FoBAB list

So, The Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers is coming up this weekend at Goose Island Wriglyville. I hope you already have your tickets, because I'm pretty sure they are nearly sold out. Here is a list of what we are bringing.



Ol' Woody
100% Amarillo hopped American I.P.A. aged in a Woodford Reserve Barrel, and then further dry hopped with more Amarillo.

Wooden Hell
GABF 2006 Strong Barrel Aged Bronze, Woodford Reserve Barrel Aged Barleywine

Young Sarge
The base of our Imperial Mocha Java Stout, aged only 3 months in a Heaven Hill Barrel. This beer is named after my brother who has been in Iraq for over 18 months now. The final version of the beer will age for at least the same amount of time he spent over-seas. This version is "Young" Sarge.

De Zuidentrein Frambozenbier
GABF 2005 Bronze Fruit Beer, Belgian style brown ale aged in french oak and on fresh raspberries.

Ella's Reserve
Belgian Golden Strong aged in a Woodford Reserve Barrel.

Brown Heaven
Pullman Brown aged in Heaven Hill Barrel

Trainwreck of Flavor
Sheol Barleywine and Pullman Brown blended together and aged in a Woodford Reserve Barrel. A Todd Ashman throwback.

-10-
A special experiment designed for the brewery's 10th Anniversary this past Summer. Never served because it wasn't "done cookin'" Let's just call it an Old ale, shall we.

Remember to pace yourselves, it's going to be a big day.

Tap List 10/31/06 Happy Halloween

Harvest Ale
As an answer to all of those, "Where is your pumpkin beer?" we offer Harvest Ale this year. Dark to amber colored, spicy, and a touch of pumpkin. We should have this on until about Thanksgiving, so don't miss your chance to try it.

Replicale Saison (6.3% abv)
This year's installment of the Illinois Craft Brewer's Guild's Replicale project is a belgian-style farmhouse saison. Ours ended up very fruity and spicy from the saison yeast that we let go wild. Look for a pale to yellow beer that has a complex, tart, and refreshing flavor to it.

Terry's Fest Bier (Octoberfest) (6.5%abv)Terry Richardson, our recently departed fellow brewer from Gov'nrs Pub is the namesake for this year's batch of Octoberfest. Malty, a little bready, and a touch of noble German hops on the nose make for a very drinkable fall fixture. Raise your glass in Terry's name and drink to a great man.

Black Wolf Schwarz (5.5% abv)
Named after Jim Wolfer from Prairie Rock who let us borrow his lager yeast, Black Wolf is brewed in the style of a German Black Lager or Schwarzbier (black beer). It has a small amount of dark and roasted malts added to the grain bill to give it a distinct, yet not overpowering roasty aroma and taste. At 5.5% it is easy drinking and has a pleasant crisp lager finish. Try this black beer and be surprised by a different kind of one of those "dark beers."

Imperial Mocha Java Stout (9.3% abv)Summer is the perfect time for a huge stout that warms you up from the inside out. Well maybe not, but we have one anyway. Our Imperial Stout is loaded with dark roast espresso beans from The Great American Coffee Co. in Bourbonnais Il. We used bittersweet chocolate in the boil to add a certain creaminess, and loaded it up with alcohol. Because of the small batch size, and the fact that we will be barrel ageing a good portion of this brew, we will only be serving it in sinfters for $5 a glass.

Avante-Garde Biere de Garde (7% abv) [Getting Low!]
Avante Garde is a deep coppery red that begins with sweet malty aroma. Flavors of dark fruit are balanced against a toasted, bready malt body. This style is tradionally a Northern France/Belgian farmhouse style that was set down to age over the warm months. ("de Garde" means "To guard" or "store" similarly to "lagern" the German version of storing beer.) Avante Garde has a slightly musty cellar character with very little hop presense. But at 7% watch out for a beer that will warm you up a bit if you aren't careful. Look for ours served in a 12oz Goblet for $4.25

The Iron Horse Cometh

Iron Horse rides again! It's been about 18 months since it lost it's title of "house stout," but we have brought it back. For those of you who don't remember, Iron Horse is an Oatmeal Stout, that is bold, dark, and has just a touch of sweetness left in the body. Come out and see why it used to be on year round.

