musing

10 beers that changed the Chicago area

By guest blogger Steve Herberger

Stan hit on a thought provoking and fun look into modern brewing history with his “10 Beers that Changed America.” Some of us have different perspectives of the micro revolution, depending on where we experienced the new wonder of good beer. So Stan asked if I wanted to add my 10 Beers and opinions based on a midwest viewpoint, here are my thoughts, though I reserve the right to hedge based on failing memory over 23 years!

Please chime in, especially if you’re from the Midwest.

Spreacher cap1. Sprecher Amber (I believe was their start up brew) – the first Micro I remember hearing about in this area right around the time it opened in ’85. I can remember seeking out the brewery for a tour and purchases, parking in the lot of a closed factory close to where I*knew* the brewery was according to the map (pre-Internet and MapQuest), seeing a train blocking my route, crawling tentatively between 2 coupled cars and announcing, “There it is!” What a great tour and great beer – supplied by Randy Sprecher himself.

2. Goose Island Honkers Ale – from its first intro at 1800 Clybourn to distribution around the world. I was there too, when they opened in ’88 – what a grubby looking neighborhood the Clybourn corridor once used to be. Thanks to GI, it’s now one of the most busy retail areas in Chicago.

3. Bell’s Amber – because it’s their flagship brew and started a mini-revolution of local brewers who brewed for themselves and their customers, not what the market dictated.

4. Capital Garten Brau – the original Helles from Kirby, and what tha’ – lager from a micro?!

5. Alpha King – 3 Floyds. No matter other opinions, I personally think this started the “extreme” trend — at least in hop-bombing.

6. Gray’s Oatmeal Stout – A world class stout from a small micro that’s still going strong after 20 years or so.

7. Mad Hatter – New Holland Brewing, the start up brew from a brewery that continues to produce outstanding products. (A tie with Michigan Brewing who landed the Celis White rights and recipe).

8. Riverwest Stein Beer – Lakefront Brewing, a cross between the upstart Bell’s and Capital’s recognition of the local heritage. Not to mention the Klisch brothers small pilot brewery on Milwaukee’s Northeast side that grew into a larger micro that hasn’t lost its roots in home-brewing. I remember my first taste of the Steinbeer from a tap at the brewery – man, what nectar.

9. The Bitter End Pale Ale – Cask Conditioned/Real Ale from an American micro? In a small Chicago suburb, no less? You betch’a!

10. Goose Island Bourbon County Stout – I have to give the nod to this because it highlights the progression, evolution, and advancement of what’s becoming a world class brewery right in my own back yard.

Runners up – The previously mentioned August Schell Pilsner because its discovery got me interested in good beers that could come from small, regional breweries – in 1984 those were becoming near to extinct. And I’ll even nod to the New Glarus Belgian Red, if for no other reason than it beat its peers at their own game – can’t argue that, not to mention the success and other great beers from the Careys since 1993.

A toast with, and to, Liberty

Good morning and Happy Fourth of July.

I’m almost ready to begin lautering (you start brewing early in the morning on these hot summer days in New Mexico), so two quick suggestions for the holiday:

– Head on over to the Champagne of Blogs and read Our Second Sudsy Salute to America. Topical and regional.

– Drink a glass, or two, of Anchor Liberty Ale. Has there ever better a more appropriate name for a beer to drink today? Remember its place in history. This Cascade-accented beer was essential in setting us free of the U.S. beer monoculture.

To Liberty.

East Coast versus West Coast

Beer chessMissed this story about the difference between East Coast and West Coast beers, most notably IPAs, by Greg Kitsock when it first appeared in the Washington Post a couple of weeks ago.

When it comes to hoppy beers the differences aren’t just East-West. Try an IPA, or Imperial IPA, from the Northwest, then one from Southern California and you’ll find similarly diverse beers. (Last year the San Diego Tribune riffed on Garrett Oliver’s suggestion we make San Digeo Pale Ale an official beer style.)

These are differences we should embrace, rather than arguing if one version is better or that the brewers who make beer to a particular taste are more talented. (This article didn’t do that, just to be clear.)

Beer in wood: The old is new again

Is this your tongue?You already knew this, but this beer in wood thing isn’t exactly new. For centuries brewers fermented and conditioned their beer in wood because they had no alternative.

And some didn’t quit that long ago.

Wisconsin and Minnesota newspapers are carrying a story about the challenge the the Wisconsin Historical Society has in figuring out what to do with a couple of 100-barrel (3,100 gallons) casks donated by Stevens Point Brewery in Steven Point. Some were used until 1995.

Stevens Point Brewery had 28 “vats” in various sizes to get rid of when it switched from wood to steel. Some were converted into hot tubs or pizza ovens.

