The Galway Tribes Beer Dinner....

FEATURING FLOSSMOOR STATION BREWING COMPANY'S FINE HANDCRAFTED ALES.

TUESDAY APRIL 24th

6:30PM

5 COURSE DINNER PAIRED WITH 5-7 BEERS

$45 +TAX/TIP

CALL 815-464-9881 or go to www.thegalwaytribes.com to make reservations.

The Galway Tribes

9680 Lincoln Way Lane

Frankfort, IL

I'll post the dinner menu as soon as I can. Don't worry, it's gonna be great!! And it may sell out-so hurry and make reservations!

Tap List 3/27/07

Blanche DuBois (5.5% abv)
A painfully delicious Belgian-style wit spiced with coriander and two types of orange peel. Citrusy, crisp, and very thirst quenching, this beer is slightly hazy and perfect for the beginning of spring.

X-IPA (8.0% abv)

You know it, you love it, you ask us for it every time we don't have it on. It's X-IPA, our 100% Amarillo hop bomb. It's not subtle, it's not weak, and if it's at all like our last IPA it won't be on tap for long.

Killer Kowalski Baltic Porter (8.3% abv)
Our deep, dark, full-bodied lager. A slightly bittersweet chocolate aroma with a malty body that hints at dark fruits. It's complex and very enjoyable with a touch of roast finish. This may be the best beer we make all year long.

Social Lubricator Dopplebock (7.2% abv)
A malty, caramel colored German lager with a medium body and a crisp lager finish. Subtle roast and caramel malt aroma that remind you of fresh baked bread or toffee. Loosen up and get out of the cold with a tall glass of this special treat.

1st Annual Chicago AleFest

We'll be there along with other Chicagoland breweries and some distributors who will be pouring things like Dogfish Head, Founders, New Holland, Allagash, Westmalle, Youngs, and Many more!

Saturday April 14th 1PM-6PM

Arlington Park RaceTrack

Music, food, raffles, silent auction.

$15 gets you in plus six samples. $5 for every three samples beyond that.

We are selling tickets. Stop by to get yours.

Come Celebrate Brew Year's Eve

On April 7th, 1933 President Roosevelt signed the legislation for the repeal of the Volstead Act which ended prohibition(at least for beer up to 3.2% by weight-spirits and wine came in December). Because of this, we can enjoy fresh brewed pints of our favorite drink-BEER! So, come and join us on Saturday April 7th as we celebrate this very important event in American History. We'll have:

*$3.00 pints of beer all day

*Great special menu

*Live Music starting at 9:30 PM

*A possible showing of the documentary produced by Ken Burns and Roger Sherman called “The American Brew: The Rich and Surprising History of Beer in America”

See you there!

Cut Up the Barrel Polka

Yesterday while Matt and I were hauling out two used bourbon barrels, two of the hoops came off of one of them on it's trip upstairs. My interest was piqued and I decided to tear it apart to see what they look like on the inside. Here are the results.









I kept a few staves with the intention of chipping them up later this year and using for woodchips in our smoker.

First Day of Spring (Con't)

I just got back from Germany and Italy. It was a fantastic trip. Nothing was bad. I even saw John Mayer walking down the street in Venice. I've decided to post a link to my vacation photos rather than throw a ton of them up here on the blog. Flickr Set




The wit we made is coming along nicely and should marry well with the upcoming warmer weather. Our Hoppy Little Gnomish beer we made is also maturing well and should be a very interesting Experiment #2 for the year. It's looking like a 10% belgiany hoppy I.P.A. Trippelish kind of thing.

April is coming up fast and should be a blast with the amount of things we having going on.

Tap List 3/20/07 First Day of Spring

Milky Way Stout (5.5% abv)

A milk stout that we have brought back from almost two years ago. Creamy, chocolaty, and a little sweetness makes for a very drinkable sweet stout.

X-IPA (8.0% abv)

You know it, you love it, you ask us for it every time we don't have it on. It's X-IPA, our 100% Amarillo hop bomb. It's not subtle, it's not weak, and if it's at all like our last IPA it won't be on tap for long.

Killer Kowalski Baltic Porter (8.3% abv)
Our deep, dark, full-bodied lager. A slightly bittersweet chocolate aroma with a malty body that hints at dark fruits. It's complex and very enjoyable with a touch of roast finish. This may be the best beer we make all year long.

Social Lubricator Dopplebock (7.2% abv)
A malty, caramel colored German lager with a medium body and a crisp lager finish. Subtle roast and caramel malt aroma that remind you of fresh baked bread or toffee. Loosen up and get out of the cold with a tall glass of this special treat.