Life's little lessons-Reflections on the great American Beer Festival-part II

The last post wandered away from the GABF memoir towards our trip to Seattle last April, so I'd better start from there.

We finally made our Hajj to the great Mecca that is the Pacific NW. Thanks to the Brewer's Association planning the Craft Brewer's Conference and World Beer Cup in such a great beer destination, Andrew and I were off. Fresh off the previous fall's unbelievable(in our eyes) bronze medals at GABF 2005, we sent five beers to the World Beer Cup competition. Regardless of the outcome, we were in Seattle baby! Microbrew, coffee, and rain. Awesome!



During the Awards dinner I continued to pelt Andrew with the, "no expectations" , "no worries on a shut out" routine I go through every time so that I'm not too disappointed when we don't win. I'm certain that he is terribly sick of my routine which has now just become a nervous habit. Regardless, it feels twice as good to win a major brewing award after you've convinced yourself that you are going home empty handed.

Well, we didn't. First it was the Pullman Brown. Gold in the specialty category. The most award wining beer in our stable and possibly in Chicagoland(the jury is still out) finally took a Gold. As much mileage as that beer had traveled in ten years, it finally held the top spot. And it goes without saying that a gold at World Beer Cup just made those bronzes turn a shade more pale.

Next up was our crazy experiment, De Wilde Zuidentrein. We made a Flemish brown ale(sort of) and aged it in oak white wine barrels. We aged it on fresh raspberries. Later we put it in stainless vessels and aged it seperately on two strains of wild Belgian Yeast, Brettanomyces. Finally we blended that to our liking. Then, crazily, we stuck it in Belgian sour beer. You might have heard of some GREAT American beers in this category, La Folie, Cuvee de Tomme, Supplication et al, not to mention the great entries that would be coming straight out of Belgium. Plus, there were Belgian brewers in the judging pool. How could we win? Well, we didn't, but second place with one of my all time favorite beers, Rodenbach, above us and Dogfish Head right behind--good company. Remember lesson #3 about selling yourself short-don't do it.

Of course we were blown away and later I remembered a moment I would like to forget. It wasn't quite Tome Cruise on Oprah's couch, or even that Italian dude at the Oscars who climbed over the seat, but I did get excited. I'm back stage getting the actual award and I see Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione walking ahead of me. Great beer, Great brewer, Great guy, so I holler ahead my congratulations, he says thanks, and I look behind me to see the Rodenbach brewer/rep? accepting the award. I begin to babble on and on about how much I love Rodenbach and all the beers they make. He politely thanks me and gently says, "and who are you?" I wanted to shout wildly, I'm Matt from Flossmoor Station and I can't believe my little beer was judged second behind Rodenbach and ahead of so many other fantastic and inovative sour beers!-but I didn't. Lesson#5 Know when to shut up and smile.



A gold and a silver at my first World Beer Cup. And to think, I didn't enter in 2004 because I was trying to keep cost down. hmmmm.. costs WERE down, but I digress. Lesson# 6 You can't win if you don't play.

So, I've wandered quite far from GABF 2006, but I wanted to set a back drop and show you just what has happened in the short span of 12 months leading up to this year's GABF. Things just kept getting better and better. Likewise, sales at the pub continued to gain. Everyone was happy. We also tried hard to keep focusing on the beer and always making high quality beer at the pub. I felt the last thing you want to do is put all your energy into winning stuff and forget about who pays the bills. To me, it was important(and still is) to stay as humble as possible and remember it's all about the beer. Nothing else. I want to make that point clear. The stories I am recounting makes it sound like the focus is the awards. If you make beers that people like and also you like that are of the highest quality, the awards will take care of themself. Lesson#7 Stay focused on the important things.

Next post: It can't possibly get better...can it?

