Flossmoor Beer Blog

St Patty's Day

2012-01-20T11:01:00.003-06:00

As a fun addition to the St. Patrick's Day shannanigans, we'll be releasing our Barrel Aged Iron Horse on Nitro that day! Ought to be delicious!

Cheers!

Bottle releases

2012-01-20T10:39:00.002-06:00

It's coming that time of year again for the HiFi bottle release! We'll be releasing 90 cases of the Barrel Aged HiFi in mid-February (exact date TBA).

Also coming along shortly afterwards will be the release of the Finlaggin Barrel Aged Scotch Ale, which we brewed back in September specifically for barrel aging with peated malt to reflect the flavors of a fine scotch (the name is a loch in the scottish highlands). The release of this ale will be about mid-March, again the exact date will be announced later.

Cheers!

Wallonian Saison

2012-01-20T10:35:00.002-06:00

We'll be finally getting into our Wallonian Saison this coming Monday, the 23rd. For those anxious mug clubbers who are ever so desirous for a free pint, we'll be holding a tapping party in the Pub Room from 5-6pm. Tapping at the bar will be at 5pm as well

The term "Wallonian" refers to a region of Belgium, which I suppose has some governing forces on the style, but mostly it's just fun to say. We threw a pound of ginger root into the last moment of the boil to give the brew just a light kick of ginger spice. It finished out nice and light in color (a contrast to the weather and stouts that reign this time of year) and came out to about 9.4%abv, with a very light hopping giving way to a slightly sweet finish.

Cheers!

Next Tapping

2011-12-21T12:31:00.003-06:00

We're tapping into our Imperial Schwartz Bier just before the holidays, which will be on Thursday the 22nd, at the bar at 5pm. The Schwartz came in at 9.5%abv with 56IBU's, and is just the smooth, mellow dark beer we need at a time like this! The very subtle roast compliments the malt very well, and finishes nice, smooth and dry.

Cheers!

Toys for Tots and a Winter Warmer!

2011-12-11T16:06:00.002-06:00

On Tuesday, the 13th, we'll be tapping our Spoonless Winter Warmer, and in celebration in junction with the Toys for Tots drive, if you donate a toy you'll receive a free pint!

Enjoy!

Revision to the Beers of Christmas

2011-12-11T16:04:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to note that we are going to change the time of the tapping of the 12 beers of Christmas to 11:30am (opening time), so they will be available all day long

Cheers!

Next Tappings

2011-12-07T10:46:00.002-06:00

We're incorporating the next tappings into our 12 days of Christmas and will release them at the bar at 5pm (same time for all the 12 beers). All mug clubbers will receive their first pint free!

The Spoonless Winter Warmer - 7.1%abv, OG 19.5 IBU 37
A nice, rich, mahogany colored ale, that we spiced with cinnamon, orange peel and elderflowers.

Belgian Abbey Ale - 7.9%abv, OG 17.2 IBU 22
Reddish in color, finishes quite dry slightly sweet, this belgian ale is full of fruity aromas mixed with spices.

Cheers!

Beers of Christmas

2011-12-07T10:36:00.002-06:00

We're doing our 12 beers of Christmas again this year, starting next Monday on the 12th! Everyday we'll be tapping at 5pm a "one-off" beer to celebrate the days prior to our favorite corporate holiday.....oh wait, I mean "favorite holiday."

A couple of the releases with an ( * ) beside it are actual new releases, and will be of course be available after that day. Because of the holiday spirits (meant to be plural) the tappings will be held at the bar and Mug Clubbers will receive their first pint free.

Anywho, here's the line up

1 Coffee Stout
2 Spoonless Winter Warmer*
3 Belgian Abbey Ale*
4 Ginger Red Ale
5 Wassail Wheat
6 Spruce Red Ale
7 Chocolate Vanilla Porter
8 Blueberry Kellehers
9 Cardamom Raspberry
10 Anise Stout
11 Juniper Pale Ale
12 Apricot IPA

And then to celebrate the Ebenezer in all of us, we're releasing a "13th" day of Christmas Ale which will be the Barrel Aged Beelzebeer! It'll be available on the 26th of December (black monday?.....no wait, that's "black boxing day")

Cheers!

No Show ESB

2011-11-28T11:07:00.003-06:00

We are tapping into our "No Show" Extra Special Beer on November 30th, Wednesday at 5:30pm. It's a lovely take on the British Bitter and features a nice, rich caramel body with a kick of British hops to round it out; 5.9%abv.

Cheers!

Next Tapping adjustment

2011-11-15T13:36:00.001-06:00

Just wanted to post that we are changing the date of the next tapping, the Belgian Single, to Tuesday, November 22nd, starting at 5:30pm.

Hope to see everyone there!
Cheers!

New Tappings

2011-11-07T11:01:00.002-06:00

Hi all, we are going to have back to back tappings coming up, starting with our TwoTime Double IPA (8.8%abv), which will be tapped on Monday, November the 14th at 7pm for Mug Clubbers, and 8pm behind the bar.

Next in line is the beginning of our Belgian series, starting with the Restless Wind Belgian Single (5.0%abv), which will be tapped on Monday, November 21st at 7pm for Mug Clu....yadayadayada

Cheers!

Collaborative Evil 2010 Barrel Aged Smoked Porter

2011-10-26T09:39:00.004-06:00

I think the title pretty much sums it up, we have the Collaborative Evil from 2010, which was a Smoked Porter with the smoked malt being driven by Cherry Wood, which has a nice, subdued smokiness. Barrel Aging it brings out the vanillin and oak, as well as hints of bourbon and finishes dry and slightly spicy.

Cheers!

English Style Brown Ale Collaborated with an Irish Pub

2011-10-24T09:38:00.003-06:00

We are going to tap our "Derailed" Kelleher's Brown Ale this Thursday, the 27th, at 7pm for Mug Clubbers and at 8pm for the rest of the you folk.

We did the beer as a collaboration with Kelleher's Pub in Peoria, as part of their "Beer of the Month," which will be featured thru November. It's an English Sytle Brown Ale, a little lighter in color than our Pullman, and a bit less chocolately. It has a really nice, very sessionable, malty body with tones of toast riddled through it, and finishes crisp with just a touch of hops mixed with roasted nuts. 5.9%abv

Hope you can make it!
Cheers!

Brewmaster'ish kinda Dinner

2011-10-17T16:34:00.003-06:00

We are having our Brewer's Dinner on Thursday, October 20th at 6pm. We will have a splendid paring with the food prepared by our Chef Eduardo, and will be entertaining the "harvest" theme in which most of our food will embrace the lovely fall weather we're having!

Also, in celebrating the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a portion of our proceeds will be donated to saving the boobs!

Kellehers Collaboration brew

2011-10-06T13:29:00.003-06:00

We just had a great day brewing with Bill from Kellehers Pub down in Peoria and Pat from Specialty Importers. I should more accurately say that they brewed for us, and we micro-managed...

We brewed a nice, toasty nut brown ale, more adkin to Samuel Smith's Nut Brown than to our Pullman, which should be perfect for the fall season to come.

The next tapping is set for the 10th of October, Monday, starting at 7pm for Mug Clubbers and then 8pm behind the bar. We'll be getting into the Bear Claw Wheat Wine, which is a fruity, velvety and boozy wheat wine at 9.7%abv, fermented with the Weihenstephan Hefeweizen yeast strain. Should be fun!

Also, hope to see everyone out for our Oktoberfest, in which we're tapping our Bier Leichen, Vienna Lager ein mas! Festivities start at 2pm and go thru 10pm, Saturday the 8th

Cheers!

Oktoberfest!

2011-09-21T09:29:00.007-06:00

Just wanted to give a heads up about our upcoming Oktoberfest on Saturday, October 8th. We'll be trying our best to re-create a biergarten on our Caboose patio, with long rows of bench tables, Bier ein Mass mit Bier Leichen Vienna Lager, lots of good food via buffet style, music, etc etc. (byo leder hosen)

**we had to change the price on the buffet to $15/person, sorry!!

Here comes that cool autumn breeze

2011-09-13T12:34:00.003-06:00

You can feel it in the air, the cool, dry windy days, crisp evenings perfect for a fire, and the best season for beer drinking of the year! We're excited about fall coming, and making some great beers to line up for the Fall, as well as bringing back our bourbon barrel aged beers.

With the "summer of sours" ending at the end of this month, we'll be busting out some barrelled goodies. First on will be the barrel aged Collaborative Evil from 2010, which was a Smoked Porter. We'll also be bouncing between a few different barrel aged beers to keep the varietals flowing, so after the first keg of CE 2010 blows, we'll follow up with a keg of the barrel aged Beelzebeer, and then most likely the barrel aged Pullman, and so forth!

Also coming online for the Fall is our Vienna Lager, which will be our Festbier for the Oktober season. We should be tapping that toward the end of the month as well.

Also coming up is a double IPA, an Imperial Schwarzbier, and some other yumminess.

We also recently brewed a Scotch Ale, the Jar of Heads, which will be put entirely into bourbon barrels, and won't be tapped until it's reached its proper level of sophistication.

That's about all the new news i got, thanks for checking in and hope to see you all soon!
Cheers!

New sours

2011-08-22T13:37:00.003-06:00

We just tapped into our new sour, the Rate and Pillage, which is a secret blend and you'll have to come out yourself to try and taste, and then of course, rate and/or pillage it! Let us know what you think!

Coming up in the near future is some fun projects. This week we'll be brewing the Jar of Heads Scottish Ale, that will be put entirely into bourbon barrels and stowed away for the duration of this beer siege our patrons are exercizing! We'll have a bottle release of it on the onset of spring next year, and it'll hopefully route us through a more spring like spring next spring (did i mention I'm not looking forward to winter?)

Coming along this fall we're looking at putting forth an Imperial Scharwtzbier for the zombie ghoul day of halloween. Also in line is a nice Vienna Lager for Oktober Fest, possibly a Pumpkin Ale, a Double IPA and maybe even a Harvest Fest to try and cling onto the lovely fall weather before old man winter settles in.

Lots to come, but really little to say about them, check back soon once we have more of our ducks in a row!

Cheers!

Triple tappings

2011-08-05T10:09:00.002-06:00

No, not that kind of Triple Tappings, but 3 tappings in a row! We're all set to have the next 3 seasonals/specialties lined up for a sequential tapping party.

