Departures: End of the Line 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!)

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!!

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

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

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

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)

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,

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IPA Named!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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,

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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...

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

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

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

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,

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names in the lead so far

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

Departures: Pre-Dark Lord Day

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...

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

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

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

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!

Tapping Tomorrow

Please join Flossmoor Station for a tapping of our Tree Hugger, Organic Cocoa Brown, at 8pm. This beer is organic from the malt and hops, right down to the Madagascan Cocoa nibs. At 5.3% this lighter bodied brown has a pronounced dark chocolate aroma and flavor.

PULLMAN'S RESERVE - WORLD BEER CUP -- BRONZE

After weeks of hard work and preparation, we were not disappointed with the results of the World Beer Cup Saturday night. Pullman's Reserve was given the bronze nod in Catagory 16 - Wood and Barrel Aged Beers. A total of 34 entries made up the catagory from pales and ambers to dark beers. In total for 90 categories, 268 awards were given to delicious beers and thousands more fine beers did not. Thanks for everyone's support and patronage in this past year at Flossmoor (whew! it has already been a year!) I guess time really does fly when you are having fun.

Bryan Shimkos

New Happenings at the Station

Check this out!!

Craft Brewers Conference Tap List at Flossmoor

For the week of April 5th through April 10th, we will be featuring a select tap line dedicated to beers saved for just such an occasion. You absolutely can not miss some of these beers, as this will be the last time you will ever see them again! (ok a little dramatic, but you get the point) There will be only one style a day, with the exception of Saturday. Here are the beers:

MONDAY - The Turk (Belgian Saison)
TUESDAY - Barrel-aged 12 (Belgian Golden Strong, lightly soured)
WEDNESDAY - Darker Matter (Coffee Imperial Stout)
THURSDAY - Bourbon McElroy (Bourbon Imperial Stout)
FRIDAY - Pullman's Reserve (Bourbon barrel-aged Brown Porter)
SATURDAY - Killer Wood (Bourbon barrel-aged Baltic Porter)
Anno Unum (American Sour)

Flossmoor Brewers Past and Present at Map Room

Todd Ashman, Matt Van Wyk, and I will all be pouring a selection at the Map Room on Thursday, April 8, at 5:30pm. Todd will have his Totality Imperial Stout, Matt will have an Espresso Stout, and we will be pouring Hi-Fi Rye Wine. Each keg is only a 5 gallon keg so get there early! There will be also some cheese pairings and some small bites from the Map Room also.

Tapping Announcement

We will be tapping the Tree Hugger Organic Chocolate Brown on Tuesday, April 13th at 8pm. It is a beer brewed with all organic malt, organic Boadicea hops, and organic Madagascar Cocoa Nibs. 5.6% ABV

Day and Night of the Living Ales

Here are a few pics from this Saturday's early session at Goose:

New Stout ON

We have tapped a new stout that you may want to try....

Bourbon McElroy -- Bourbon Imperial Stout (10.5%)

Hi-Fi Rye Wine Bottle Release

We are releasing the bottles of our Hi-Fi Rye Wine on Saturday, March 20th at NOON. Hi-Fi is an 11% ABV beer similar to a barleywine, only most of this beer's grain bill was rye. 58% rye in fact. We added a very minute touch of caraway seed for a little more of the "rye bread" flavor. Hopped to balance the huge malt character with pacific northwest hops, this beer has been aging in stainless for the last three months to allow this beer to mellow and mature. This will be a limited release, so we will have a bottle limit set after the total number of cases are counted. First come, first serve.

Mick Jaggery English IPA Tapping

We will be tapping "Mich Jaggery" English IPA on WEDNESDAY, March 10th. This is an English Style IPA, which means the hop varieties used are not the citrus varieties grown in the US, but they yield floral, earthy, and flavors reminiscent of spices. The malt flavors have a more caramel-like and toasty presence than its American counterpart, to support the increased hop complexity. Since this style was invented to survive the journey from England to India, we have added Jaggery to the recipe. This is an Indian palm sugar which imparts a subtle complexity somewhat similar to light brown sugar. Clocking in at 7.5% with over 40#s of hops.

IMPORTANT DATES!!!

