Category Archives: Craft Beer

Pubcast 215 – Metal Monkey Plus One Year

Brewery, Brown Ale, Craft Beer, Doppelbock, Russian Imperial Stout, Saison, Stout

Metal Monkey Brewing opened their doors on Jan 30, 2016 down in south suburban Romeoville.  Nearly one year on, head brewer Dan Camp and the rest of the Monkeys are getting ready to hold their 1-year Anniversary party.
We were here last for a podcast at the opening and since then Dan and crew have settled in and started to produce some really solid brews.
We discuss where they’ve been and where they are going, and hit a couple more topics like Shower Beer and what’s the best container for selling draft beer.  Plus we sample some of the Monkey beers we haven’t tasted before and of course pass opinions that are only our simple, personal views.

Beers we sampled:
Burninator Doppelbock, 7.5% ABV, 22 IBU – Batch #100
Glazen Boterham Saison / Farmhouse Ale, 4.2% ABV, 24 IBU
Up And Atom American Brown Ale, 4.8% ABV, 22 IBU
Chocolate War Zone W/ Raspberries American Stout, 6.2% ABV, 60 IBU
Asmodeus Stout – Russian Imperial Stout, 12% ABV, 60 IBU

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

Pubcast 214 – New Year, New Beers

Craft Beer, Porter, Quad, Russian Imperial Stout, Trappist Ale, Winter Ale

Our first show for 2017, and it’s out with some old beers and in with some new. Phil brings 3 local brews that are new (well at least 2 are), and Mark  shows up with a couple of older bottles he picked up in 2016.  We recorded this show at our local tavern, John’s in Winfield, so we could check out the new handheld digital recorder.

First up we have a classic Belgium Trappist beer, apparently fairly rare in the US. Then it’s back to Illinois for our next three, a robust porter from Algonquin’s Scorched Earth Brewery, and two barrel-aged first editions from Alter Brewing in Downer’s Grove, and Metal Monkey in Romeoville respectively.

We finish up with one of the most expensive beers we have tasted, a 2016 barrel-aged winter ale from Fremont Brewing.

They’re all good in their own way, and it’s a great start for the stout fellows’ 2017!

  • Brouwerij der St. Benedictusabdij de Achelse, Achel 8 Blond, Trappist Ale, 8%
  • Scorched Earth Brewing, Algonquin, IL – Rugged Coalminer, Robust Porter, 5.9%, 35 IBU
  • Alter Brewing, Downers Grove, IL – Elder Lord Farquad, red wine barrel-aged quad, 11%, 24 IBU
  • Metal Monkey, Romeoville, IL, Asmodeus, Bourbon barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout, 12%
  • Fremont Brewing, Seattle WA, Ancient One B-Bomb, 14%, 65 IBU

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

Pubcast 212 – ‘Tis the Season…

Baltic Porter, Barley Wine, Christmas Ale, Craft Beer, Doppelbock, Saison

As we head into the rush of the holiday season, the pubcast crew decided we should highlight some seasonal ales and winter warmers that we think would be good for experienced and new craft beer drinkers to try. It seems to be the spiced ales that come in for most of the attention, but we are trying to look at a couple of other brews that could be good alternatives to those heavy stouts we looked at last week.

This edition is what we consider our Brit and Yankee Christmas party, and joining Phil and Mark is friend of the pubcast and certified consumer,Tom Ryan, Chuck Fort, assistant brewer at Church Street, and as we are recording live at John’s Tavern in Winfield, publican and owner John Karwoski rounds out our trinity of tasters. It’s a seasonal six-pack and we chose our top 2 at the conclusion on our tasting session.

We sample the following beers for your consideration:
Church Street Brewing, Itasca IL – Pontificator, Doppelbock, 7.0%
Sam Smiths Yorkshire, England – Winter Warmer, 6.0%
Noon Whistle Brewing, Lombard IL – Bog Theory, Cranberry Mint Saison, 4.8%
Pipeworks Brewing, Chicago IL – Santa vs Unicorn, American Barley-wine Style Ale, 10%
Cahoots Brewing – AMeN!, Barrel-Aged Barleywine, 10.1%
Anchor Brewing Co., San Francisco CA – Christmas Ale 2016, 6.5%

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

Pubcast 211 – Stout Brews, Stout Fellas

Barrel Aged, Craft Beer, Imperial Stout, Milk Stout, Stout, Sweet Stout

As we missed a week for Thanksgiving, we are back with a bumper edition.

Heading into the dark winter days, we select 6 hearty stouts that we think are good selections for either go-to or treat beers from the dark side.  Joining Mark and Phil is Chuck Fort, assistant brewer from Church Street. As all the beers are great in their own right, we won’t be rating them, but instead we select our top 2, based solely on personal preference.  Chuck brings their Holy Cow! Milk Stout as our starter brew.

To break up the Stout session, we cleanse our palate with a short interview with Brandon Wright, head brewer at Plainfield’s Werk Force Brewing. He won a gold medal at FOBAB 2016 for his Beautifully Broken, in the Fruit Beer category, and we caught up with him to find out all about his win and the beer.

Here are the stouts we reviewed, plus the timings if you want to skip around:

2:41 Holy Cow! – Church Street Brewing, Itasca, IL – Milk Stout, 6%
13:51 Double Cream Stout – Bells Brewing, Kalamazoo, MI – Sweet Stout, 6.1%
21:40 Dark Truth – Boulevard Brewing, Kansas City, MO – Imperial Stout, 9.7%
32:34 Black Note – Bells Brewing, Kalamazoo, MI- Bourbon Barrel-aged Stout, 10.8%
51:41 Turbulence – Sketchbook Brewing – Imperial Stout, 9.7%
63:06 Ten Fidy – Oskar Blues, Longmont, CO – Imperial Stout, 10.5%
73:33 2016 Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout – Pollyanna Brewing, Lemont, CO – 10.5%

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