We'll be tapping the HopfenWeizen, which is a Hefeweizens but hopped like an IPA, including a healthy dry hopping. We used a nice, equal blend of Galena, Casacade and Palisade for each addition. It's debut will be Monday, the 15th, starting at 7pm for mug clubbers and 8pm behind the bar.

Next is a collaboration we did with City Provisions which is a Dunkel Weiss that we added 100 lbs of fresh Michigan Cherries to the mash. Cleetus, the head chef/proprietor of City Provisions dubbed it the Kirsch and Blucher DunkelWeiss, (Kirsch meaning German for Charity, and Blucher....well, just watch Young Frankenstein). That tapping will be Monday, the 22nd, again at 7pm for mug clubbers and 8 pm for behind the bar.

Finally, our last tapping this month is the Intercontinental Pale Lager, which we're doing again, and for those who don't remember or didn't get a chance to try it, it is a IPA style, but with a lager yeast and a blend of hops, predominately from continental Europe, with American hops. That'll be toasted on Monday the 29th, once again at 7pm for mug clubbers and 8pm behind the bar.

Whew, with all that going on, we also have a new sour on, which is the Candor*2. It's a blend of the peach sour with our station master wheat, but in a 70-30 blend, which makes it quite tart, but in a pleasing way!

Cheers!!

Sophomoric Sour

2011-07-19T12:57:00.003-06:00

We just tapped into our new sour blend, which is 33% Hefeweizen and 66% sour, which complements each other quite well. Come on out and try it!

Next in line

2011-07-13T06:46:00.006-06:00

Many thanks to those who were able to make it to the anniversary party and bottle release last Friday, it made for a great night! We do still have bottles of the 15th Anniversary Tripel available, and they'd be great for laying down for a while as well as enjoyment right now!

We have a new sour on for the moment, Decadence, which is a peach sour, blended with our Wit and also an addition of fresh mangoes, pureed and added directly to the serving barrel.

Also, next tapping is the Half Day Hefeweizen, which is on Monday July 18th, 7pm for the Mug Club and 8pm for the bar. It's a traditional Hefe made with 70% wheat, 13% of which was unmalted, which made for a rather interesting, and exhausting, brewday (just imagine trying to churn 900 lbs of cement.....) It turned out great though, with lots of bready rich flavors and a big nose of cloves and banana!

Next on the horizon will be a Hoppenweizen, which will be the same base as the Half Day, but hopped like our IPA, including a dry hopping addition (a healthy one at that!) Also coming up is a Dunkel Weiss, which we'll be doing a collaboration with City Provisions, made with real cherries added to the mash.

We're also doing a collaboration with Ken, brewmaster at Limestone Brewery, which we're still in talks of at the moment, but it's leaning towards a nice English Dark Mild. We're also planning to do a beer dinner pairing with Limestone as well later in August, but the specifics haven't been finalized, so check back for more details on that later!

Cheers!

Playground Savior and the Half Day Hefeweizen

2011-06-29T15:31:00.002-06:00

We'll be having our next tapping for the Half Day Hefeweizen on Monday, July 18th, at 7pm for mug clubbers, and at 8pm behind the bar. Hope to see you all there!

Also just out is our Playground Savior, which is our new sour that just went on tap today. It's a blend of a sour from long ago (and don't really know its history), mixed with our .357 Imperial Pils, and a small addition of Apple Juice, which brings together a really nice, tart and refreshing beer. There's only a 1/4bbl of it, so come out and try it while it lasts!

Cheers!

Half Day Hefeweizens and Big Belgians

2011-06-24T09:44:00.002-06:00

With the Summer Solstice behind us and in full summer mode, we've been creating some tasty beers to soothe our dry, thirsty palates! We have a tasty little Belgian Wit on tap now, which has a nice balance between being uncomplicated enough to be sessionable, and complicated enough to be interesting and full of flavor. Next along is another wheat beer, a bit south of Belgium. We brewed a traditional German Hefeweizen yesterday, with 70% wheat (13% unmalted), and it's already fermenting along very happily and filling our brewhouse with the aromas of clove and bananas! That should be ready for thirst quenching in a few weeks.

Also, for our less than hydrating beers, we have our Belgian Triple 15th Anniversary Ale coming along very nicely. It's approaching the end of its fermentation, and (by the best of our abilities and calculations) has come to its full 15% abv. Surprizingly, the flavors are smooth and rounded without much heat or hit of the high alcohol levels. It'll be released on July 8th, both on tap here at the Station and in bottles. Additionally to celebrate the day (which is the actual 15th Anniversary) we'll be tapping into a few specialties of barrel aged beer and sours; but more on that is to come.

Next in line for fermentation of funness will be a Hopfinweizen. We'll be brewing another Hefeweizen, but this time be hopping it heavily with a regime more adkin to an IPA, as well as dry hopping it. The balance in flavors from the citrusy, piney hops works really well with the fruity esters of the Hefe.

Other than that we'll keep you posted on the sours as they rotate and any other special tappings!
Cheers!

Candor Sour

2011-06-20T17:45:00.002-06:00

We have a new sour on now, which is our Candor American Sour blend. It's about 50/50 of a sour, that I have no clue as to what it was originally, but I do know that it was put away to sour back in 2009 (or at least I think I do). To balance out its tartness, I added 50% Station Master Wheat, which helps to make a more palatable beverage.

Next in our line up of sours is the Playground Savior, which Mark put together (and also named). It's the same base sour as the Candor, but blended with the .357 Pilz and an addition of Apple juice, which creates a very interesting, and highly alcoholic sour, which is really tasty! The Savior will be coming along after Candor kicks!

Cheers!

More Sours and a Little Wit

2011-06-07T13:17:00.002-06:00

We are finally going to be tapping our Belgian Wit, the Le Chien Blanc (which just means "the little white dog" in French....just sounds better in francais). That'll be happening on Monday, June 20th at 7pm for Mug Clubbers, and at 8pm behind the bar.

Also coming along is our Summer of Sours. Mark pulled together a nice blend this afternoon, featuring a sour with over 55 lbs of peaches that has soured away for over 2 years, blended with just a touch of apricot. The sweetness of the fruit helps to balance the tartness, but is mellow enough not to be at all dominating. That'll be on tap once our Bare Brett kicks, so please come out and tell us what you think!

Cheers!

.357 and a little Wit

2011-05-25T13:15:00.002-06:00

Well we finally got the .357 Imperial Pilz to finish fermenting....whew! It took a long while, but it still came out tasting great! The starting gravity was about 25 P, and finished about 5.5 P, giving it a healthy dose of alcohol to a warming 11.0% abv! It seems fitting for the schizo-weather that we're having to have such a light colored beer, more suting to warm weather, but at 11.0%, which lends more toward cold weather; that somehow seems to work right now!

We'll be tapping the .357 Pilz on May 31th, a Tuesday, at 7pm for Mug Clubbers and at 8pm behind the bar. Hope to see you there!

Also coming up is our Le Chien Blanc Wit, which will be a nice contrast at a much more sane 5% range. It's got some great notes of Corriander and Chamomile, with a nice orange zest in the flavor of it. We additionally have used this beer to propagate enough healthy yeast cells to adequately ferment our 15th Anniversary Ale, which we'll be brewing next week!

We have also started with our "Summer of Sours," though the phrase seems ironic right now. We just tapped our Saison & FUNKale, which is a blend of our Saison and the Bare Brett, which is a 100% Brettanomyces fermented beer. It was first tapped into at the Pre-Dark Lord Day, and is on tap behind the bar now, and has actually gotten more tart and even more Brett character into it now.

Cheers!

Illiana Mayfest Tickets

2011-05-12T10:05:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure if everyone knows about this event, the Illiana Mayfest, put together by our friends at Crown Brewing.

We're selling tickets to the event, which is May 21st, here at the Station for $30 cash only. We only have 10 tickets, so grab 'em while you can!

Our new brewer, Mark, will be at the event, so come on out and meet him!
Cheers!

Next on Deck

2011-05-12T09:44:00.000-06:00

Even with all the events going on around the Station lately, we managed to introduce another beer; our Impromptu Pale Ale. This assertively hopped, yet refined pale ale will be a great session beer with a nice straw color, malty backbone and clocking about 5.4% abv. We'll be tapping into it next Monday, the 16th, at 7pm for Mug Clubbers in the back party room, and at 8pm for the bar and everyone else. Hope this time it'll be greeted with nice, warm weather!
We additionally have hired another brewer, Mark Weinert, who interned with us earlier this year and has just finished the Siebel international course. I'll let him introduce himself more properly, but we're really happy to have hime on board (excuse the silly train pun).

Our .357 Magnum Imperial Pilsnalebeerwhatchamacallit has been a painful fermentation, but it seems to be chugging along and might yet still make its debut in a few weeks. We had to press the emergency button and bring back up, which came in the form of some super yeast that's able to revive stuck fermentation (our protagonist stalled in the 3rd act). We're going to continue to monitor the flavor and condition of the beer, and if it meets our expectations then we'll unleash it in all of its uncouth, irreverent tenacity...just like Dirty Harry...

Coming up next on the agenda we'll be playing with some new yeast strains and venturing into very high abv territory. We'll be brewing a nice light Wit, Le Chein Blanc, brewed with unmalted wheat and spices to create a rich, mysterious concoction. Other than just a tasty brew, we'll be using that Wit to grow up a healthy amount of yeast to pitch from the barracks into battle; our 15th Anniversary Belgian Tripple 15%abv! We'll be brewing that in a couple of weeks and be releasing it on July 8th, our 15th Anniversary for Flossmoor Station R&B. It'll be released both on tap and in bottles, but as usual with our limited space, the bottles will be limited. We'll have some more information on that release as the date comes closer.

Behind the bar, we'll be making our transition to summer (weather allowing....will this week bring us the long awaited spring we've hoped for??). We're going to blend some of our very tart, acidic sour beers downstairs still in the barrels, with some of our house beers to create a "Summer of Sours." They'll provide some crisp tartness to refresh ourselves from the warm summer days. To kick off our summer, soon we'll have a very small amount of our Saison & FUNKale back on, which is a blend about 50% Saison and Garfunkel and 50% Bare Brett. Our Bare Brett, which we'll have on tap following the FUNK, is 100% fermented with Brettanomyces, a wild yeast strain that gives a pleasant acidity and earthy flavors on a nice light colored beer!

