Radical Beer Open

We won another award!

The first ever Radical Beer Open was recently held in New Mexico.

http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002928.php

"Champions of radical beer

Beers on the wild side star in Radical Beer Open

May 22, 2006 - Beers from 10 different states captured the 12 awards handed out in the first Radical Beer Open, a contest born to highlight the fact that some of the most innovative beers in the world are brewed in America.
...Certified beer judges and professional brewers judged 60 beers blind before picking three winners in each of four categories. The book "Radical Brewing," by Randy Mosher, provided the inspiration. In it, Mosher writes: "The only requirement for being a radical brewer is to pursue the art with passion," and ". . . beer is an art form, a gastronomic treasure, a political act, a mystical ritual, a food, and a fundamental human craft."

We won bronze in the "Wild" category with De Wilde Zuidentrein, the same beer we won Silver with at the World Beer Cup.

CATEGORY 4 - WILD
Gold - Le Woody, Port Brewing, Solana Beach, California
Silver - La Folie, New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, Colorado
Bronze - De Wilde Zuidentrein, Flossmoor Station Brewing Co., Flossmoor, Illinois

Duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh MUG CLUB

It coming! Look, Over there! The Mug Club!

MUG CLUB

If you brew it, they will come!

So our newest seasonal offering is the elusive biere de garde. (fyi-next up is a hefeweizen). This hard to find style of beer is new to many craft beer drinkers, even if they have been at it for a while. Originating in the Flanders region (north) of France, Biere de Garde is a farmhouse-style ale brewed in the spring on self sustaining farms with the intention of supplying the family and workers throughout the summer months when it was too hot to brew. Therefore they needed to have a little higher alcohol content. Ranging from golden to brown these malty beers are mostly characterized by a complex maltiness and little to no hop character. Some examples have a spicy or herbal character and could even be earthy or musty from long periods of storage. Most examples you will find bottle conditioned in corked and hooded bottles, a possible connection to the nearby champagne region??
Well that's the history lesson for the day. My question is, will anybody drink it? People are wary of things they don't understand. Unless our customers are the adventurous type, they may not take it out for a spin. Plus, it's pretty easy for our servers to explain a golden ale, a pale ale, a stout-but what about this style that they have never tried, let alone heard of. It's very drinkable. Heck, in layman's terms, a biere de garde can be called a French/Belgian amber ale. It's not hoppy, it's not roasty, it's not too high in alcohol, it's not offensive in the slightest. And the best part about this style is that it is not boring either. so... will you try it?

Current Tap List 5/16/06 HOT DAMN! 3 Belgians on at once

I hope you all like to drink Belgian style beers because we are currently pouring three at once!

In the last installment to our three part belgian series we introduce Avante Garde Biere de Garde

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

Leftorium Flanders Style Sour Brown (5% abv)
A brown ale with shades of red and auburn, Leftorium has been brewed in the style of a Flemish sour brown then laid down in a French Oak white wine barrel to gain added complexity. Notes of sour fruit should dance around on the pallet as you enjoy the slightly malty body, offset by a unique sour and tart finish. Served in a tulip glass for $4.25.

Imperial Dwarf IPA (7% abv)
Since you hop heads can't seem to get enough, we are trying our best to keep an IPA of one kind or another on year round. This is out newest incarnation. As mentioned before, Imperial Dwarf is made with 100% Summit dwarf hops, a new variety from Brewer Supply Group. It's citrusy like many high alpha hops, but Summit tends towards the orange and tangerine spectrum rather than grapefruit like Amarillo does. There are a lot of hops, but plenty of body to balance them out.

Zon Jager Wit Beer
It's spring time damnit! It's time to drink a beer that makes you think about warm weather. Zon Jager is a hazy Belgian-style Wit with a pale orange complextion. It's spiced with lemon and orange peel as well as coriander and secret spices. It finishes clean and refreshing with just a hint of bitterness and clocks in at 5% abv.

Brilliant! Dry Irish Stout
It's that time of year again. When the south siders parade about, when they dye the river green, and when your friends think it's cool to pretend they are Irish. To commerate we are offering Brilliant!, a opaque and creamy stout with a silky mouthfeel. It's served on nitrogen so watch for cascades, and erin go bleargh!

Beer on the Pier pictures

Thanks to those of you that came out. I hope you all enjoyed the beer AND that it moves you to make a trip down to Flossmoor. Here are a few pictures from the fest.

Beer on the Pier Saturday, May 13th

Look for us at Beer on the Pier this coming Saturday at Navy Pier.

There are two sessions:

Session 1 12:00pm-4:00pm
Session 2 6:00pm-10:00pm

Tickets are $35.00 ahead of schedule and $45.00 (eeks!) day of for each session.
We will be pouring Imperial Dwarf IPA, Pullman Brown, and Zon Jager Wit.

http://www.beeronthepier.com/

American Craft Beer Week May 15th-21st

To celebrate American Craft Beer Week, Flossmoor Station will be offering the following:

• Free Brewery tours Monday through Thursday at 7pm
• Beer of the day specials for $3/pint
• Monday, Gandy Dancer Honey Rye Ale
• Tuesday, Avante Garde Biere de Garde
• Wednesday, Zon Jager Belgian style Wit
• Thursday, Pullman Brown
• Friday, Imperial Dwarf IPA
• Saturday, Leftorium Flanders Style Sour Brown
• Sunday, Panama Red

And along with American Craft Beer week is the Great American Beer Tour.

So get out and visit your local brewery or brewpub, even if it isn't us; there is a lot of good beer out there to be drank.

Current Tap List 5/2/06

Leftorium Flanders Style Sour Brown (5% abv)
A brown ale with shades of red and auburn, Leftorium has been brewed in the style of a Flemish sour brown then laid down in a French Oak white wine barrel to gain added complexity. Notes of sour fruit should dance around on the pallet as you enjoy the slightly malty body, offset by a unique sour and tart finish. Served in a tulip glass for $4.25.

Imperial Dwarf IPA (7% abv)
Since you hop heads can't seem to get enough, we are trying our best to keep an IPA of one kind or another on year round. This is out newest incarnation. As mentioned before, Imperial Dwarf is made with 100% Summit dwarf hops, a new variety from Brewer Supply Group. It's citrusy like many high alpha hops, but Summit tends towards the orange and tangerine spectrum rather than grapefruit like Amarillo does. There are a lot of hops, but plenty of body to balance them out.

Zon Jager Wit Beer
It's spring time damnit! It's time to drink a beer that makes you think about warm weather. Zon Jager is a hazy Belgian-style Wit with a pale orange complextion. It's spiced with lemon and orange peel as well as coriander and secret spices. It finishes clean and refreshing with just a hint of bitterness and clocks in at 5% abv.

Brilliant! Dry Irish Stout
It's that time of year again. When the south siders parade about, when they dye the river green, and when your friends think it's cool to pretend they are Irish. To commerate we are offering Brilliant!, a opaque and creamy stout with a silky mouthfeel. It's served on nitrogen so watch for cascades, and erin go bleargh!

Leftorium is coming!

Starting tonight, May 2nd, we will put Leftorium, our Flanders-style sour brown on tap. Leftorium has been aged in white wine barrels and has a unique but refreshing sourness to it. We will be serving it in tulip glasses for $4.25/glass. Soon you will be able to have our Zon Jager Belgian-style Wit, Leftorium, and French Farmhouse style Biere de Garde (look for a tapping in a matter of weeks) all at the same time.