Life's little lessons:Reflections on the Great American Beer Festival-part I

(photo © Joe Preiser 2006)

Where to begin......well, Andrew has certainly given you a taste for what we saw, did, and felt last month in Denver. I know he slowly added updates not only because he works at several breweries and just moved into a new house, but mainly because it takes a while to fully reflect on what we have just accomplished. Likewise, I've been trying to put the weekend into words and just figure out how to capture it. So here goes(in three easy installments):

Almost six years ago I left a stable career as a science teacher(Andrew was actually one of my students, but that is for another post). I had great benefits, a decent pension after about age 55, and some time in the summers to work if I wanted and hang out if I didn't. Well, now I work year round, make less than I would as a teacher, and have to flood my own IRA account if I want anything to retire on. I don't make this point for you to feel sorry for me, but to let you know that despite that, I'm having the time of my life. I make beer for a living! Don't you wish you did too? I can't possibly imagine staying in a job you don't enjoy. Sidenote: I did enjoy teaching, I just had this opportunity for a career change and I never wanted to regret not trying something that I thought I could do well. Lesson #1: If you hate your job/career, leave and do what you love. Lesson #2: No regrets!

Anyway, throughout the six years that I was a teacher I was respected and appreciated by both those above and below me (I think-Andrew??), but never won an award, either nationally or internationally. Sure, a student here or there told me how much they like me, but so does Keith and Paul from the other side of the bar every day. The Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup are the largest and best beer competitions in the Country and world respectively. To get recognition from a panel of expert judges which include some of your peers is beyond explanation. I've watched renowned Brewers get decorated repeatedly and I even followed one here at Flossmoor Station, but never thought I was in that league. Lesson#3: Don't sell yourself short.

After getting shut out in my first GABF in 2004 I wondered if paying all that money for a little judging feedback (that was way too hard to read anyway) was worth it. But the next year I tried again and actually earned three bronze medals. Ah, the shameful bronze...or so the joke goes. I thought I had reached the top of the world. I had hit the top of my game! I was going places! I'm somebody!!! Lesson#4: When you put your foot on the gas, don't let off.

Next post: What could be better that winning THREE GABF medals?

t-shirts

Some of you have been asking me about the t-shirts I have mentioned. They unfortunatley won't be ready for this weekend but I'll show you the design anyway.

Front: Over the left breast



Back


(click for larger version.)

Denver: Day 4

I've waited a little bit to find out if reflecting back on the day would alter the way I tried to tell the story of winning it big. Certainly trying to explain things on the Saturday we won would be confusing. I had a nauseous feeling for hours afterward because it seemed very unreal. I had a lot of adrenaline to work out of my system. I don't know Matt's feelings on the issue, they very well may be different from mine, especially since his name is on the award, not mine, but not a lot seems that different now that a few weeks have gone by.

We've received some good recognition and some very kind words from other brewer's and fans from around the U.S. but you still go back to work like everyone else. Maybe Small Brewpub of the year will seem to have a bigger impact on things a year down the road or even farther out. This coming Saturday (October 21st) we will be having a big party at Flossmoor to celebrate. Music, food, $3 pints, maybe even t-shirts if they can get made in time. Hope to see you guys there, it should be a good time.

So here is the story of Day 4. The Awards.

It still seems like a blur so some of the details may have been changed to protect the innocent. Matt and his two college friends were watching quite a bit of College Game Day on ESPN because their Hawkeyes were playing #1 OSU that day and they were all hoping for an upset with Iowa coming out on top.

It's a nervous day. You wish all of your friends good luck. They pretty much all have beers in competition just like you do. A lot of them are probably up against your beers in the same categories. I had the categories list in front of me with the seven categories we had entered circled. 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 28, and 55. We struck out on 6, Coffee Flavored beer. Later when we got our judging notes back we found out that it went on to the 2nd round (or the medal round if it was a smaller category) but wasn't good enough for a medal. We actually found out that all of our beers except De Wilde Zeiudentrein, our World Beer Cup silver medal winning, belgian-style sour frambozen, went onto the next round. Fairly shocking. It's hard to have even one beer move onto medal consideration, let alone 6 of your 7 entries.