That's about all there is on the agenda, but continue to check back for updates on other barrel aging projects and other goofy, fun stuff that makes a brewer happy! Thanks again for all the support and hope to see you all soon!

Cheers!

Some changes rolling thru the Station

2011-04-21T12:59:00.002-06:00

As many of you have already caught wind of the recent departure, Bryan has stepped down as head brewer here at Flossmoor. I think he simply is ready for a change of pace. He'll still be here (much to my comfort) as I'll be getting trained up to take over as the head brewer. I know there's been a lot of talent to come through here, and Bryan certainly is no exception. I've had the pleasure to work with him here and learn a lot along the way. I'm excited to try and continue the reputation of Flossmoor, both in innovation and quality, and hope my attempts will meet the scrupulous expectations of our well ventured palates out there!

To get onto our little party (it happens to precede a certain "sinister day" at an Indiana brewery), we'll be tapping into some pretty cool beers dug up from our cellars. We'll have 9 taps flowing from our jockey boxes, all of which won't be found behind the bar, starting at 2pm and running until they kick or the village ordinance kicks us out. We'll also be firing up the grill at 4pm, and the live band will start around 5pm. Everything will be outside (so pray for sunshine!) on our back patio, and for those interested in beer swapping, there'll be a nice area to do so by the caboose.

We'll also have our Saison & Garfunkel in bottles and available for purchase. Additionally, we'll have a raffle for our last 12 bottles of the HiFi Rye, with the raffle tickets going for $5.

Alright, here's our list of brews:
Barrel Aged Beelzebeer
Raspberry infused Barrel Aged Beelzebeer
Magnolia Star Malt-Bourbon Liquor (also barrel aged)
Barrel Aged Panama Red
Brett Saison Funkel
Dean's Beans (coffee stout)
Bare Brett (100% brett. fermented)
Rosie Pom (our gold medal for sours from last year's FoBaB)
Colaborative Evil 2010 (Smoked Porter)

I hope to see you there!
Cheers!

Stammtisch Alt

2011-04-14T14:06:00.002-06:00

We have the perfect bier for these windy spring days, and it's our Stammtisch Alt! We're tapping the German ale next Tuesday, the 19th. It gets its name, stammtisch, from the German word to describe the "regulars" table. Found at many pubs, the stammtisch table is set aside for the regular diners/pubbers, and is generally set aside and marked off so that not just anyone can sit down at it. Not to worry, this Alt won't be just for our mug club members, but they will be the first to taste it next Tuesday, in our pseudo-stammtisch room! Cheers!

On the horizon

2011-03-23T15:02:00.002-06:00

It's been a little while since I've posted here, must be seasonal affect disorder...
I'm probably sure you're like me and very ready for this winter to quit dragging its butt and move on, especially with the forecast for more snow.

Anywho, with that out of my system, we have some nice things coming up on our horizon that we're really looking forward to. We had a great tapping last night of our Saison & Garfunkel, which I really like as a nice transition into warmer weather.

We're admist fermentation of our .357 Magnum Imperial Pilsner, which is making a second debut. It's a big beer, hitting around 12% abv, and it's chugging along right now chewing thru all those sugars and should be finished up in time for our Pre-Dark Lord day party on April 29th. The rumor I've heard is that the party will be outside on our back porch with a live band. We also have some really great beers that we'll be releasing for that day only, so come on out!

Also in our fermenters is another batch of the HiFi Rye, which we will be putting directly and totally into barrels, so we'll have to be patient and wait until this fall to enjoy it (which might actually be rather difficult...)

And the last beer-horizon that we have coming is our Alt bier, that we're brewing next week and should be ready toward the end of April. With the glimmers of sunshine that have peaked out, I'm getting excited about drinking this beer on our back porch with warm winds and sunny skies, birds and budding trees........I'm really ready for this winter to be over....

Cheers!

Saison and Garfunkle Tapping March 22nd

2011-03-06T08:41:00.002-06:00

We are having a tapping on March 22nd, at 8pm for our Saison & Garfunkle Belgian saison. This saison was a small collaboration with an eatery in the Wicker Park area of Chicago, so we wanted this beer to be easily paired with food.

The initial idea was a saison with citrus flavors, so we took notes and went to work on a test batch. Pleased with the test batch, we moved to the large system. The amounts of spices translated to 3#s of peppercorns, 1.5#s of fresh rosemary, and the peels from 20#s of clementines on the 15bbl system. This beer also did all of its fermentation above 80F, peaking at around 88F. What we have as a result is a very aromatic, freshly citrus beer with all the great characteristics of a Belgian farmhouse ale. The ABV on this brew is a hefty 8.3% so don't let the delicacy fool you.

Hi-Fi and BA Hi-Fi Release this Saturday, February 26th at NOON

2011-02-22T14:55:00.002-06:00

The release of our 2011 rye barleywine, Hi-Fi, and the 2010 bourbon barrel aged Hi-Fi, will begin at NOON on Saturday, February 26th. Here are the details:

- We will begin to hand out numbered tickets beginning at 11am. These tickets are to help the release go more smoothly, as we will call groups of 20 people at a time according to these numbered tickets.

- When your number is called, please line up down the hallway that leads to the Metra parking lot. We are doing the bottle release out of the brewhouse so that no one has to wait in the cold (and so your friendly brewers don't have to either!)

- There is a 6 bottle limit on each variety for a total of 12 max possible. The price will be $10/btl for the 2011 Hi-Fi, and $15/btl for the 2010 BA Hi-Fi.

We are looking forward to this one!

Tapping into the Black Magic at the Station

2011-02-22T14:52:00.003-06:00

We are happy to announce the return of Black Magic IPA at the Station and you are all invited! In addition to the year round Rail Hopper, we will tap one of these seasonal IPAs every now and again.

Black Magic IPA (or IBA, India Black Ale if you are going to be sticklers) is going to be tapped on Wednesday, March 9th at 8pm. This is the same recipe as last year's Black Magic and will also be available in 22oz bottles with a black wax.

Kapowski tapped out

2011-02-08T09:51:00.002-06:00

Well, we have already finished the last of our Killer Kapowski on draft. He sadly tapped out just yesterday, but luckily, he tapped out to our Dark Matter Imperial Stout, which will be officially tapped in tomorrow, Wednesday the 9th at 8pm. Okay, enough of the tapping references...

We do still have a lot of the Kapowski in bottles, selling for $10 each

Cheers!

Environmentally Conscious?

2011-02-07T11:07:00.002-06:00

We're hosting an event here at Flossmoor Station called Green Drinks, which is "an informal networking event where innovative people meet at a bar or coffee shop to share ideas and make new connections."

We're having the innovative session on Thursday, March 3rd, starting at 6pm.

For more on Green Drinks, click here

Cheers!

Wooden Horse, pins and firkens and a new Saison

2011-02-07T10:34:00.002-06:00

In continuation of our barrel aged beers on tap, we are finally moving along to our next selection. We finished the Grandma's Sleigh Ride, and she's rode on over hills and is gone for the year. We now have our Wooden Horse on tap, it's our house stout, the Iron Horse (note it is "our house"....not "out") aged in Buffalo Trace barrels for 5 months. We're really happy with the way it came out! It picked up some nice notes of the oak and vanillins, and the bourbon is more of a background note. It was really well received at the Brewpub Shootout, so come on out and try a snifter of it! We'll also be rotating these next selections of barrel aged beers more quickly, so come on out now as it'll be gone pretty fast!

In preparation for the Day of the Living Ales (formerly the Night of the Living Ales, which completes the reference much better) we are preparing our firkin's for the event. We already have one filled and is conditioning. We used our Zephyr as the base and put Cactus Pears in, with a nice Lacto culture to expand the flavors. We did one similar to this one, which reportedly turned out very well (we didn't get a chance to try our own creation!). So we're really excited about trying this one again. We're also doing our Ghost of the Iron Horse again, which is our stout spiced with Ghost peppers to give it a nice hot zing; note that ghost peppers are the world's hottest pepper.

We also are playing with another real ale. It's not really for anything in particular, but it'll be really fun to see how this turns out. We put in a pin part of a test batch Saison (more on that in a moment) and pitched a Roselare culture into it. The Roselare blend culture is supposed to replicate the ambient micro flora of the West Flanders region, best known for its spontaneously fermented Lambics and Geuzes. It contains two saccharomyces cultures, a belgian and a sherry, two brettanomyces cultures, a lactobaccilus and a pediococcus cultures. It'll be quite interesting how this project turns out!

Now on to that Saison. We're doing a seasonal batch in conjunction with The Bristol Eatery and Bar in the Bucktown area. It's a lighter colored Saison, brewed with Clementine peels, Rosemary, and peppercorns, and fermented with a traditional Belgian Saison yeast which complements the spices really well. We're brewing that this Thursday, so it should be presented in about 6-8 weeks.

Cheers!

Bottles, Barrels, and Horses (?)

2011-02-01T09:38:00.004-06:00

We are happy to announce a few things going on in the near future and hope to see you there..........

* The next tapping will be held Wednesday, February 9th at 8pm in the pub and restaurant. We are tapping the Dark Matter Imperial Stout, which has finished up nicely at a winter warming 8.1%.

* We are pleased to announce that the Iron Horse oatmeal stout will be on tap starting Tuesday evening February 1st, and will be on permanently as our house stout.

* The bottle release for the Hi-Fi Rye Barleywine (2011) and the Barrel-Aged Hi-Fi Rye Barleywine (2010) will be released in tandem on February 26th at Noon. Bottles of the Hi-Fi will be $10 and bottles of the Barrel Aged Hi-Fi will be $15. There will be a 6 bottle limit for each.

* Finally, the last of the Grandma's Sleigh Ride is on and for the remaining months of cold weather and big beers we are going to be rotating the bourbon barrels so one style isn't on too long. The first will be the Wooden Horse, the barrel aged version of the Iron Horse.

Brewer's Dinner tomorrow night!

2011-01-26T14:22:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to put up a quick reminder that we're doing our Brewer's Dinner tomorrow, Thursday the 27th, here at Flossmoor Station. We got a great line up of beers and food pairings, and Bryan and I will be pouring beer for the event. So come on out for a great 4 course dinner with us! The price is $35 for mug clubbers (and significant others of those mug clubbers will be at the same price) and for everyone else it's $39.

