Day 2 of our CCBW reports, as co-host Ken McMullen joins me in that search and to help set the scene for a great festival. and in this one we hit Church Street Brewing with head brewer and friend of the show, TJ Bachorz. There’s a discussion on how to make hazy IPAs, which seems to be the biggest trend in beer right now. Jamie Albert from Will County stops by and joins our chat.

Then we find Brandon Wright from Werk Force Brewing, who was chatting with Frank Lassandrello from Motor Row Brewing. We find out that he brought a special “BUG’ beer which we definitely need to taste. We’re also searching for my other co-host, Chuck Fort, who is wandering the grounds somewhere, and we finally catch up with him at the Werk Force booth where we pass judgement on their ‘BUG’ beer, Umbrella Not Included. And finally, we talk with Frank over at the Motor Row booth and taste his Sour Batch IIPL.

It’s Chicago Craft Beer Week, and kicking off a week of celebrations of the art of brewing from the great city of Chicago and beyond, is the Beer Under Glass (BUG) festival held at the Garfield Park Conservatory. The Brit and Yankee podcast was there to grab interviews with many of your favorite brewers and we will be releasing a new one each day over the coming week.

First up, a man who has been a driving force for the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, and who was responsible for starting the BUG tradition, Pete Crowley from Haymarket Brewing. It was fascinating to chat with him, and also sample a couple of his brews, including one that he was keeping ‘under the table’, Claire’s Thirsty Ale. With a cameo appearance from Alex Lovingood of Brickstone Brewing, this is fun, beer and festivals! Cheers!

We’re taking a break from craft beer this episode, and focusing on a local, grass roots cider maker in St. Charles, IL. Many of you home-brewers will already know Ed Seaman’s Home Brew Store at the corner of Rt 64 and 3rd Street, which has undergone a transformation to a combination cidery and winery, home brew store, and tap room now called Broken Brix Home Brew Shop.

Joining The Brit, Phil Clark, is co-hosts Chuck Fort from Church Street, and all the way from Boise ID., Mark Naski. Ed is joined by his son, Mike Seaman who runs the taproom side of the business.

We sample the current three cider offerings from Ed, and bookend their offerings with a couple of bottles arbitrarily selected by The Brit. We taste and talk about cider, which is fast becoming the secondary offering in many brewery tap rooms as an alternative for those who don’t want the hops, or can’t have the hops for medical reasons.

And Ed also cracked open a classic farmhouse cider from France, just to show us that ciders can be as good as Belgian farmhouse beers!

So just bear in mind, that 2 Fools is NOT the only local creator of good ciders despite being on tap at many of our breweries, and we encourage you to head out and visit St. Charles and Broken Brix Tap Room.

Stick around for the bonus beer review!

Ciders Sampled:

• Aspall’s Dry English Cider
• Broken Brix, Social Cider
• Broken Brix, Scrumpy Cider
• Broken Brix, Barrel-aged Cider with Cherry
• Crispin Artisanal Reserve, The Saint
• Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouché Brut de Normandie, 2016

Bonus Beer Review:
Goldwater Brewing, Hundred Dollar Pilsner, 4.6%