Sometimes a brewery sneaks up on you, and their beers just wow the heck out of you!! That’s what happens in this week’s episode when we talk with Afterthought Brewing’s owner/brewer, Mike Thorpe. They have been producing beer for sometime, their first release being 6 years ago, and we have tried and enjoyed some of them obtained from bottle shops, but we had never been out to the taproom in Lombard.

OK – We’re sorry!!  So, this week we put that to rights and oh boy, if you like Belgian saisons and wild ales, then you’ll be in heaven out there! My co-host is Ken McMullen from Hopvine Brewing, and we enjoy a range of samples that are out of this world, including a Cantillon ‘calibration’ beer!

Mike talks about his process for producing these ales, the types of barrels he uses, and how the yeast contributes to the fermentation process and the flavor of the beers. Their main production brewery was inherited from another brewery (where we recorded a show way back in 2013!) and it is only 800 square feet, but they are producing amazingly ‘big’ beers from such a ‘small’ space!

Please note: the taproom was very echoey, so our recording reflects that somewhat…but we hope it won’t distract too much from the conversation!

Beers Sampled:

• Flowerfield #1 – Blend of Saison Meer: Lilac and Strange Wit (witbier with citrus, grains of paradise, and chamomile) aged in a Caledonia Spirits Barr Hill Gin barrel
• Extra Noble – Saison brewed with pilsner malt and rye alongside Noble hops
• Bière De Pieces #44 – Blend of blonde saisons including some with second-use cherries and raspberries plus a bit of Wedding Table and then aged in the Manic mead barrel that held Bière de Pieces #39
• 5 Years, 5 Barrels – A blend of saisons aged in (1) neutral oak, (2) a marionberry gin mead barrel, (3) a black currant mead barrel, (4) a whiskey barrel, and (5) a Chardonnay barrel, including a blend of oak-aged Afterthought Ale and Thelia that was re-fermented with marionberries and huckleberries

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We head out to the newest addition to the Chicago brewing scene, and the first in Carol Stream IL. A converted Subway store is now home to a nano-brewery called 206 Brewing, where we talk with owner, brewer, retired firefighter, Bill King. The brewpub had just opened for the day when we showed up, so you may get a little background noise, but hey, it’s all pub ambiance!

After many years in the fire service, and still active in the Central DuPage stroke unit, Bill decided to put his homebrew experience into a commercial venture, but keep it to a manageable size. 206 is a small location that presents a selection of their own beers, plus serves as an outlet for other local craft brewery offerings. He also wants it to be a craft beer location where First Responders and Veterans can come by for a chat and a brew!

We hear from Bill about why he wanted to embark on this project, what types of beers he likes to drink and how he speeds up his brewing schedule by using Kveik yeast. Plus, he tells us the story of the décor and his recipe for good biscuits and gravy!

This podcast will be published the day before their Grand Opening on March 18th, 2023, so you may want to head over there that weekend and check them out – tell them The Brit sent you!!

Beers Sampled:

• Honey Brown – American Brown Ale, 5.8% ABV
• Engine House Stout – Dry Irish Stout, 4.7% ABV
• Pseudo Lager – Vienna lager recipe using ale yeast, 5.3% ABV
• Mackinac APA v1 – American Pale Ale, 4.9% ABV

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This episode might seem late for last year’s Festival of Barrel Aged Beers (FOBAB), or perhaps too early for next year but…there were a number of FOBAB brews that needed drinking so we gathered a few chums at the Brit and Yankee Pub and had a tasting session!

On the distinguished panel are FOBAB volunteers Ken McMullen from Hopvine Brewing, Kevin Herbst, and John Bittermann, plus your host Phil ‘The Brit’ Clark. Then rounding everything out is someone who has had entries at FOBAB, co-owner of Art History Brewing, Tom Rau.