Hope to see you there
cheers!

Brewpub Shootout 2011

2011-01-25T11:14:00.004-06:00

We had a great time at the Brewpub Shootout this year, they really put on a great show and all the breweries that attended brought out some truly great dishes and tasty brews! We got to walk away with some accolades as well, which is always a terrific feeling.

We were granted 2nd place for best beer, and we're not totally sure which beer fetched the title, but we're very proud our beers were well received

Additionally, we got 1st place for our food, which Chef Eduardo pulled together an amazing dish of beef tenderloin served over sweet potato mash. He seared the beef on the spot, which may have helped draw extra attention to our table. In fact, almost everytime he flared the burner up, a large group would gravitate toward us, drifting with the smell of beef.

This was my first time attending the Shootout, and it was an absolute fantastic event. It's really nice to have food being a focal point of a beer fest, especially after tasting so many great beers. Some of my favorites from the day were the potato dumplings from Rock Bottom and the Nutella bread pudding from Half Acre. Also, the other group of Rock Bottom'ers (east and south? or north and west? I can't remember how they split that up) brought out the liquid nitrogen to flash freeze raspberries over ice cream, which was really cool to see! I wanted to steal some of the liquid N2 to play with...

Revolution walked away with the best food and beer pairing, and I can't remember exactly what they brought, but it was a great dessert pairing with a Citra hopped IPA. The newly established Haymarket also received some awards, I think one in each catagory (beer, food, and pairing), and took first in the best beer.

We have pictures to come soon

cheers!

Bottling a Station Master

2011-01-20T17:04:00.003-06:00

Seems like a difficult task, especially when contracting Phil Conners, but we managed to bottle 60 cases of the Station Master Wheat, so it is available today again in bottles behind the bar.

Additionally, in having a little fun with our bottle caps, we found the world infamous Gringo Extra cap

If you happen to be the lucky Gringo, then you get an Extra! Find the Gringo bottle cap and you get a 2 for 1 deal of the same beer, which this time happens to be the Station Master.

This might become a more regular tradition, but for now this is a first

Cheers!

Upcoming events

2011-01-19T09:37:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to extend our upcoming events onto our beer blog. Thursday night we're doing a fundraising event with the Save-a-Pet no kill animal shelter. Their funds are rapidly running out and are in desparate need. They currently only have enough funds for the next 6 months. Bryan and I are going to be there, doing some tastings of our IPA, Pullman Brown, and Station Master Wheat. Appetizers will also be available. Tickets are $25, and space is limited, so call ahead for a reservation. Hope to see you there!

Also coming up, if you haven't heard already, the Bears are supposed to play on Sunday. I'm not gonna say whom I'm rooting for, as to not be ousted by this intense rivalry. But here at Flossmoor, we're doing a "Brown Down" day for the Bears! We'll have a few beer and food specials:

$1 Tacos

$5 BBQ Chipotle Wings

$3 Pullman Brown Ale pints

And as always, we'll have a free half-time buffet. So come on out and cheer on the team!

Cheers!

Anti-matter, stouts, food and gas

2011-01-17T13:02:00.004-06:00

We had a nice turnout on Saturday for our Killer Kapowski bottle release, which was a pleasant surprise given how freaking cold it was (Bryan and I had to call it off a little early due to the lack of feeling in our fingers and toes, and faces for that matter). Thanks to everyone who made it out, hope those bottles are treating you warmly!

We decided to brew our Imperial Stout, the Dark Matter, again a week back. It's about done fermenting and tasting great, with a big starting gravity of about 23*P. We dry hopped it today with some Centennial and Chinook hops to round the nose out with a big dose of pine and grapefruit, and we additionally spiced it with just a hint of Star Anise, to add an extra depth of flavor. We're really excited about how this one will turn out, and we should release it next month for our next tapping party.

Another return for our cellars is the Iron Horse Stout, which we brewed last Friday. We are planning to release part of it on nitrogen, and then carbonating it for the remainder. It'll be a fun experimentation on the effects the gas has on the beer itself. Bryan and I call the carbonation of a beer the fifth ingredient, because of how much it impacts beer's flavor. With beer served on nitrogen, the flavor comes through much smoother, more mellow and more creamy. Plus, the head of a nitro beer has the classic Guinness ever-lasting pillow effect. This is all due to the insolubility of nitrogen in beer, and once it breaks out of solution, it does so in very fine bubbles, which create that creamy ever-lasting head. Additionally, with stouts, the nitrogen doesn't pull as much of the roasted flavors out of the beer, creating a smoother, more mellow stout. Serving a beer on nitrogen is a way to emulate serving a beer "real ale" fashion, with the low carbonation and the creamy effect of the nitrogen. In fact, most real ale beer engines have sparklers attached to the end of the faucet, to whip up more nitrogen into the beer upon serving to give it a creamy head. In contrast, the solubility of CO2 gives a very coarse mouth feel to the beer and, with stouts, pulls the roasted flavors out, lending to a drier, more roasty stout. Additionally, the acidity of CO2 gives a sharper bite to the beer, giving it a more crisp taste.

This of course isn't anything new, many breweries have been playing with nitrogen draft systems for a while now. In fact, many breweries are trying nitrogen on many different beer styles other than stouts, such as Pales, IPA's and so forth. It's fun to taste the difference the gas can give a beer, and we'll get to taste that change with our Iron Horse!

Alright, enough of that ramble, on to our big event this weekend. We finally have decided on our dish for the Brewpub Shootout. We're pairing our HiFi-Ryewine, non barrel aged, with Chef Eduardo's green peppercorn encrusted beef tenderloin, sitting atop a mashed sweet potato with pasilla peppers whipped with a housemade HiFi butter sauce. It tastes great (from what I've heard, I'm a vegetarian and haven't tried it), and everyone here is really digging it. So hopefully it'll show well come Saturday. Additionally, we're entering our Intercontinental IPL (6.7%) and our Wooden Horse Barrel Aged Stout (5.6%).

Cheers!

Some year end closings and upcoming events

2011-01-11T19:42:00.009-06:00

Hello all craft beer enthusiasts, I just wanted to give some brief updates around the brewhouse. We were excited to end this past year ('10) with 816 barrels, which is up 91 barrels from last year, closing with 725. We're excited to have pushed out this much beer, and you are to thank! A good portion of our growth has come in bottles, and Glunz beer distributors have been working hard to deliver our great brew around the Chicagoland area. You can find our brews at most of the Binny's around the area, as well as Wholefoods. We're working with them to bring our beer into new craft beer markets, so keep a look out!

The new year is also bringing us some delicious beer and food pairings! We have a delectable Mardi Gras Brewer's Dinner lined up on Thursday the 27th, starting at 6pm, with tickets going for $35 for mug clubbers, and $39 for non-clubbers. Here's our menu line up, featuring a great collaboration with us in the brewery and our Chef Eduardo:

6pm Welcome with our ReplicAle Pale

Dinner Menu, starting at 630pm

Appetizer
Shrimp Etouffee over Cajun Rice w/ Andouille Sausage
Beer: Panama Red Ale

Soup
Chicken Gumbo
Beer: Intercontinental Pale Lager

Entree
Beef Tenderloin Medallion Ratatouille
Beer: Killer Kapowski Baltic Porter

Dessert
Bourbon Rice Pudding Broule
Beer: Bourbon Spiced Red Ale

And in upcoming events, we will continue our food and beer pairings with the 13th annual Chicagoland Brewpub Shootout, on January 22nd at the Irish American Heritage Center, from 1-5pm. We've got some great ideas flowing for our food pairings, as well as some creative beers using some special barrel reserves, but I won't spoil the surprise just yet! Brewpub Shootout

There's also some rumors passing around about an early March visit with the alive.....a day spent with the living ales.....but more to come on that

Cheers!

Killer Kapowski Bottle Release

2011-01-06T09:10:00.002-06:00

With the new year comes a new beginning for an old great here at Flossmoor. After a year off, the Killer Kapowski Baltic porter will be available again in bottles. We are going to release the Kapowski on Saturday, January 15th, and this delicious beer will be available starting at 12 noon. We will be selling this beer out of the rolling door south of the main entrance on Sterling Ave., and each bottle will be $10. We expect to have enough KK bottled so that everyone has a chance for a bottle, however there will be a one case, 12 bottle, limit.

We look forward to seeing everyone and have a wonderful new year.

Cheers,

Bryan

Departures: End of the Line 2010

2010-12-31T09:26:00.002-06:00

The holidays and end of the year season are always a time for reflection and remembrance for people. As we reach the end of 2010, there are many things to look back on and forward to here at Flossmoor Station.

The completion of Bryan's first entire calendar year at the helm here at the Station gives us a lot of fond memories to look back on and the entire Flossmoor family couldn't be happier with the results.

Our competition slate saw us taking home an award in every event we entered this year:

Chicago Beer Society 12th Annual Brewpub Shootout
Beer - 2nd Place	Dry Hopped Panama Limited Red Ale
Pairing - 2nd Place	Panama w/ Applewood Smoked Bacon Wrapped Fiery Shrimp

2010 Day/Night of the Living Ales
Overall Award	1st Place / Best of Show	Bourbon McElroy Imperial Stout

2010 World Beer Cup
Category 16: Wood/Barrel Aged Beer	Bronze Medal	Pullman's Reserve Ale

2010 Great American Beer Festival
Category 69: Brown Porter	Bronze Medal	Pullman Brown Porter

8th Annual Festival of Barrel Aged Beers
Category 3: Barleywine/Wheatwine	Silver Medal	Barrel Aged Hi-Fi Rye Wine
Category 10: Wild Acidic Beer	Gold Medal	Rosie Pom American Pomegranate Sour Ale

Beyond all the competition, 2010 also saw Flossmoor enter into a partnership with Glunz Beer. Distribution through Glunz allows our fans around Chicagoland the opportunity to grab our beers with more ease, showing up at beer stores around the area including our special IPAs and the occassional special release bottles.

2010 also saw the "Changing of the Guard" with our Assistant Brewer position. As former assistant Richard Grant moves on with his own endeavors at Finch Beer, we welcomed Nick Barron into the position. If you haven't gotten a chance to say "Hi", make sure and stop by for a tapping event or pint soon.