Well, when we didn't win with the Imperial Mocha Java Stout, I had kind of a crappy depressing feeling, because I thought that was one of our stronger, if not strongest entries of the seven. But when you have beers in nearly back to back to back to back to back categories you don't have too much time to think about it because before you know it, Pullman got called up for a silver in the specialty category.

It was really exciting. We had won a bronze the year previous at GABF for Pullman and won Gold at World Beer Cup with it as well. Another solid award for what has proved to be a very solid beer over the years. Next Jonathan Cutler won Gold in the Rye Category for Worryin' Ale, which he also won Gold for at the World Beer Cup. Go Piece!

Experimental we won Silver for Angry Mike's, which was double awesome because we sent our very last 6 bottles out for judging and it won. Then we beat out Sam Adam's Utopius which we also beat out at the Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers here in Chicago last year. So sorry Jim.

Nothing won in Wood and Barrel Aged beers, but winning bronze for Wooden Hell was very surprising. There are an incredible amount of strong barrel aged beers being produced in the US and to pick up even bronze in that category was a big honor.

And then we had a bit of a wait ahead of us. I couldn't stop grinning because we still had two beers left and had already done better than last year. A number of people had told me that the Schwarz was tasting good and that they were impressed with it, but I had no real idea that it would do as well as it did. Winning gold was mind blowing because 1) we get to make about 2 lagers a year at Flossmoor and that was one of them 2) the yeast we used was 3rd hand transferred around Chicagoland and 3) neither of us had ever made a schwarz before. I guess Matt has the Midas touch.

By this point, we were keeping track of who had won what. Pelican was picking up awards right and left, and big ones at that. We thought that if we had a chance of winning Small Brewpub it would have to be because they didn't do as well as we did. The Sour category came up empty for us, which was disappointing because it did so well at World Beer Cup, but 4 medals was not exactly anything to cry about. Pelican had an astounding three golds and two silvers by the end of the ceremony and had won small brewpub of the year last year, so we pretty much knew that we would just have to be happy with our gold, two silvers, and a bronze.

They announced Large Brewery, Mid-sized, and Small, and came to Large Brewpub. When they said that Pelican Pub had won Large Brewpub of the year Matt and I looked at each other dumbfounded. I thought that I had crapped my pants. We knew that no one else in our size had come close to Pelican, and unbeknownst to us, they had made over 1200bbls of beer and been stepped up to the large brewpub category. Without saying it, we both sat as Penny from Briess came up to the podium, and we knew that she was going to say Flossmoor. It was like if either of us said anything it wouldn't be true, we would have jinxed it somehow. But then that was it. We were small brewpub of the year. We received our awards, took pictures, and when we came down all of the Illinois brewers were there waiting for us. It was a really special moment, and one that I know I won't be forgetting anytime soon. I doubt that I will ever be up on that stage again accepting that award, so I feel incredibly fortunate.

Tap List 10/11/06

Replicale Saison (6.3% abv)

This year's installment of the Illinois Craft Brewer's Guild's Replicale project is a belgian-style farmhouse saison. Ours ended up very fruity and spicy from the saison yeast that we let go wild. Look for a pale to yellow beer that has a complex, tart, and refreshing flavor to it.

Terry's Fest Bier (Octoberfest) (6.5%abv)
Terry Richardson, our recently departed fellow brewer from Gov'nrs Pub is the namesake for this year's batch of Octoberfest. Malty, a little bready, and a touch of noble German hops on the nose make for a very drinkable fall fixture. Raise your glass in Terry's name and drink to a great man.

Black Wolf Schwarz (5.5% abv)
Named after Jim Wolfer from Prairie Rock who let us borrow his lager yeast, Black Wolf is brewed in the style of a German Black Lager or Schwarzbier (black beer). It has a small amount of dark and roasted malts added to the grain bill to give it a distinct, yet not overpowering roasty aroma and taste. At 5.5% it is easy drinking and has a pleasant crisp lager finish. Try this black beer and be surprised by a different kind of one of those "dark beers."

