Within the past three months, East Dundee has become home to one of the newest breweries in Illinois, Black and Gray Brewing. Owners Chris and Theresa Kennedy, have given the north-western suburbs a little gem, as The Brit found out recently when he headed out to talk with Chris, aka ‘No Hair Chris’. Joining them was Chris’s brewing partner, Chris Contesso, aka “Long Hair Chris’.

The evening was sunny and warm, following a rather tempestuous band of weather that had swept across the area, and we decided it was too nice to be inside so we set up the mics on the beautiful outside patio. Despite a few passing cars, we found out about their story, and more importantly, we sampled the brews on offer.

Each one sampled was found to be classic, brewed correctly, and just plain delicious; how they achieved this on the small system they have lends testament to some brewing expertise that these guys possess. Chris and Chris talk to The Brit about why they brew the beers they do, their background, and what lies in the future for Black and Gray, plus The Brit gets a lesson in Revolutionary history.

We recommend a road trip out there, or maybe a bike ride on the Fox Valley bike trail. The downtown area has plenty of great restaurants to get food from, and then head over to enjoy it with a flight or a couple of pints from Black and Gray. Thumbs up!

Beers Sampled:

• Farmhouse, Cream Ale, 4.7% ABV 17 IBU
• Das Kolsch, Kölsch, 4.9% 25 IBU
• Zephyr, California Common,
• Minuteman, NEIPA, 6.6%

Full Tap list here.

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This is the final report from the Beer Under Glass festival that started the Craft Beer Week here in Chicago, and the sampling is taking it’s toll on The Brit! Despite that, the team manage to keep him pointing the mic in the direction of brewers, and in this edition we first head out to the further reaches of the park, and find Dan Rosenberg from MyGrain Brewing.  As always he brings beers to  sample that are based on the classics, and taste amazing.

We get attacked by our next interviewee, Sean Curry, one of the co-founders at Sketchbook, who are sharing a booth with Dan, so we have to head over there and find out about the expansion plans for them. Plus there’s a Mexican Lager on hand to sample.

Our final segment is back in the conservatory and at the Goose Island booth, where brewer Dan Floyd is kind enough to step back from his pouring duties and provide his views on their place in craft beer and talk about some of their classics.

We had a great time there, it’s a recommended festival for next year, where the Illinois Craft Brewer’s Guild can showcase some of their best and newest breweries. Drink Illinois!

Day 5, and the Garfield Conservatory and grounds are now packed with attendees, but we’re still finding the stars of Chicago brewing. Today we talk with Marc Wilson ahead of the Oswego Brewing first anniversary and we get a sneak peak of their anniversary brew, Daguerreotype, and a clean-shaven Cory Davidson from Miskatonic astounds everybody as they don’t recognize him.

Then it is over to Riverlands booth, and The Brit tries to chat with brewer and Tottenham supporter Dave Marck, but co-host Ken McMullen decides to give us both a lesson hazy IPA production!

And last in this edition, it’s a chat with David Files from Energy City, who are probably the most well-known of the Hazy IPA producers, and we talk about why that is, and The Brit tries one of their brews with a new adjunct, cardamon. By now it is really busy, so the crowd noise is ever-present!

Day 4 of our CCBW reports from the Beer Under Glass festival, and this time The Brit tracks down Wil Turner from Open Outcry, who brings a cream ale and a hazy IPA, and we find out he is a Hammers supporter, and about his English and European brewing roots. 

After that we pass the Noon Whistle booth and tap up brewer Paul Klein to check in on their expansion progress, and we sample a non-hazy member of their Hop Prism line, Ken tries the Fuzzy Smack, and Chuck has the regular IPA.

Last on this edition, we chat with Dan Camp from Metal Monkey, and for one of their beers they were randalling their flagship Asmodeus with cocoa nibs, chilli peppers and cinnamon sticks. Dan also reveals that their hazy IPA could have been called Jucifer, but Church Street pipped them at the beer name post!