Add to all this our new dedicated IPA fermenter, expanded banquet room facilities, a new spin on and more inclusive Mug Club, not to mention all of the great non-competition festivals we saw in 2010 (Illiana Mayfest, Great Taste of the Midwest, and On Photon! to name a couple) and everything we are already excited about in 2011 (See Bryan's post below for starters!), and it certainly has been a big year for us here at Flossmoor.

As always, we at Flossmoor thank you for your continued support and encouragement. Happy holidays and see you in 2011.

Cheers,

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Tapping Reminder and additional happenings at Flossmoor Station

2010-12-27T13:13:00.002-06:00

We definitely hope all of those had a very beery Christmas and tried all kinds of delicious craft beer wherever your travels took you (I know I did). With all the excitement around the past month, we thought we'd reiterate some of the upcoming events as well as let you all in on the newly planned ones for the new year as well.

12/29 Tapping the "Intercontinental" India Pale Lager 7pm Mug Club, 8pm on tap for all. There will be bottles of this for sale in BLUE wax topped IPA bottles (we'll make the IPL feel special in that bottle)

1/4 Tapping the Killer Kapowski Baltic Porter. This will also be available in bottles, but we will have a separate release for that which will be announced at a later date.

1/27 Chef and Brewer's Dinner. The theme will be Mardi Gras, and Chef will be preparing a beautiful 4 course dinner. Paired with it will be 4 of our beers, plus a "Welcome Beer" at the onset of the dinner. The price will be $39 ($35 for Mug Club and significant other) so make your reservations now! Menu and details to follow when they are completed.

Arrivals: Putting4Charity Event

2010-12-14T12:30:00.003-06:00

If there is anything we at Flossmoor Station will throw ourselves behind, it's a good cause and a good time:

"Some of our Mug Club members have started an indoor golf competition at Flossmoor Station on Wednesday evenings from 7-10 pm. On December 22nd, Flossmoor will host the first Putting4Charity event using the putting game invented by one of our Mug Clubbers, Tim Prentiss, with encouragement from Mug Club member Alan Cromwell.

Putting4Charity is a bracketed competition, similar to the NCAA tournament. We would like to begin with 32 players contributing at least $20 each. At the end of the contest, one player will be declared the winner. Half the total donations will go to charity, and 25% of the total will go to the winner. (The other 25% is shared by the host venue and the indoor golf association organizing the event.)

Which charity will receive the donation? The winner gets to select the charity! So you’re not only playing for pride, you’re playing for your own cause.

Bring your putter (and favorite golf balls, if you like) and give it a shot, for charity. It’s fun and anyone can play. After all, anybody can hit a golf ball 6-7 feet. Enjoy some of Bryan’s brew while putting the evening away. You’ll be helping a cause (which cause, we won’t know until it’s all over) and you might improve your golf game too!

We hope to see you Wednesday, December 22nd for our first Putting4Charity event. If you’d like to see how the game is played and practice it in advance, there will also an smaller event played on Wednesday 12/15 in our south banquet room.

For more info, visit the game’s official site Putting4Dough. Check out the origins of the game, the rules, and details on events! While you’re there, you can check out the link to our video filmed at Flossmoor Station. Fore!"

As always, stay tuned for more updates from Flossmoor and be sure to stop by leading up to and through the holidays to try our 12 Beers of Christmas, daily pint specials, and to pick up beer or giftcards for your loved ones!

Cheers,

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First of Specialty IPAs to be bottled

2010-12-13T13:07:00.002-06:00

As promised we have not let the special IPAs go by the wayside. We will be releasing the Intercontinental IPL (okay, so technically its not an IPA) in bottles on December 29th. This will be the same day as the tapping, so they technically are available before the official pub tapping time of 7pm! This IPL will feature a blue colored wax. More on the Intercontinental to come later. Cheers

12 Beers of Christmas are here

2010-12-10T15:54:00.003-06:00

Sunday, December 12 - Cinnamon IPA

Monday, December 13 - Vanilla Bean Brown

Tuesday, December 14 - Ginger Marzen

Wednesday, December 15 - Licorice Stout

Thursday, December 16 - Spruced Red

Friday, December 17 - Chocolate Cherry Brown

Saturday, December 18 - Wassail Wheat

Sunday, December 19 - Clove Red

Monday, December 20 - Mint Stout

Tuesday, December 21 - Juniper Gandy

Wednesday, December 22 - Chocolate Magnolia Star

Thursday, December 23 - Apricot India Pale Lager

12 Beers of Christmas Pt. 2

2010-12-07T13:51:00.004-06:00

This year we will again be doing our "12 Beers of Christmas". On December 12th for 12 days straight, Flossmoor Station Brewery will release a one-of-a-kind, completely unique beer especially for that day. We will tap the beer when we open and when it is finished, we’ll have the next day to look forward to! Beers to be announced soon.

Next Tapping Date

2010-12-07T13:47:00.003-06:00

On December 29th, we are tapping our Intercontinental IPL (India Pale Lager). Probably not a style, but it sounded good. For this beer we have used a blend of hops from North America and Europe for a great blend of what both hop classes have to offer. The result is a nicely bitter, very floral and non-citrus fruit flavors in the aroma and flavor. The Intercontinental clocks in at 6.7% abv. Join us at 8pm in the pub (7pm for Mug Clubbers) for this final tapping of the year.

IPL's, Kapowski's and Coffee Stouts

2010-11-12T15:36:00.002-06:00

I haven't had much of a chance to contribute to this blog and wanted to use this chance to give a brief update to what's going on around here.

A few weeks back we brewed our IPL, the Intercontinental. Bryan and I had talked about using a lager yeast to ferment an IPA-hopped beer, so we came to the idea of blending not only the fermentation regiment, but also the hops. We used both Pac NW hops such as Armarillo and Northern Brewer with the continental varieties such as Mt. Hood, Liberty and Halleutaur to create a true blend of continental lagers with US IPA's! Today, we dry hopped it with Mt. Hood, Liberty and Ahtanum to keep the blend going, and are very excited to see what becomes of our first IPL, which we should release come December.

In continuing our lager phase, we also brewed our Killer Kapowski yesterday, a lovely Baltic Porter, using 8 different malts plus molasses, which we are anticipating big results come ring-side!

Last, but not least, we'd like to introduce Dean's Beans, our coffee stout using fine Italian roast whole coffee beans, cold brewed with our Iron Horse Stout. Look for it around the beginning of next year!

Departures: Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers 2010

2010-11-08T20:05:00.000-06:00

What a day it was at the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Union Hall in Chicago this last Saturday! The Illinois Craft Brewers Guild did not dissappoint in the production of it's 8th Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers. With over 150 entries vying for 30 medals in 10 categories, the competition was more fierce than ever as brewers continue to step their game up for bragging rights and innovation with wood and barrels becomes standard in the craft beer world, no longer taboo or rare.

We entered a modest 4 beers in the festival this year, some old friends and some new comers, and couldn't be happier with the results.

Flossmoor earned a Silver in Category 3 Barleywine/Wheatwine (17 entries) for our Barrel Aged Hi-Fi Rye Wine's debut to the public. Not done yet, the boys were able to grab a Gold in Category 10 Wild Acidic Beer (25 entries) for the oft-requested Rosie Pom Pomegranate American Sour Ale.

You can see the full results here. Special shout-outs to all of our Illinois colleagues who won awards and our friend and former brewer Todd Ashman of Fifty Fifty Brewing for grabbing a medal.

Thanks to everyone that came out, gave feedback and encouragement, and continue to support the beers, our brewers, and Illinois beer!

Cheers,

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PS - We'll have our newest beer, Cactus Pear Wild Ale, at the Beer Mapping 5 Year Anniversary Party this Friday, November 12th at SmallBar Fullerton in Chicago! The party starts at 7 PM.

Don't Be Afraid of the Ghost

2010-10-25T08:48:00.003-06:00

This Friday at 5pm we will be tapping a very limited amount of a brew especially made for the Halloween festivities. After receiving numerous inquiries into whether we would be doing a Halloween beer, we have and it is scary. We have infused a little ghost pepper (a.k.a. Bhut jolokia) into our Iron Horse stout and have made Ghost of the Iron. We used just a single pepper in 7.5 gallons.

Widely recognized as the hottest pepper in the world, the Bhut Jolokia measures in at over ONE MILLION Scoville heat units. Not just hot though, the Ghost pepper also has a very nice smoky flavor when dried and adds an additional dimension than just pure heat. We do not promise this beer is balanced and actually are hoping that this is a pretty intense brew. Drink at your own risk!

$3 Daily Beer Specials

2010-10-25T08:42:00.003-06:00

Come in for the new $3 daily pint special. The style rotates every day so come out and enjoy each one. Here is the list for this week (yes there are duplicates, we feel those are twice as good)

Monday-------Replicale Pale Ale
Tuesday------Slump Buster Mild
Wednesday----Magnolia Star
Thursday-----Iron Horse Stout
Friday-------Replicale Pale
Saturday-----Good AdWeiss Hefe
Sunday-------Magnolia Star

Next Beer Release Coming Soon

2010-10-18T16:56:00.001-06:00

We will be tapping our Märzen style lager on Tuesday, Nov. 2nd at 8:00pm.

Our "Breinheitsgebot" Märzen style lager is characterized by a medium body and a light copper color. Maltiness (light and toasty) is definitely the dominate flavor, but this beer finishes with a clean hop bitterness. The European/German hop varieties are subtly present in the flavor and, to a lesser extent, the aroma.

Join us at 8pm as we tap this seasonal lager.

Tapping Announcement (and a welcome too!)

2010-10-09T14:15:00.000-06:00

We are going to tap our Replicable this Tuesday, October 12th. Sorry for the late notice, but in an effort to keep the beer flowing from every single tap, this beer had to be tapped.

For those of you not familiar with the Replicale project, it is an annual brew in which each brewery gets a single style of malt donated (a very kind thanks to Mid Country Malts) and then chooses a single variety of hop (also thanks to Mid Country) to use in a pale ale, and the yeast strain is also donated (thanks to White Labs). The style varies with the year, but the idea is always the same - vary an ingredient and find out what each brewery produces.

