This week, on a snowy night in Bloomingdale IL, The Brit finally sat down with Katie and Kris Wolf to chat about the journey they undertook to open one of the best new brewpubs in the Chicago suburbs. We say ‘finally’ as our first attempt had the couple head down to the Brit and Yankee pub studio back in October of last year, but alas ‘technical difficulties’ prevented the recording from ever being released! And here’s some pix from that session…

Since then, it has been a whirlwind of activity for both of them as they prepared for a late 2018 opening.

Now things have settled down, they said come on down and let’s chat. We set up the mics in the brewpub ‘snug’, and talked about the work that was needed to rehab a 150 year old house, and turn it into a great place to brew beer, and to serve that beer in a friendly, themed setting with plenty of ambiance.

We talked to Kris about his background and beers, and of course we sampled some of his current brews on tap. It’s a great insight into a great place to come and hang out, so if you haven’t been there yet, you need to stop by!

Brews Sampled:

• Crimson Fog, NEIPA with boysenberry, 7.2% ABV
• Muddy Paws, Black IPA, 6.1% ABV
• Mighty Fang with Raspberry, Scotch Ale, 7.1% ABV
• Howliday Ale, Northern English Brown Ale with vanilla, hazelnut and spices, 5.5% ABV
•  Dance With The Devil, Stout with ancho chiles and cocoa nibs, 6% ABV

Play the show from our player or the Podbean player below, iTunes, or your favorite podcast app…then leave us a 5-star review for a shout out on the next show!

This is the first podcast of 2019, and we have a cavalcade of brewers and friends of the show, who were all at Skeleton Key Brewing for a cask real ale event. The Firkery crew comprises Hopvine brewer Ken McMullen, Ugly Trucking‘s Travis Beard, and craft beer nerd Kevin Herbst, and it is their mission to bring back cask ales, and they’ve got beer engines to distribute it from.

In this edition, we talk with some of the craft celebrities who were present, including my co-host and brewer at Church Street, Chuck Fort. And in order of appearance we have –

• Chuck Fort, Church Street, Itasca – who tells us where to point your bung when casking real ale
• Oliver Bulley, Dry City Brew Works, Wheaton – who has exciting news about the next Firkery event
• John Karwoski, ex-tavern owner and friend of the show – who just likes to drink good beer
• Bruce Dir, Tighthead Brewing, Mundelein – who has Boxcar Porter on tap tonight, and damn fine beer it is too
• Dan Burr and Matt Molitor, Scallywag Brewing, Downers Grove – who give us an update on how their new brewery is coming along and when to look for an opening date
• Mark Hedrick, Alter Brewing, Downers Grove – who really likes cask ale and has interesting ‘expansion’ news about Alter
• Don Hardy, breweriana collector and Big Guy for the Chicago Area Microbreweries FB group – who if you don’t join the group you should do, and if you don’t know Don you should. Thanks to him for supplying a few of the photos while The Brit was rushing around interviewing folks!
• AJ, Miskatonic Brewing, Darien – who happened to horn in on our chat with Mark, but was able to tell us about their cask offering
• Steve from Bradford – who is a regular at Skeleton Key, and am ex-pat Brit, so he should know real ale
• John Schopa, Skeleton Key Brewing, Woodridge – who tells us about their cask offering, plus a collaboration release now probably all gone as you read/listen to this, but the backstory is interesting
• Matt Lakota, 25 West Brewing, Bloomingdale – who provides an update on how they are doing and where they are going

And finally, the tables are turned on The Brit as the guys from Midwest Brew Review, interview him on the origin of the tap handles used for this Firkery event. They have a great video YouTube channel, so please head over and subscribe!

This week we have part 2 of our show reviewing Central Illinois brews, and as with last week, we have a distinguished panel comprising 2 brewers and 2 consumers. From Church Street Brewing we welcome FOBAB medal winning brewers TJ Bachorz and Chuck Fort, and from Hopvine, Ken McMullen. Then we have ex-tavern owner, John Karwoski, and last but certainly not least, is friend of the show and supplier of tonight’s brews, Deb Piscola.

We continue our trip and visit Savoy and Bloomington, and then take a detour to southern Illinois and Murphysboro.  Listen in and hear the panel’s thoughts on the brews, plus comments on why milkshake IPAs are good business, if it is a beer for the millenial generation, how The Brit can’t figure out the French word for cinnamon even though it is on the label of the bottle, and why the SIU Saluki dog isn’t a wimpy dog at all!

Our final segment sees the panel sampling the FOBAB medal winning Holy Moly! and hear about how it was produced from TJ and Chuck. Plus we round up which of the brews we enjoyed the most from our two shows.

Then The Brit actually heads over to Church Street in Itasca for the traditional Christmas toast with Anchor Steam’s 2018 Christmas Ale offering. This is the 44th year it has been produced so they should know what they are doing by now!

And finally, as we always do, we add on the Brit and Yankee’s rendition of The Night Before Christmas, just to get you all into the Christmas spirit. We’ll see you after our holiday break with more craft beer and brewery episodes. Happy Christmas and New Year to all our listeners! Cheers!

Brews Reviewed:

• Triptych Brewing, Savoy IL, Not Giants But Windmills, DDHIPA, Tangerine Vanilla Milkshake IPA, 6.4% ABV
• Lil Beaver Brewery, Cannelle a la Vanille, Imperial Stout with cinnamon and vanilla, 10% ABV
• Big Muddy Brewing, Murphysboro IL, Russian Imperial Stout, 11.5% ABV
• Anchor Brewing, Christmas Ale 2018
• Church Street Brewing, Holy Moly!, Barrel-aged Sweet Stout, 7.5% ABV

Play the show from our player or the Podbean player below…

This week we are back in the Brit and Yankee pub, and we have part 1 of a bumper show, which recorded so long we decided to break it up into 2 shows…that and it’s the holidays and the pub staff are swamped with revelers and holiday parties!

Joining The Brit for these two shows is a distinguished panel comprising 2 brewers and 2 consumers. From Church Street Brewing we welcome FOBAB medal winning brewers TJ Bachorz and Chuck Fort, plus Ken McMullen from Hopvine. Then we have ex-tavern owner, John Karwoski, and last but certainly not least is friend of the show and supplier of tonight’s brews, Deb Piscola.

Our theme for this edition is brews from some of the perhaps lessor-known Illinois breweries that can be found in the Bloomington and Champaign areas of the state, but we also slip in one from southern Illinois just as we had it in the pub fridge!

We are tasting brews from Georgetown, Savoy, Champaign, Bloomington, and finally Murphysboro and the samples run the gamut of styles. Listen in and here the panel’s thoughts on them, plus we get some technical information on the brewing side from TJ and Chuck. We try to figure out how one brewery uses wood in their fermentation process, the different ways to add coffee to beers, and why Sorachi Ace hops make a good food pairing beer.

Next week we will round out the trip with the other great Illinois beers, plus some Christmas cheer!

Brews Reviewed:

• Triptych Brewing, Savoy IL, Citra as Helles, DDH Lager, 4.9% ABV
• Big Thorn Farm & Brewery, Georgetown IL, Wood Thyme Tart, Gruit, 5.0% ABV
• Mad Coffee Porter, Porter, 8.0% ABV
• Blind Pig Brewery, Champaign IL, Blue Pils, Pilsener, 5.0% ABV
• Hattori Hanzo, APA, 5.25% ABV

Play the show from the Podbean player, or our player below…