Imperial Mocha Java Stout (9.3% abv)
Summer is the perfect time for a huge stout that warms you up from the inside out. Well maybe not, but we have one anyway. Our Imperial Stout is loaded with dark roast espresso beans from The Great American Coffee Co. in Bourbonnais Il. We used bittersweet chocolate in the boil to add a certain creaminess, and loaded it up with alcohol. Because of the small batch size, and the fact that we will be barrel ageing a good portion of this brew, we will only be serving it in sinfters for $5 a glass.

Vishnu's Vice I.P.A. (8% a.b.v.)
It's been weeks since we had an I.P.A. on tap! Matt and I are both very sorry,...we swear. As penance, allow us to offer Vishnu's Vice. It's so good that not even The Great Preserver can resist. If he could drink four at a time he probably would. This I.P.A. is big at 8% a.b.v. and has enough body to stand up to the generous amounts of Amarillo, Simcoe, Cascade, and Summit hops. Enjoy it with a sample of our Anniversary Pale Ale and compare the different hops.

Avante-Garde Biere de Garde (7% abv)
Avante Garde is a deep coppery red that begins with sweet malty aroma. Flavors of dark fruit are balanced against a toasted, bready malt body. This style is tradionally a Northern France/Belgian farmhouse style that was set down to age over the warm months. ("de Garde" means "To guard" or "store" similarly to "lagern" the German version of storing beer.) Avante Garde has a slightly musty cellar character with very little hop presense. But at 7% watch out for a beer that will warm you up a bit if you aren't careful. Look for ours served in a 12oz Goblet for $4.25

Denver: Day 3

Day 3 was a day of brewpubs and awesome treatment. After our trip to Pete's Kitchen we hit the road to check out Boulder. Last year we checked out Mountain Sun in downtown Boulder. This year we opted to see their second brewpub, Southern Sun. But when we showed up in Southern Boulder, they weren't open for business yet.

So we cruised on over to Boulder Beer Co. which has been around for years.


We got a chance to have Hazed and Infused from the source. I also enjoyed their Mojo IPA made with Amarillo and Centennial hops. It reminded me of our X-IPA and was very nice. I had no idea that BBC was as large as they are. They have a 50bbl system with 100 and 200bbl fermenters and brite tanks.





By the time we finished out beers it was time to see if Southern Sun was rockin' and rollin' yet. Southern Sun turned out to be about the coolest thing we did the whole trip because we ended up getting the royal treatment from the staff.



When we sat down the GM asked us if we were brewers and we introduced ourselves. He told us all the beers were on him and told us we could try whatever we wanted on tap. They had a very large list of beers on tap.



The Hummingbird Ale was a type of Braggott (a type of mead or honey and malt based beverage) that was very tasty and ended up winning bronze in the specialty honey category. While we were sitting and enjoying the beers, the kitchen came out with a delicious quesadilla that was mistakenly ordered or something and was offered to us. We gladly accepted.



This was one of the owners, bussing glasses, cleaning, and generally hustling around during a busy lunch rush to make sure things still go smoothly. Cheers to that!

The late afternoon held the Alpha King Challenge at the Falling Rock. Last year Jeff Bagby won when he was still with Oggis' Pizza. This year he snagged 3rd and 2nd.


First this year was Washington's own Boundry Bay Imperial IPA. Finally someone won who isn't from California.

After that we had a little reception back at Wynkoop for hop selection from Brewer's Supply Group. They had different lots of their hops out for sampling for those of us that contract certain amounts of hops through them.



I dove in and sniffed a few different lots but all of that resin and alpha acid messed up my sinuses pretty bad. I had to recover with a few beers.

The night session was really busy at the fest and was announced as a sellout.




End of Day 3.

Coming soon: Day 4: Awards Ceremony

Denver: Day 2

Day 2 was a day of seeing things we haven't seen before on GABF trips. This year we opted to drive up through the Rockies to see the mountains and breathe the crisp high-altitude air. To start the day we ate at Pete's Kitchen, A Denver landmark since 1942.