Our Replicale is a light pale ale in which we used Brewer's Gold hops. This hop imparted a light lemony flavor with other citrus flavors. The overall impression of this beer is a light pale ale with a refreshing moderate hop presence. At 6.3% this beer is on the upper end of a pale ale A.B.V., but it drinks very smoothly as it has been conditioning for a bit.

Former brewer Richard Grant has moved on to a new head brewer position at Finch Beer Company, (we are very proud of him) so it is time to extend an official and very warm welcome to Nick Barron as our new assistant brewer. Nick brings his experience from out east to Flossmoor and we are sure that he will help make some extraordinary brews here too.

Please join us at 8pm for a good brew and a good time!

Bryan

Oktoberfest this Saturday!!

2010-10-01T08:31:00.003-06:00

Roll out the barrels, we're going to have a barrel of fun this Saturday. Here are the details for the fest:

Event is from 2pm to 7pm, held in the caboose area south of the restaurant

It is going to be chilly - dress accordingly

The restaurant will be open for normal business if you want to have something off the regular menu or a different beer at the bar

There are no tickets to buy, the $35 is an admission

Guests receive a 6oz tasting glass and all the tastings you wish (please drink responsibly)

There will be a food tent that will be offering some German food items (separate from the $35 admission)

A Flossmoor Farewell

2010-09-29T18:22:00.003-06:00

Tomorrow is my last day as an assistant brewer at Flossmoor as I go to a head brewer position elsewhere. I've had a great time at Flossmoor and will miss seeing everyone on a regular basis. I'm remaining in the Chicagoland area, so I hope to foster some of the friendships I've made at Flossmoor. I've learned a lot under Bryan's leadership this year and look forward to expanding my knowledge as I move forward in my career. Thanks for coming in and sharing a pint with me. I look forward to many more!

Cheers,

Richard Grant

Departures: Great American Beer Festival 2010

2010-09-21T09:45:00.006-06:00

Well, when it's all said and done, you're exhausted and humbled.

The 2010 Great American Beer Festival has come and gone and we at Flossmoor are very proud of the guys! In a festival that saw about a 10% increase in entrants and more competitors than ever, Bryan and Richard were able to pull away with a well deserved bronze medal for our Pullman Brown in Category 69: Brown Porter!

With about 3,523 beers entered in total and only 80 total categories (79 Official, 1 Pro-Am) devoted to entered beers (and 3 max possible awards per category), less than 7% of beers see any kind of medal recognition. That's pretty competitive when it gets down to it. Great job, guys! If you haven't revisited the classic in awhile, it might be about time.

Bryan blogged about his experience at GABF on his section of The Chicago Brewhouse on Metromix. See his thoughts about the festival and it's growth here.

PS - Clear your schedules for our double bottle release this Saturday at NOON! See the details in the below post!

Cheers,

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BOTTLE RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT

2010-09-20T07:36:00.004-06:00

The day is finally here! We will be releasing TWO bottles on Saturday, September 25th, starting at NOON. These will be the Collaborative Evil 2010, and the Beelzebeer. There will be a ONE case limit on each one, and the price is still TBD (balpark is probably $10 +/- a buck or two). We will be selling these out of the rolling door just to the south of the main entrance on Sterling avenue. This is rain or shine so please come prepared. We look forward to seeing everyone there.

Upcoming Schedule(s)

2010-09-15T11:37:00.002-06:00

Well, the boys are off to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival! What stories will the 2010 version bring? We'll have updates as they are available from the guys or if anything happens on Saturday. For those attending, be sure to try and seek out all of the different Collaborative Evil versions available at the festival!

Speaking of Collaborative Evil, we know everyone is waiting with anticipation to find out the time/date of our upcoming bottle releases. Our 2010 Collaborative Evil and Batch 666 (Beelzebeer!) are pending release and once we know and get all the label details squared away, we'll let you know first via the blog when you can get them. So keep checking in!

However, there are a few other events on the horizon that you should get on your calendar (Or can add via our Google Calendar):

First, our annual Oktoberfest Celebration is growing! On Saturday, October 2nd from 2-7 PM we'll be holding our annual fall event. Things are going to be a little different this year: Admission will run $35/person and include a tasting glass and beer samples. We'll be offering a traditional German menu in the restaurant and we'll be grilling brats and other German fare outside. One of the largest changes this year will be our slate of guest breweries. Along with our own brews, we'll have Rock Bottom Orland Park, Brickstone Brewing, America's Brewing Company, and Limestone Brewing pouring their craft. In addition, our good friends at BOSS (Brewers of South Suburbia) will also be here! More details to come.

Also, tickets have gone on sale for the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild's Annual Festival of Barrel Aged Beers. If you are unfamiliar with the event, "FoBAB" offers a rare look at the specialty beers aged on wood and in barrels of not only the premiere craft brewers of the Midwest, but the nation! Traditionally, you are able to sample not only Flossmoor's private stock at the event, but a wide variety of different styles of beer not commonly found on tap. More details and tickets can be found through the ICBG's website and Brown Paper Tickets.

That's it for now. Goodluck at GABF, guys!

Cheers,

BloggerA

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IPA Named!

2010-09-13T10:31:00.003-06:00

We have decided on the name for the new house beer................................(drum roll)............................... Rail Hopper IPA. Thanks to all who submitted names for the IPA, some were good, some weren't, some were taken already, but all were appreciated. Congratulations to Westy for submitting the winning name! For this submission, we are awarding you a IPA keggie (3.3 gal) of the Rail Hopper IPA.

You Gotta Be Kidding Me

2010-09-10T14:20:00.004-06:00

Regrettably there will be yet another delay in releasing the bottles for the Collaborative Evil and the Beelzebeer.

We have been told from our printer that they are refusing to print the labels for these two beers because of the content. I can only guess that they are referring to the Godless, Devil speak that we have adorned our bottles with.

Your loving and God fearing brewer

Names for the IPA

2010-09-07T08:15:00.003-06:00

We have whittled down the list of potential IPA names from thousands to just nine. It was a grueling process. Here they are in no particular order:

Hop Toad
Flag Stop
Green Diamond
Pin Lifter
Railbender
Crow's Nest
Hot Shot
Highball
Rail Hopper

The list will be pared down to just two before we have our decision...

IPA Names

2010-09-03T10:07:00.001-06:00

We have gotten some great submissions for the naming of the IPA. So far we have whittled the list down to 9 names that we will ponder and pick from two. Right now we have 9 that make the cut.... any more??

Tapping Tomorrow and Next Tuesday

2010-08-30T09:24:00.001-06:00

We are on our FOURTH tapping in as many weeks, with another to follow next week. Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 31st, at 8pm we will be tapping our Collaborative Evil for 2010. We will be also be tapping the IRON HORSE stout on Tuesday Sept. 7th at 8pm.

For those unfamiliar with what the Collaborative Evil is, let me explain. Todd Ashman (former Flossmoor brewer), Matt VanWyk (former Flossmoor brewer), and Zac Trimert (not a former Flossmoor brewer) started the CE project with the idea that each beer will have a common theme of a style, with each brewery throwing a twist to the ingredients to make it unique. This year's style was either a Baltic Porter (lager) or an Imperial Porter (ale). We added 5% Breiss cherry wood smoked malt to make this 8.4% imperial porter our own. Here are the stats.

Collaborative Evil – Flossmoor 2010

8.4% ABV, O.G. 19.2, 32 IBU

Style: Smoked Imperial Porter. Made with Breiss cherrywood smoked malt, this higher octane porter is anything but harsh. Smooth smokiness balances with the rich porter character, and this medium brown ale has subtle flavors of chocolate. Part of a countrywide collaboration, check out the special presentation by all the collaborators at the 2010 Great American Beer Fest.

New Label Images

2010-08-30T09:05:00.004-06:00

We got some requests to post the #666 label (ABV is actually 9.5%), so here it is along with the CE2010

In Search of: TRAIN THEMED NAMES

2010-08-18T12:18:00.003-06:00

Our IPA needs a name! Inner Sanctum is a fine name, but all of our house beers have a train themed name. So all of you that have obscure train trivia and knowledge locked up and put away in the old noggin need to find the key. Be the one to gain a piece (albeit minuscule) of history here at Flossmoor. When submitting, please give us the meaning of the name if it is a train term that is unfamiliar to most. For example - Pinhead IPA, (a pinhead is a brakeman). The best name will be collected from the thousands we get :)

Departures: Great Taste of the Midwest 2010

2010-08-17T10:44:00.001-06:00

Well, that certainly was a crazy time!

It's amazing how time flies when you are up in Madison, Wisconsin. The dust has settled, the kegs packed up and brought back to the brewey in one piece, and somehow.. all of us are accounted for.

Thanks to everyone that made it out to the Great Taste this last Saturday. We had a blast pouring for you, sampling our colleagues brews, and sweating constantly in the sweltering heat (Well, maybe not that last one).

We ended up pouring through A LOT of beer. Pretty much everything blew by the end of the day and our record of the day was 12 minutes set by our final keg of Rosie Pom American Sour Ale. The Sourheads made their presence felt.

Have no fear though, the early run of Collaborative Evil '10 was just the beginning of that beer. We'll have a proper tapping in two weeks and bottle release some time down the road! Barrel Aged The Turk Saison will see time on the taps and at more festivals in the future and Magnolia Star Malt Liquor is getting tapped proper in just one week! If all that is too long for you, we've got a new IPA tapping TODAY! Catch Inner Sanctum, our first IPA fermented in our brand new dedicated IPA tank in the brewery addition on tap today at 7 PM!

If you want to get in on the festival slate but missed out in Madison, check us out at The Oak Park Microbrew Review this Satuday. We'll be pouring and debuting our version of this year's ReplicAle project (2010 = American Pale Ale). There should be tons of beer, food and fun, and a whole mess of Illinois Craft Brewers Guild breweries to try.

Tickets can be purchased here

We'll have more updates soon and take a look at our Google Calendar when you get a chance. I'll be trying my best to keep it updated as we go forward so you don't miss a thing.

Cheers,

BloggerA

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It begins! Great Taste of the Midwest 2010.. with new and improved banner!

Representing the Illinois Central and Metra Electric

One of our dynamic husband/wife duos manning the taps

Hot weather, tons of beer, and a big crowd = trainwreck? Never.