We find out why the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild relies heavily on volunteer help to ensure the festival is a success, plus how you can sign up and help out in the future. Plus of course the usual pub chat including how The Brit keeps his toenails under control, what steps are taken to control ‘over-served’ attendees, the rigors of emptying the ‘slop buckets’, and the pros and cons of the UIC venue. Tom Rau also provides his views from the brewer’s side and how the decisions are made of which beer and style to enter for any given year. And finally, each panelist tells us which of the beers they preferred…not the winner, as these are all winners!

Yes, it’s a longer episode but we hope that you enjoy the perspectives of some of the people who experience this great festival as volunteers, and perhaps you will volunteer for the 2023 event!! Cheers!

Link to ICBG Volunteer signup

Beers Sampled:

• Tin City Brewing – Paso Robles CA, Malus At the Palace – Dry Cider, ABV 11% – Best of Show 2020, Gold Medal – Cider Perry Mead Category
• Alter Brewing – Downers Grove IL, King’s Blood – Cherry-wheat aged in red wine barrels, ABV 5.5% – 2016 Silver Medal, Fruit Beer Category
• Destihl Brewing – Normal IL, Saint Dekkera Reserve Sour – Flanders Oud Bruin, ABV 7.2% – 2020 Gold Medal, Wild Beer Sours (Acidic)
• Off Color Brewing – Chicago IL, Beer for Burgers – Helles Bock Style Beer blended with Bourbon Barrel Aged Lager, ABV 7%
• Cruz Blanca Brewing, Chicago IL, Barbarosa – black and red raspberry ale aged in Heaven Hill bourbon and Cabernet red wine barrels – 2021 Gold Medal, Fruit Beer Category
• Wolf’s Ridge Brewing, Columbus OH, Dire Wolf – Armagnac – Imperial Stout aged in Armagnac Cognac barrel, ABV 10.8%

Play our audio podcasts using your favorite smartphone podcast app, or our player above. We have a direct link to iTunes and Spotify below…and lots of other links on the sidebar! Plus you can subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking this link.

   

Energy City Brewing was one of the early pioneer breweries in the Fox Valley area, and gained quite a following from craft beer drinkers. David Files, along with his wife Heidi, first opened in Batavia IL and sold their limited number of styles from a small location beside the Fox River, so small that people had to line up outside and they only opened one day a month for to-go sales. Six years later, things are very different with the expansion to a taproom, a wide range of beers with one they are particularly known for, and their customers can now get their beers through a wide range of distro channels.

We have long wanted to meet with David and find out more about him and ECB, so when an opportunity came up we jumped at it. The Brit’s co-host for this episode is Chuck Fort from Church Street Brewing, who has known David since their days in Urban Knaves of Grain, and now professionally as ECB brews their production runs at Church Street.

We find out about David’s background, the early days in the small river location and how they came to the current taproom, and of course we are sampling his beers. Their range of fruit ‘smoothie’ beers and pastry stouts have been big sellers, and The Brit challenges his tastebuds with a couple of these. What we do find out is that David and ECB are producing high quality beers, and being very successful at doing it. Oh, and he will tell us about his extra-long shuffleboard table that stands in the taproom! Cheers!

Beers Sampled:

• Westphalia Jump Start, Dortmunder lager with Saphir hops, ABV 6.5%
• N9nth Circle, Baltic Porter (collab with Church Street Brewing), ABV 9.5%
• Bistro Smoothie – Mango, Banana & Pineapple, Flavored Berliner-Weisse Style fruit beer, ABV 6.5%
• Bistro Grape PB&J, Flavored Berliner-Weisse Style fruit beer with Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly, ABV  8%
• Marmion Abbey Quadruple – Batch 2, Belgian Quadrupel, 11% ABV

Here’s out short video from the visit to the brewery…

Play our audio podcasts using your favorite smartphone podcast app, or our player above. We have a direct link to iTunes and Spotify below…and lots of other links on the sidebar! Plus you can subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking this link.