Oregon Travels-The Conclusion

So today I'll wrap this up as Andrew is surely ready to document his trip for meat in Memphis this past weekend. If you're picking up the story at this point, you may want to scroll down and see how the first of our trip played out.

So, the weekend was upon us and we did several things on Sat and Sun-Cinco de Mayo party(you don't have to drink Corona in Oregon-who knew?), King Estate Winery, and the Bier Stein.
Check out the Stein if ever in Eugene. It is a bar/package liqour store with the biggest selection in town. There are ten draft lines, a small bar, and several High top tables. Then there are rows of coolers packed with beers from around the world(they may be up to around 800 different beers). The best part is that you can grab a beer from the cooler and either take it to go or sit down and tip it back with a friend. Chip Hardy is doing some great things in Eugene.

Monday was our trip into the mountains toward Bend. We were going to Deschutes Brewery, Silver Moon where a good friend of Matt Lee's (former FSBC assistant)-Evan Taylor-brews, and Bend Brewing Co.

The weather was wonderful all weekend and Monday was no different.

We went right to Deschutes, a regional microbrewery who is growing by leaps and bounds(maybe 4 times the size of Goose Island). You might know several of their beers with probably the most well known, Black Butte Porter.

We got the deluxe treatment at Deschutes and were toured around by Paul, a principal brewer who's main duties were in the brewpub in town. The have an older 50 barrel brewhouse and a newer 150 barrel state of the art Huppman brewhouse which is controlled by computers. Just for reference, ours is 15 barrels!! Here are some pix of the old system and the new.

OLD (50 barrels)

NEW(150 barrels):

A picture from the hop cooler at Deschutes. They ONLY use whole leaf hops. This roomed smelled wonderful!

Paul, you lead a great tour!

These computers run the new brewery. A back saver for sure!

This 600 barrel fermentor holds my yearly production. Man we are small!
A couple of little men walking amongst the trees.

A bird's eye view of the bottling line.

Checkin out Deschutes brewpub downtown.

After lunch at Deschutes and sampling many of their beers, we met up with Evan Taylor who is a brewer at Silver Moon Brewery in Bend. Silver Moon has been open about five years and recently opened a tasting room to go along with their homebrew shop. Evan is a college friend of Matt Lee who used to work with me. He moved to Bend and pounded the pavement to find a brewing job and, like the rest of us, worked his way up from the bottom. Here's a picture of us checking out his brewing system.

Everyone seems to have a hopback in the West. Must be nice.

Wouldn't it be great to have open space in a brewery. Must be nice!

So we also walked over to Bend Brewing Co. We forgot to get the camera out, but we found that Tanya is brewing in tight quarters and despite that is making great beers. She won the gold last year at GABF.

After a quick day to Bend, we had to coast back down the mountain so we could fly back to the flatlands on Tuesday. All this and not even a stop in Portland. I hope this shows you that:

A) you have to travel to Oregon

B) you have to focus on the beer

C) give yourself plenty of time

D) leave your suburban anger and aggression behind. People drive slower, people are friendly despite our view of midwest vs. the coasts, and beer flows from every rock, tree, and crevice.

Get yourself there and enjoy!

Cheers!

Matt and Jenni

On the Road-Part Deux

So if you've been following our blog lately, you got the beginning of my trip to Oregon story. This will continue into day two when I visited a few breweries in Eugene Oregon.

For those who haven't been with us for a while, you of course are cursed by the downfall of this scrolling blog and you have to look down for part one of my journey. Go ahead, we'll wait....

Good, you're back. So we set out to visit some breweries on Friday since I knew it might be hard to catch people on the weekend. First we cruised down to Eugene City Brewery. This is the former West Bros. brewery which was bought as a Rogue Outpost. The beauty is that Trevor (met for the first time this trip) gets to brew 5-6 of his own beers, while having a full back bar of Rogue beers. Those that are familiar with Rogue know that that can be quite a draw, and once you have 'em in the door-whamo, they'll be hooked on your great beer, or so we hope. Anyway, we got the full tour and were treated very well. I think I had about 25 samplers-they had a lot of beer! You can see from a few of these pics though that the brewing system is a little "pieced together". Not so much a showpiece for people to ooh and ahh over, but it gets the job done. Trevor had some great beers on Tap.

Next was Steelhead(sorry no pics-we have been here several times), probably the closest brewpub to what we have here at Flossmoor. Not upscale, but definitely some work was put into the menu and decor. Ted is the new brewer here and doing great stuff. I had a delicious Baltic Porter. Ted replaced long-time (16 years I think??) brewer Teri Fahrendorf (yes a woman-and a woman who makes great beer). See here blog about her new upcoming adventure.