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

SHAMROCK STOUT

Sorry all you St. Paddy's day revelers. Flossmoor Station will NOT have green beer on Saturday. We will however have plenty of corned beef and cabbage and a keg of Shamrock stout(starting Friday at 5PM). This is our Iron Horse Stout aged on fresh mint leaves. (Hey McDonalds can do it to ice cream-why not beer?)

Join us for live music and great food and few pints o' gold!

Night of the Living Ales

Congrats to Three Floyds, this year's winner of NOTLA. They won first place with their Admiral Lord Nelson.
We were lucky enough to eeek out a second place vote for X-IPA, last year's winner, over Bear Republic's Racer X. Bear Republic is the reigning 2006 Small Brewery of the year from GABF.

Updated Calender of Events

March 10th: Mug Club Morning Breakfast Stout Tapping, @ the Station 10am
Don't miss the chance to have your breakfast and drink it too. $10.95 gets you a mug of Milky Way and a full breakfast buffet.

April 7th: Repeal of Prohibition Fest, Schlafly Brewing St. Louis Mo. 1:00-6:00 p.m.
We have been invited along with Piece and Mickey Finn's to represent Chicago at this annual celebration of the best piece of legislation congress has ever passed. ROADTRIP!

April 14th: Alefest @ Arlington Park, Arlington Heights Il
Alefest has been put on in Dayton OH for many years and is now coming to Chicagoland. More details to follow.

April 18th-21st: Craft Brewer's Conference, Austin Tx.
BBQ, music, and beer learning. Last year it was in Seattle, this year we head south to Texas.

April 24th: Beer dinner @ Galway Tribes in Frankfort Il 6pm-10pm
We haven't had a beer dinner in a while but look forward to this one at one of our favorite Irish Pubs.

April 27th: Night Before Dark Lord Day, Flossmoor Station
Those guys across the border that make those "not normal" beers are releasing 2007's Dark Lord upon the masses the next day. If you're going to drive all the way in from Florida, Kentucky, Arizona, Connecticut, Arkansas, Texas, and God knows where else; then why not come down the road a bit and say "Hi" to us? We'll make it worth your while. We are the Best Small Brewpub in the U.S.

The Session

I felt like I should jump on the beer blogging bandwagon and join in the first installment of The Session. Here was the original idea from Appelation Beer:
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Time for a beer blogging day

All the best ideas end up with beer.

Food bloggers have their own cooking day once a month. Wine bloggers have Wine Blogging Wednesday.

It seems that beer bloggers around the world should have something similar. So let’s start one, an event that will occur on the first Friday of every month. It doesn’t have to have a name (yet) or a logo (like wine), just participants who want to have a little fun and don’t mind learning a little along the way.

Appellation Beer will host the first tasting March 2 (giving us time to get out the word), and the theme will be “Not your father’s Irish stout.”

There aren’t many rules. Simply pour yourself a stout (or stouts) and post on the topic March 2, looking ahead to St. Patrick’s Day or not and writing about any stout that isn’t Guinness, Murphy’s or Beamish (the Irish old guard - good beers but we’re writing about others). Should you worry about style? About getting the opinion of friends, about writing an official tasting note, about food? About the history of the beer or how its made? All optional.

After we do this a couple of months different bloggers will likely find different approaches we are comfortable with.

If you think you might participate please leave a comment or drop me an e-mail. Then invite a friend to participate too. After you post on March 2 send me the URL and I’ll write a wrap up with links to all the posts.

Alan McLeod of A Good Beer Blog will host the April gathering, announcing the theme shortly after March 2. If you have an idea for a monthly tasting, and particularly if you want to volunteer to be a host, send me an e-mail.

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So Flossmoor's is going to be dedicated to our Milk Stout, debuting Saturday, March 10th at 10 in the a.m. in conjuction with a breakfast buffet. Mug Clubber's will be able to pay $10.95 for the food and a mug of our new stout.

Milky Way is a sweet stout or milk stout, made with lactose (milk sugar), which is unfermentable to yeast. Consequently the beer has a creamy and sweet flavor that is a fine contrast to the roasty stout body. It also means that if you are lactose intolerant, you might consider staying away or bringing your Lactaid® with you. It's a stout that is easy to drink, lighter on the alcohol that our other current seasonals, and a beer that reminds you of coffee, chocolate, and candy. I will be in Germany for the tapping, so please make sure that there is some left for me when I get back.

p.s. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this Sunday is Goose Island Stoutfest.

Goose Island StoutFest 2007 to Benefit ICBG

So Night of the Living Ales wasn't enough for you? Then join us at Goose Island Clybourn (1800 N. Clybourn Ave., Chicago) for StoutFest 2007 and enjoy more than 30 different stouts from 20 local breweries! Doors open to Goose Island MBA members at noon and to the general public at 1:00 p.m. Tickets (limited quantities!) are $30 and are available by calling Goose Island Clybourn at 312-915-0071. Proceeds benefit the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild.