Category Archives: Craft Beer

Pubcast 223 – Illinois vs Idaho

American Pale Ale, Blonde Ale, Craft Beer, Double IPA, Kolsch, Sour Ale

With March Madness behind us we thought it might be fun to match up a couple of breweries from two states beginning with the letter ‘I’ – Illinois and Idaho.  So with a complete arbitrary approach to balance and fairness we select Solemn Oath brewing to stand up against 2 Idaho breweries, Edge Brewing and Sockeye Brewing.  The Landlord stands by our Illinois brews, but will the all the taster’s agree? Chuck Fort, assistant brewer at Church Street, once again joins Mark and Phil for this episode, recorded at John’s Tavern in Winfield.

Phil has supplied the following from Solemn Oath:
Lü, Kölsch-style Ale, 4.7% ABV
Old Faithorn, American Pale Ale, 5.5% ABV
Funsponge, Belgo-American Blonde Ale, ABV: 4.8% IBU: 24


Mark has returned from his trip up to the North west and brought back the following:
Edge Brewing Co.
Odelay, Vienna Lager, 5.5% ABV, 23 IBU
Obligatory DIPA, 9.2% ABV, 88 IBU
Sockeye Brewing
Sour Puss, American Sour, 5.5% ABV, 6 IBU (why bother!)

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

Pubcast 222 – Empirical Brewery

Brewery, Craft Beer

Empirical Brewery is located in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago and produces scientifically named beers. We had an opportunity to head over to the brewery and sit down with owner Bill Hurley, and brewers Jacob Huston and Julia Davis, get a couple of flights and chat craft beer.

We talked the history of the brewery, cats’n’rats, grains and malts, SMaSH beers, barrel-aging, and the future plans of Empirical.  Get down there to try the draft offerings, both production and experimental, and then pick some beer to go!  Also many thanks to Steve  Milford, the taproom manager for keeping us all in line!

This interview was coupled with a musical event, a concert from Midwestern Lull who played tracks from their Farmhouse Sessions EP release, and thanks to them for their support to our podcast for setting up the date.  We include the track ‘Sunday Clouds’ midpoint in our episode. Check out the Railway Records stream for more good music!

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

Pubcast 221 – A Little Irish, A Little Illinois

American Brown Ale, Craft Beer, Golden Ale, IPA, Milk Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Pale Ale

We always know that the pub is a place where friends drop in for a chat and a pint, and in this episode we have a couple of friends drop by to sample some brews with us. Mark is away traveling out West, so I’ve brought in assistant brewer from Church Street Brewing, Chuck Fort to help me try a few Irish brews, and a few Illinois brews.
As we recorded this at John’s Tavern in Winfield, owner John K. joins us later, and then my physiotherapist Matt drops by after a hard day of therapy.

This show tries the latest Guinness variety pack, a left-over from St. Patrick’s Day when we couldn’t record due to Phil getting the flu.

And then back home to Illinois, we try 3 new brews from our local breweries and we figure out if they are worth spending your hard earned dollars on.

Guinness Brewmaster Collection Variety Pack:
Golden Ale, ABV 4.5%
Rye Pale Ale, ABV 5.0%
Milk Stout, ABV 5.0%

Illinois Brews:
Brickstone Brewery, Bourbonnais
Galaxy Down Under, IPA, ABV 6.5%

Werk Force Brewing, Plainfield
Axis: As Bold As Beer, American Brown Ale, ABV 5.9%

Cademon Brewing, Genoa
Second Wind, Oatmeal Stout with Toasted Coconut Flakes, ABV 7.4%

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Pubcast 220 – 3 Girls from Missouri

Barrel Aged, Craft Beer, Imperial Stout, Sour Ale, Wild Ale

This episode welcomes the original Cellarmaster and the ‘Yankee’ in Brit and Yankee, Lingo, back to the pub, and he’s lucky to be here when we have some special brews to taste and compare.  2nd Shift is a brewery out of St. Louis, MO., who our good friend Kevin from The Wine & Cheese Place in Ballwin, MO. introduced us to. We pop the tops of these 3 girls, and get Lingo acquainted with a new style.

Steve Crider is the brewmaster there, and produced a wonderful barrel-aged saison with brett, called Katy which is delicate brew that tastes like a wine.  He has also used the same recipe but with 2 bretts, and christened the result Grace.  Our final menage a trois of BA saisons is Annabelle, using a ‘funky’ brett and aging 8 months.

We compare these three ladies of Missouri and arbitrarily rate them to our preference.  No matter, they are all outstanding examples of this style, and we long for them to wend their way over the border into Illinois.  As you see from the pictures below, the cork in Grace was tough to remove!

So that Lingo ends up with a heavier style as he likes, we’ve managed to obtain a bottle of the original Abraxas from Perennial Artisan Ales, which none of us has actually had the pleasure of trying.  We break open the bottle and find out that all they say is true about this great Imperial Stout that regularly makes the top Stout lists that frequent the internet.

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