Pete's was so good that we ate there not once, not twice, but three different mornings on this trip.
Off the the mountains. On the way to Rocky Mountain State Park we stopped at the spot that marks the Continental Divide. At that point water on the left flows to the Pacific, and water on the right flows to the Mississippi and Atlantic.




Us Midwesterners were so excited to see snow in September that Matt had to juggle. It's what he does when he gets excited.

P.S. You back country skiers need to be careful.




We made it to the National Park and drove up on Trail Ridge Road.





The mountains were a really nice change of pace from your typical rolling nothing of Illinois. When we got back from our mini roadtrip we hit up the first night of tasting at the fest and checked out RockBottom Denver's Rocktoberfest.



End Day 2

Denver: Day 1

So it turns out that if you win Small Brewpub of the year, when you come back, there is still the same amount of work to do around the brewery. I seem to remember this being the case last year when we won three bronze medals, but somewhere along the line I forgot about that point. AND, since I was busy with doing regular work, moving into a new apartment with the girlfriend, and catching up on work at Mickey Finn's nothing much has changed here on the blog. So without further ado, Denver Day 1.

The day of getting in usually entails getting settled into wherever you are staying, hitting up Wynkoop for the Brewer's Reception, and then making your way over to the mad house that is Falling Rock. This year was no exception.

However, this year after we got unloded at the place we were staying, the Chicago Fire were just about to kick off the final game of the U.S. Open Cup, in Chicago, at new Toyota Park, and I wasn't there to see it. Instead I went to the British Bulldog, a soccerish pub in Denver and watched the Fire destory the L.A. Galaxy 3-1 to capture our 4th U.S. Open Cup. The Fire is the most winningist team in the history of the tournament which dates back to 1914.

So riding off the elation of my team winning another championship, I told Matt it really didn't matter if we won any awards in Denver this year or not. I headed over to Wynkoop just long enough to shake a few hands, stuff my face full of free food, and down two shots of Colorado Whiskey in celebration of the Fire.

Some Illinois people were already at the Falling Rock so we made our way down the street to check out what Denver's best beer bar had to offer for the evening.

Mike Rybinski from America's Brewpub in Aurora brought his own darts to try to show up the ever competitive Pete Crowly from Rock Bottom Chicago. Pete makes a pretty good stout over there. It picked up bronze in the American Style Stouts Category.

Mike is serious about darts.



That is Pete drinking some kind of German spirit that is either distilled from, or spiced with Hops. It was interesting to say the least.

End of Day 1

Time To Party! Celebration-fest October 21st

CELEBRATION FEST!
October 21, 2006, Beginning at 4pm

$3 All Pints

LIVE MUSIC

Outdoor Grilling
(Chicken, Burgers, Brats, Hot Dogs)

Winning isn't everything but celebrating winning sure is! Matt and I will be on hand to pour beers, chat, and have a good time. Come out and celebrate our small feat with us. We will have special commerative T-shirts made. You will like them.

2006 Small Brewpub Brewer and Small Brewpub of the year

Small brewpub of the year used the be the punchline to the joke that Matt and I would tell each other at work when something really frustrating would happen where you just want to walk off the job and go home for the day. Even after winning it seems just as unreal as those bad days at work. Walking off the stage and seeing all of your fellow Illinois brewers there waiting to congratulate you is a genuinley special feeling that I would be surprised to experience ever again.

You are only as good as the people that are around you. In our case we wouldn't have been able to win without our fellow brewers. The barrels we used for Wooden Hell, came from Pete Crowly at Rock Bottom Chicago. The yeast we used for Black Wolf came from Jim and Mike at Prairie Rock but started at Emmett's. Our bottling happened at America's Brewing Company @ Walter Payton's Roundhouse with Mike Rybinski as you may have read about already. And finally but equally as important, Goose Island packed up all of our beer and send it off on a refrigerated truck to Denver to be judged.

This next week we will be adding plenty of updates, tons of pictures, we had a great time in Denver this year and there is a lot to tell about.