Bryan and Arnie looking rather official

Like a beacon in the distance.. for those that know the Great Taste of the Midwest..

Upcoming tappings and bottle releases...

2010-08-10T09:05:00.001-06:00

Folks, we are at a point where several of the specialty beers are going away and more need to be welcomed (with a party for each of them). I'm tearing up with excitement and anticipation. We are going to have a tapping each week for a month starting with the Good AdWeiss hefeweizen on the 10th.

Next tapping will be August 17th for "Inner Sanctum" IPA 7pm

Next, next tapping will be August 25th for "Magnolia Star Malt Liquor" at 7pm

Next, next, next tapping will be August 31 for "Collaborative Evil - 2010" at 7pm

We will also have a double bottle release of the Beelzebeer and Collaborative Evil at the same time in mid-September, date TBA right now.

Good AdWeiss - Hefeweizen Tapping Tonight

2010-08-10T08:41:00.002-06:00

Please join us tonight at 8pm for our tapping of our GABF Pro-Am entry - Good AdWeiss. Homebrewers Zbig and Sylvia Banach have graciously agreed to replicate their award winning hefe here at Flossmoor for a shot at a national medal this September in Denver. Pronounced “Good Advice” since German W’s sound like V’s, this hefeweizen represents a classic ale style originating from southern Germany (Bavaria.) Hefeweizen literally means yeast (hefe) and wheat (weizen), and derives its predominant banana and clove flavors strictly from the yeast. Made with German pilsner and wheat malts and German hops for that “oh-so-authentic” taste. One drinker comments, “It’s like I was at a Munich beer garden right now!” A perfectly refreshing, summer ending German wheat beer.

Cheers!

Brewery Updates and New Beer Info

2010-07-26T08:53:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to update everyone as to what is going on at the Station and what can be expected from the taps. We have just finished filling our new 30BBL fermenter with our Inner Sanctum IPA. This will be a new year round "house" beer that will be available. We are not completely eliminating the wax-topped, one off IPAs, as these will be coming out as four seasonal IPAs throughout the year.

We will be announcing a tapping date soon for the Good AdWeiss hefeweizen that our homebrew duo, Zbig and Sylvia Banach, have graciously helped brew as part of our Pro-Am beer. For those unfamiliar to the Pro-Am competition, it is a separate category of the Great American Beer Festival that pairs award winning homebrewers with a professional counterpart, who compete together against other "Pro-Am" teams. The recipe is one that the homebrewer must have won a best of category (at least) in an AHA sanctioned homebrew competition. Zbig and Sylvia won Best in Show for their Good AdWeiss and we were happy to brew it with them.

Also in the tanks is our Collaborative Evil 2010. Todd Ashman constructed a nice release for the collaboration, http://beernews.org/2010/07/collaborative-evil-2010-revealed/ , and the beer should prove an interesting one for each brewery to add a unique spin. Our Collaborative Evil this year is a Smoked Imperial Porter. Our unique spin on the style was to add Breiss cherry wood smoked malt which imparts a noticeable smoke character and a very subtle cherry tart coming from the malt. A very mild smoke, we used a little over 5% smoke malt by weight. If the GABF is in your travel plans this year be sure to stop by the pavilion when all os the brewers will talk about their beer and pass out samples. Not going to Denver? Be sure to have the Evil on tap here and sold in bottles (dates yet to be determined.)

Not to be overshadowed by the tappings, releases, etc., our batch #666, Beelzebeer, is seething and fermenting away, ready for release in bottles sometime in early fall. A loosely defined, higher gravity, rich dark ale.

MAGNOLIA STAR, the newly named craft malt liquor, is lagering away and clearing as we speak. Look for it before the end of summer.

Whew! Is that it?? No! We can hardly wait to see everyone at The Great Taste of the Midwest which takes place August 14th is Madison, WI. Per usual, we will have a special tapping list which will include many of the beers which have not been tapped yet such as the Magnolia Star and the CE2010. Come out, support your local brewers, and even try a few you've never heard of for a magnificent craft brewing experience.

Thanks

Bryan

Weekend Service Update: July 9-11

2010-07-09T10:41:00.007-06:00

The weekend is almost here!

Vishnu is manning the taps this weekend and bottles are out now (Darker Green Wax)! The tapping was a busy affair with lots of folks stopping by to experience the return of the hop karma at the brewpub and pick up some bottles for the road.

Sadly, we also have to let everyone know that the Rosie Pom, our Pomegranate American Sour Ale, is off the taps. We may have a small amount available in the not-so-distant future, but the remainder of this beer will likely be festival bound for you Sourheads out there.

If you've got a little time this afternoon, check out our friends at the HopCast's recent trip to the Beer Hoptacular at the Aragon. While they were there, Bryan got some face time in and talked about our more sessionable side here at the Station. Catch them all (Zephyr Golden Ale, Slumpbuster Dark Mild, Gandy Dancer Honey Rye Ale, and Rx Bohemian Unfiltered Pils) at the brewpub this weekend!

Hop Cast - Episode 103: Hoptacular from Hop Cast on Vimeo.

If you've got time to spare or nothing going on this weekend, Flossmoor will be out and about this weekend at two different events:

First, we'll be pouring some beer at the 7th Annual Barrington Brew Fest from 3 to 7 PM on Saturday the 10th. The fest is pretty easy to get to as it's right next to the Metra Station in Barrington. Stop on by and talk to/worship Bryan.

More details here

Also, we'll be pouring and pairing a keg of the new Vishnu's Vice at Rock Bottom: Warrenville's Pop Malt Brewing Explosion from 1 to 5 PM on Saturday. Come experience your old friend beer paired with gourmet popcorn! I'll be there for awhile, so don't be a stranger.

More details here

In the meantime, everyone have a great weekend and we'll have more info for you soon on some changes to the IPA releases, Batch 666, and our August Festival slate!

Cheers,

BloggerA

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names in the lead so far

2010-06-30T12:23:00.003-06:00

Just a quick update... MoPac started strong, but Magnolia Star has surged ahead in the past day. Is this the name you want?? Maybe, maybe not. VOTE!!

Top 10 Malt Liquor Names

2010-06-28T11:55:00.002-06:00

After reviewing all of the entries we received for the Malt Liquor Naming Contest (100+!), we have painstakingly trimmed the list to 10. If you see your name congratulations, if not, we probably laughed hysterically because it was so non-politically correct. All the submissions were definitely entertaining. The voting on this will be this week only! Please vote by responding to this post, either by giving the name or the number of your favorite.

Without further ado, here are the finalists in no particular order (with any explanation of name in parenthesis):

1. Sweet Sticky Thing (An Ohio Players Song reference)

2. 26th & Cali (Chicago's main jail)

3. Magnolia Star Malt Liquor (The coach service on the Illinois Central line as opposed to the Panama Limited premier service car)

4. Hobo Gravy

5. Curb Tripper

6. Drunchenschtooper

7. Locomaltive

8. MoPac (the moniker for the Missouri Pacific RR)

9. Bullschlitz

10.Old Flossmoor 800

Malt Liquor Naming Contest

2010-06-24T15:01:00.002-06:00

We are going to stop accepting name suggestions for our malt liquor this Sunday at 11:59:59pm. We have been happily overwhelmed by the number of responses that we have received, and will par the list down to 10. Voting will take place from the beginning of next week (Monday, June 28th) and proceed for a week ending Sunday, July 4th at midnight. You are welcome to vote here at the Station, or on the blog. The winner (provided he/she is 21+) will receive a keggie (3.3 gallons) of the newly named beer on the night of the tapping, and if not already in the Mug Club, will be invited to that night's event also. I can honestly say that I am impressed by the thought and imagination that went into some of the name suggestions -- kudos!

New beer release Wednesday, July 7th

2010-06-24T14:47:00.002-06:00

We are appropriately reincarnating a previous IPA here at the Station, Vishnu's Vice. This hugely hopped IPA just missed the most hops we've ever used by a few ounces! Grapefruit and citrus aromas and flavors explode from this 8% brew making this IPA one of a kind. So grab as many beers as you hands can grab and join us Wednesday evening at 8pm.

Malt Liquor Naming Heating Up

2010-06-11T09:22:00.001-06:00

The Malt liquor is being made as I type this, and the naming contest is heating up. So far we have 10 up for election which will happen a week before its release! Get the suggestions in and win some free beer!

No Name beer in need of help

2010-06-10T10:09:00.003-06:00

We are looking for suggestions for the next specialty beer! We are making a malt liquor on Friday and think that this beer could inspire a load of great names. We have a few names in the running for top place but the more ideas we get the better the name will be. Winner gets a keggie(3.3gal) of the beer free! Good luck.

Get some Rosie Pom at the Station

2010-06-08T10:14:00.001-06:00

We have just put on tap our latest sour to come straight from the barrel. Rosie Pom is a deep red American sour aged on pomegranates. Get a snifter today!

Departures: Chicago Craft Beer Week

2010-06-01T19:12:00.002-06:00

And with that, the dust has settled and we have put a bow on the whirlwind that was the First Chicago Craft Beer Week!

If you joined us, you know what a wild and crazy ride it was. With Flossmoor participating in several events, a few new beer debuts, and plenty of fun it certainly was a great if not labor intensive week.

Whether you stopped out and tried the ".357" Imperial Pilsner at Beer Mapping and HopCast's Rare Beer Event, indulged in Chef Eduardo's culinary art at our Beer-B-Que Beer Dinner, enjoyed a great day out at the Illiana Mayfest in Crown Point (And man, what a great turnout for a first year festival), or even just stopped in at the brewpub to try the new Slump Buster Mild or the 1492 IPA, we're happy to have had you as our guest or out supporting Flossmoor.

But, we certainly aren't going to rest now. We just tapped the new Diesel Rellik IPA last week and we're already working on new beers on the horizon, some visits from some old friends on tap, and more events out and around town with the Chicago Beer Hoptacular this weekend at the Aragon Ballroom hosting some of our beers. Keep following the blog and twitter so you know what's getting tapped and what events and releases are going down.

Cheers,

BloggerA

Beer-B-Que Dinner Menu

First Course - Applewood Smoked Bacon Wrapped Fiery Shrimp on Asian Slaw

.357 Imperial Pils sees tap time at The Beer Mapping / HopCast Rare Beer Night at Smallbar Fullerton

Weapons of choice at the first Illiana MayFest in Crown Point, Indiana

More action with Bryan and Arnie manning the taps

Richard works his magic pouring some "Rosie Pom", the newest treat from the barrel room. Get one soon!