Dixie Brewing in New Orleans was still still aging some of its beer in 1912-vintage Cyprus wood tanks until Hurricane Katrina shut down the brewery in 2005. Dixie is rebuilding, but it seems unlikely the tanks will be used again. Dixie only phased out its wooden fermenters in 1987.

The photo at the top was taken in Bube’s Brewery in Mount Joy, Pa., in 1995 – before a microbrewery opened within the complex. I came across these wooden fermenters when I walked through an unmarked door in the basement. I’m not sure if you can visit this area these days. (Perhaps Lew Bryson can tell us).

Back to Wisconsin, where the story is about the challenge Joe Kapler, museum curator for the historical society, faced in finding a place to store two 9-foot-by-8-foot vats.

In the long run they will be displayed at the historical society in Madison in an exhibition on beer-making.

“You can talk until you’re blue in the face about the history of brewing in Wisconsin, and words and images are indispensable. But objects, in their intimacy, or their scale in this case, help people connect with things on a tactile level,” he said.

“Just having these two objects will go a long way in telling the story.”

Beer history. Preserve when you have a chance.

Trendspotting: Barrel-aged beers

Barrel-aged beer

It’s one line in a two-page spread – so the impact won’t be the same as if Oprah were to declare her love for IPAs (headlines across the the country scream, “Hops Sales Soar Through The Ozone Layer”) – but the current BusinessWeek reports on The Food and Wine Classic in Apsen, Colo., calling it a leading indicator of food trends.

And those trends would be?

“We’ll be hearing a lot more about Spanish and Greek wine, unusual pairings such as wine with chocolate, hand-cured meats, and barrel-aged beer.”

Before you get too excited, let’s consider how much more – oh, just for instance – Miller Chill there is out there for us to buy than there is barrel-aged beer. Give your favorite better beer store a call. I’ll wait. And they had? Maybe some Rodenbach Grand Cru if you’re lucky. Perhaps Jolly Pumpkin La Roja? Less likely.

The Angel’s Share from Lost Abbey? They had that and you didn’t hang up the phone and get immediately in the car? Shame on you.

So where are these beers going to come from?

You read about barrel-aged beers, but how often do you see them? There were 87 entries in the wood- and barrel-aged categories at the Great American Beer Festival, and some other wood-aged beers entries in other categories (Belgian sour beers in particular).

One of the medalists was Wooden Hell from Flossmoor Station in Illinois. That’s brewer Matt Van Wyk up above. The photo is courtesy of Todd Ashman, formerly of Flossmoor Station and now at Fifty Fifty Brewing in Truckee, Calif., who collected barrel shots from across the nation for a talk he gave last year at the National Hombrewers Conference. This one came from Flossmoor assistant brewer Andrew Mason.

You’ll notice his “barrel room” is on the small side. The city of Rio Rancho, N.M., will go through more Blue Moon White this weekend than those barrels would hold.

With four 60- and six 130-hectoliter foders New Belgium Brewing must have the largest wood capacity in the country. To the best of my knowledge, Lost Abbey Brewing in California is the next largest with 130 wine and spirits barrels, and many of those are waiting for beer. Brewery Tomme Arthur recently authored a delightful blog post about barrel filling season.

(A little background: Most wine barrels hold 225 liters, a little less than 60 gallons. A barrel of beer, the measure we use most often, equals 31 gallons. A barrel of beer will produce about 13.8 cases of 12-ounce bottles, or two kegs. A barrel of wine yields 25 cases of 750ml bottles – but of course that’s almost two barrels of beer.)

When Russian River Brewing’s production plant is up and running (yes, I need to write more about that) the barrel room will hold more than 325 wine barrels so RR could produce 560-plus beer barrels (31 gallons) a year. Given that some beers will age longer, keeping barrels filled takes times, and still other reasons, 400 to 500 barrels a year seems more likely. That’s half the production of your average brewpub – and we won’t see any of it until 2009.

So back to all those GABF entries. Brewers are interested. Heck, New Holland Brewing in Michigan has 50 wood barrels at work right now, and the barrel display at Upstream Brewing in Omaha will take your breath away.

The list goes on. Flossmoor is up to 12 barrels, Jolly Pumpkin continues to add barrels, Cambridge Brewing outside of Boston has a captivating barrel cellar. Maybe I should just post a bunch more barrel-room photos.

But we have still to go looking. Sprecher Brewing in Wisconsin sells (or sold, they may be gone) a wonderful Dopplebock aged in bourbon barrels, but produced only 389 of the one-liter bottles. New Holland just rolled out Moxie, a sour ale aged in wood and only 424 750ml bottles are available.

The same day that Lost Abbey released Cuvee de Tomme the brewery sold all 480 375ml bottles that will be available until the next bottling (in the fall). Obviously underpriced at $15 apiece.

Cheap by Aspen standards – and heaven forbid Oprah finds out about these barrel-aged beers.