Thank goodness the hangover that exists between New Year's and March is OVER and the schedule is filling up. Here are some important dates to remember (some will be re-posted to emphasize the importantness of such important dates):

3/2 - Piece Barleywine Party 8pm (We will be featuring something pretty special)
3/6 - Day and Night of the Living Ales, Goose Island, 1-5pm and 5-10pm - 3 Flossmoor casks
3/10 - "Mick Jaggery" English IPA tapping 8pm
3/13 - Goose Island Stout Fest NOON - three Flossmoor brews
3/20 - Hi-Fi Rye Wine Bottle Release NOON
3/27 - B.O.S.S. Chicago Cup Homebrew Competition

New Beer Born

We are proud to announce a new specialty beer to be bottled and a release for Friday, April 23rd. ".357" Imperial Pilsner will be sold at our spring release party. It will be a 10-12%ABV strong golden lager, with European noble-style hops. We will be having live music, food, and guests from all over the country as they descend on Munster the next day for the D.L. release. Cheers!

New Beers Coming Soon

We will be tapping "The Curse", a traditional German bock beer, on February 23rd at 8pm. This is a medium to dark copper lager with caramel malt and nice lager yeast aromas. The flavor is predominately malt with a moderate hop presence in bitterness, flavor, and aroma. Bocks usually have a minimum 16P starting gravity, with The Curse weighing in at 16.4P, yielding a nice 6.3% ABV bock.

It is also our pleasure to announce that we are also tapping the "Imprompu Pale" the same evening. This is a 5.3%ABV American Pale Ale with hefty additions of Cascade hops. Medium to Medium-light body.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Beer

New Stout NOW POURING

"Up All Night" stout is now pouring at the station. This is a re-release of the Dark Matter Imperial Stout which has been aged on coffee beans for three months. Interestingly, the coffee aromas and flavors still let flavors of dark chocolate and roast malts come out. Give it a try in our goblet for a limited time!

NEW IPA ON SHELVES NOW!!!

Our newest (and now award winning) IPA, "Hoppy, Hoppy, Joy, Joy" is out on shelves today, even if it is our own shelves! It is a royal purple was and is not the same as the Celebration IPA with the same color released quite awhile ago. Currently we are going solo on this batch, but if we have to sell all of the cases bottled right here through our pub, than so be it.

That brings me to another point (rant).... DO NOT AGE IPAs!!! IPAs are meant to be drank fresh and consumed before the hop character has faded. Has anyone ever read the label on a Russian River IPA? They only state this 20 or more times. There is no benefit to aging IPAs. Your wait will be rewarded with muted hops and dashed hopes. Do not patronize locations where they have a wide assortment of our IPAs - that means two things...1) they must charge an arm and a leg for them otherwise they would move (I have heard reports of a $17 of 2008 IPA near Wrigleyville!!!) and 2) they are irresponsibly buying (or being irresponsibly sold) this style of beer. Each one is 1-2 months older than the last, do you really want an old IPA? Aged beers are good if they are the right style - IPA is not that style. So, in conclusion as I get off my soap box, DO NOT AGE YOUR IPAS!!!

2010 CBS Brewpub Shootout Showing

The 12th Annual Chicagoland Brewpub Shootout took place on Saturday the 23rd and from all expectations another success. When the results come out in full I can post them, but for my first time I was pleasantly surprised. A 2nd for Best Beer for "Hoppy, Hoppy, Joy, Joy, IPA" and 2nd in best beer/food pairing (which is why we were all there) for a "Apple-smoked Bacon-wrapped Firey Shrimp over Asian Slaw, with a Dry-hopped Panama Red Ale." Thanks to all of you who came out an voted. A definite "can't miss" event for all of those who have the opportunity.

Out with the old(er) and in with the New

The delicious Devout Stout Oatmeal Stout developed and brewed by Asst. Brewer Richard Grant is currently on is down to the last keg. If you are trying to get this before it is out now is the time. After this one has poured, there will be a Coffee Imperial Stout making its debut. We have a limited amount of this as this was a portion of the Dark Matter that was saved and aged on coffee beans.

HAPPY NEW BEER

Hope everyone had a great time ringing in the new year, I know I did. With the new year comes an announcement of another beer on tap. The bourbon barrel aged "12" is now on and pouring. It is a 16 month aged Belgian-style Golden Strong Ale. Look for it next time you're at the station!