Beer rumors at the Station

2010-06-01T12:25:00.003-06:00

There have been rumors (all true) that there is going to be a beer reincarnation. A beer named after a Hindu deity will be making an appearance here at the Station in a month or two.

Last of .357 going on tap this weekend

2010-05-28T15:19:00.000-06:00

The very last 5 gal keg of .357 Magnum will be tapped this weekend. This is fair warning to all of you who have not had a chance to get in and try it. We do have some bottles left though. Cheers

IPA Bottles at Flossmoor and on shelves soon...

2010-05-27T14:06:00.001-06:00

Our most recent IPA, Diesel Rellik, is now on shelves here at Flossmoor Station and will be at your favorite Flossmoor beer vendor soon. It will have a light gray wax color. Cheers!

New IPA Tapping Tuesday, May 25th

2010-05-13T08:03:00.002-06:00

We will be tapping our Diesel Rellik on Tuesday, May 25th at 8pm (7pm for Mug Club). This beer is coming along nicely and will be dry hopped today with more than 20# of hops! Designed to be a piney, resinous, IPA with a decent malt backing. This IPA will probably be around 7.5% abv as it is still bubbling just a little today. Please join us for a pint!

Flossmoor's Newest Experiment

2010-05-13T07:59:00.003-06:00

Recently we have played around with the idea of doing a 100% Brettanomyces fermented beer. This definitely is not the first time it has been done, but this one will be our first. Usually beer is fermented either with a lager or ale yeast. If any wild cultures are added (either wild yeast or lactic bacteria,) most brewers have been adding them as a secondary fermentation.

We have taken a new bourbon barrel, added a light, hoppy wort, added a pitchable quantity of Brettanomyces bruxellensis and let it go. This beer should hopefully be around 5-6%. It could be a train wreck, it could be great, or anywhere in between. I guess that is why they call it an experiment. Yea craft brewing!

Catch us and other Chicago area brewers on THE CHICAGO BREWHOUSE

2010-05-11T09:08:00.004-06:00

MetroMix has recently started a blog dedicated to the voices of Chicago area brewers (all of you just shuddered knowing mostly profanity seems to be that voice!) Actually this site is still in its developmental stages, so it is a good time to get involved now. Mainly an outlet to get out ideas, information, and release info, this will give those interested a sneak peak at the musings of those like Jonathan Cutler of Piece, Jared Rouben of the Goose Island Brewpubs, and more. Check us out at http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-brewhouse/

Rare Chicago Beer Night - Wednesday, May 19th

2010-05-06T08:02:00.003-06:00

In honor of the first ever Chicago Craft Beer week, our friends at Beer Mapping (www.beermapping.com) and Hop Cast (www.hop-cast.com) have joined forces with Small Bar Fullerton, 1415 W Fullerton, to bring you a Rare Chicago Beer Night. The event features limited beers from over seven local Chicagoland craft breweries. This event is open to the public and will be pay per glass, so enjoy as many as you can before it’s gone. You’re not likely to see all of these beers on tap together anywhere else. So be sure to tell your friends and come join Beer Mapping and the Hop Cast at Small Bar Fullerton to celebrate all the great craft beer that Chicago has to offer. 6pm

AMERICAN CRAFT BEER WEEK

2010-05-04T12:22:00.002-06:00

American Craft Beer Week is almost here. To celebrate we are having a week's worth of fun events starting with a tapping on Monday May 17th at 8pm (7pm for Mug Club) of our English dark mild ale, "Slump Buster." It is a 4.5% mild (yes milds are lower, but not here!) with enough complexity to warrant a few pints of this one, so drink up.

On Tuesday, we are holding a Chef and Brewer's dinner with a fantastic menu that I can hardly wait to try. See the previous post for menu details.

We will be featuring a special price on one beer each day from Monday, May 17th to Sunday, May 23rd also.

Finally on Saturday, May 22nd we will be headed out to Crown Point Indiana to participate in the Illiana Mayfest from 4-8pm (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=359838019115&index=1)

Cheers

Bryan

Chef and Brewer's Dinner at the Station

2010-05-04T12:05:00.004-06:00

Tuesday, May 18th at 6pm will be our Chef and Brewer's Dinner to help celebrate American Craft Beer Week. It will be a four course dinner for $39. The theme for the dinner is perfect for the time of year as it is an upscale outdoor grilled menu. Chef Eduardo has outdone himself this time incorporating the beers into the recipes Before I butcher a perfectly great menu by not describing it well, let me just list it here:

Appetizer - Apple wood smoked bacon wrapped shrimp paired with the Panama Limited American Red ale.

Salad - Gandy Dancer vinaigrette atop a cilantro and black bean salad with mixed greens paired with Gandy Dancer Honey Rye ale.

Entree - Grilled Ahi tuna with a cocoa butter glaze paired with Tree Hugger Organic Cocoa brown ale / Beef tenderloin medallion with an imperial pilsner casino butter paired with .357 Imperial Pilsner

Dessert - Tamarind/IPA Sorbet paired with 1492 IPA

HopCast #91

2010-04-30T13:11:00.008-06:00

For those of you with the "Friday Afternoon Blues", the guys at the HopCast came down to the station earlier in the month for a visit and an interview with Bryan. In it you'll hear some more details about Glunz, the nitty gritty on plans for the Craft Brewers Conference (come and gone), and more about the brewery's ongoing expansion.

Check it out:

Hop Cast - Episode 91 from Hop Cast on Vimeo.

Cheers,

BloggerA

New Local Service

2010-04-30T11:30:00.003-06:00

It hasn't really come up much, but we are happy to say that Flossmoor has a new distributor!

Recently, Flossmoor was picked up by Louis Glunz Beer Inc. of the Chicagoland area. Founded in 1888, the company is one of the oldest distributors in the nation. Boasting an impressive portfolio that rivals any other, Flossmoor is happy to be represented by a company with experience distributing many upper echelon brewers including locals such as our good friends at Three Floyds.

Over the last month or so, more bottles have started making their way out and more stores will be getting stock. Be on the look out for our Stationmaster Wheat, Pullman Brown, and our very popular rotating wax dipped Brewer's Whim IPA line in stores in and around Chicagoland. The Glunz webpage is a wealth of information in regards to finding our beers. Their "Find It Near Me" feature on individual listings for beers allows you to simply type in a zipcode to find accounts they service where Flossmoor has been headed lately. Check it out!

We must give some warning though: With the transfer of stock from our old distributor, it appears as though old IPAs have been making it onto the shelves. If you happen to have bought an old IPA (In particular, we are referring to the White Wax bottles from April 2009!) dotting the shelves distributed by Glunz, we'd be happy to swap you out a newer one down at our brewpub.

Cheers,

BloggerA

WBC Pics!

2010-04-29T08:42:00.003-06:00

Departures: Pre-Dark Lord Day

2010-04-28T08:12:00.018-06:00

Well, it certainly was a big weekend in the beer world!

On April 23rd, Flossmoor Station threw it's annual Pre-Dark Lord Day celebration! With plans for a bottle release, several special drafts, live music, great food, and the opportunity for local and out of town beer enthusiasts alike to meet, trade, and relax, we hope we did not dissappoint.

The Nic Jones All-Stars rocked the house and some great beers were poured, some from the award winning barrel archives, including Killer Wood, Bourbon McElroy Stout, and Anno Unum (my personal favorite).

If you weren't able to make it out, the brewpub still has bottles of .357 Magnum Imperial Pilsner available for sale at $13 each. Hurry in though, as the .357 is a limited time offering. While you're out, be sure to try the new 1492 IPA while it's fresh and available.

More updates coming soon on Chicago's Craft Beer Week (May 17th - 23rd), new beers, and more events at Flossmoor.

Cheers,

BloggerA

Some pictures for those that could not make it down on Friday:

Outdoor Tapping Area

Bottle Sales Cave/Table

Nic Jones All-Stars Rocking Out

Trading / Sharing Area Early On

The Devil Loves Palm Sugar? Stay Tuned..

Bryan's Fancy Chalk Adverts

What a weekend...

2010-04-26T09:05:00.003-06:00

Well, judging by the fact that I saw many of you on Friday AND Saturday, I can say that many people had a great beer weekend. Thanks to all of you who made it out to the "day before" celebration and our bottle release of the .357. We definitely consider it a success and will share notes to try and make it even better next year. If there are any suggestions that anyone might have to make the experience here more enjoyable, please let us know!!

We will be uploading what pictures made it out of the weekend (either through the censors or in one piece!) soon so check back to see some of the mayhem.

Cheers!

Bryan

RAIN or SHINE

2010-04-21T08:48:00.003-06:00

It looks like rain might be a possibility for the Friday events happening here at the Station -- bring your ponchos and rubber boots! We are holding the festivities rain or shine (just under a few more tents for rain). We will selling the bottles of .357 from the basement steel rolling door south of the main entrance on sterling avenue. If there are enough people to form a line please do so towards Flossmoor road. We are still planning to have a fantastic time with this no matter what the weather.

NEXT IPA TAPPING

2010-04-14T09:16:00.000-06:00

We will be tapping 1492 IPA on Monday, April 19th at 8pm. The generous usage of Columbus hops in this American IPA have inspired the naming of this one. Please join us for pint and fun!

PRE-Dark Lord Day April 23rd

2010-04-12T09:19:00.002-06:00

There is only enough time to take a few relaxing breaths before the next big thing is here! We will be holding a party on Friday, April 23rd, NOON in celebration of our .357 Imperial Pilsner. The events will take place on the outside deck/patio near the caboose. We will begin bottle sales for this at NOON with a 6 bottle maximum. The price of the 22oz, wax topped, 12% goodness is $13 tax included. For this day only, special beers with special prices will be pouring from a draft box.

For all the out-of town guests who are (hopefully) bringing in coastal beers or other rare offerings for trade, we will be hosting a Trading Area immediately in the fenced in area around the caboose. Please be respectful of the unique opportunity and limit such trading activity to this area.

We also have the pleasure of hosting the Nic Jones All-Stars at 6pm for live music.

Can't wait to see all of you there!