awesome) little mountain town with about a dozen great, but tiny breweries nearby.*

*OK…Highland Brewing isn’t exactly tiny at 30K BBLs per year, but compared to the new whales in town, it’s still just a minnow. A delicious minnow though. Love that Tasgall Ale.

Now, they’ve got the 2nd, 3rd, and 29th largest craft breweries in the US opening up shop nearby. If you’re an Alehead in Asheville (and based on what I saw during my visit there last Fall, EVERYONE is an Alehead there), you’ve got to be micturating on your carpet in excitement over this news.

Sure, there might be “some” anxiety from the smaller, local boys in town. But in truth, New Belgium, Sierra Nevada and Oskar Blues aren’t opening up plants in Asheville to drive away the local competition. No offense to Asheville…but there isn’t enough capital in town to make it worth their while. Instead, those three behemoths are coming to town so they can start saturating the East Coast. These new HQs will allow them to produce more beer of course, but they’ll also greatly reduce their carbon footprints by minimizing transportation costs. So while there will certainly be a bit of impact on the Asheville beer market, this is mostly about getting their wares into the hands of Aleheads in the Southeast and, most importantly, in the megalopolis that is the Route 95 corridor.*

*It’s been said by many industry experts that the Southeast will be THE growth market in craft over the next few years. It’s still wide open relative to the other parts of the country, and I can absolutely vouch for the tremendous thirst that Southerners have for craft beer. Actually, we’re thirsty for pretty much anything. It’s hot down here.

The biggest impact for Asheville will have nothing to do with beer though. Having three large-scale manufacturing companies come to town means more jobs, more income, and more tax revenue. If you’re a politician in America in 2012, those three things should be music to your ears. The creation of East Coast HQs for Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, and Oskar Blues will create hundreds of jobs, bring in hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, and spin off untold amounts of tax revenue over the years. All of these benefits were created because forward-thinking North Carolina legislators realized that if they created a pro-craft environment, they would eventually reap the rewards.

So let that be a lesson to ALL local legislators out there. If you’re looking for an economic stimulus package for your local economy, look no further than craft beer. Make your region as friendly as possible for craft breweries. Eliminate the hurdles to opening a brewery or brewpub. Allow them to brew high-gravity beer and sell it in large-format vessels. Allow taprooms and on-site sales. Loosen up the three-tier system…hell, let the craft breweries self-distribute! Give smaller breweries tax breaks and larger breweries incentives to open up satellite HQs in  your area. Do WHATEVER it takes to encourage craft beer to grow in your region.

As North Carolina has proven…the rewards could be immense.