After that, we stopped to pick up a growler at McMennamins-High Street. If you haven't been to one, check out their website. It's a big chain, but they are far from it. Each location is unique and they tend to take historic buildings and make them into brewpubs. Schools, theaters, houses, you name it. High Street is in a residential neighborhood and it looks just like any old house in a college hood, until you get closer, it is a brewpub. The best spot is out back where you can sit on the deck with a beer and dip some tater tots in peppercorn ranch dressing. Heaven! Seriously, you'd think you went to your buddies house to sit on the back porch. Only your buddy has a draft system with 8 craft beers on tap and his wife is serving you for 20%.

Finally we met up with Jamie Floyd. No, not a long lost brother to the ones in Munster. This guy was the brewer at Steelhead for maybe nine years. He has started his own brewery, Ninkasi, and is doing quite well. Currently he leases a brewery to make draft only beer for the market while he builds his own brewery in Eugene. Here are some pics of the construction:

Jamie also stays busy with the Oregon Brewers Guild and was great to take time out of his brewing and construction hassle for us.
You will be hearing more of Ninkasi in the future if you follow the craft beer scene in America.

Finally we took our growlers home and enjoyed a great day of beer hunting. Dang! Two days down and it feels like we put a week's worth of sampling great beer. What's next.....? -winery, mountains, Bend and Deschutes..and more!

Tap List 5/15/07

HopSmack (8.5% abv)
It's really hoppy. It's an Imperial Reddish beer that has a lot of hops in it.

Hoppy Little Gnome (10% a.b.v.)
A beautiful marriage between American and Belgian beer, Hoppy Little Gnome is our nod to Belgian brewers that are nodding right back at us. Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Trippel and Urthel's Hop It are two belgian beers that are big on American hops. Ours leans closer to Chouffe with it's abbey trippel style dry body but is full of Amarillo, Saaz, and Columbus hops. This is IPA Experiment #2 this year.

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.

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.

Everyone needs a vacation.......

...even if someone does pay you to make beer for a living!Ever wonder why people love Oregon and the Pacific Northwest? Sure, sure the beer is great, but look at that view. This is on our way from Eugene to Bend when we stopped to "get rid of some coffee." Views like this even make the burned out forest around it look beautiful. And I'm talking about the mountain, not my wife Jenni-though that is nice too!


Anyway, my wife and I spent six gorgeous days drinking our way across Oregon. We ran into some GREAT people, some fellow brewers and some not, drank GREAT beer, and generally had a relaxing weekend with my brother and sister-in-law.





Our first stop from PDX (on the ONLY rainy/cloudy day of the week) was in Pacific City Oregon at the Pelican Brewery whre multi-award winning brewer, Darron Welch crafts some of the finest ales you've seen. Darron has been the small brewpub brewer of the year at the Great American Beer Festival and last year won Large Brewpub Brewer of the year. The view from their patio is literally staring straight at Japan-see:









That is a large rock-not Japan. But I guess the surfer's love this little cove and even the staff have surfboards hanging out of there cars in the parking lot. We got the full tour and even got to take a look at their old and newer bottling systems. I paid close attention...hmmmm..bottles of Flossmoor Beer. Maybe some day. Here's what they bottle on:







Formerly tricked out by Avery Brewing in Boulder Colorado. Now Darron packages great beer on it. As a send off, Darron raided the "aging cooler" and was kind enough to send us of with some great vintage treats. Thanks Darron!

Next it was on the Eugene. We took the scenic route through Corvallis and arrived at Jenni's sisters' house Thursday night. Waiting in the fridge was a bottle of Oak Aged Abyss from Deschutes and a Collaboration Not Litigation Ale from both Avery and Russian River. I think this is going to be a good trip!



Gratuitous photo of my nephew Javin (hey we stayed at his house-he made me!)




Ain't he cute.














Next edition, I'll tell you about Friday when I visited the brewers of Eugene.

Holla

Matt has been in Oregon since Thursday and will be back tomorrow, maybe if you're good he'll tell you about his trip. It sounds like it was pretty fun. Apparently they have some good beer there.

It was really hot today. If this weather keeps up it means the start of two-shirt days. One shirt just won't cut it and if you have to ride the train home from an hour and a half a sweaty shirt is the last thing you want.

I transferred Hopsmack today and it will be ready for our tapping on Thursday. It's an obscenely bitter beer. It might be too hoppy. You'll have to come by and judge for yourself.

With this hotter weather also comes Hefeweizen. We are making twice as much as last year so hopefully we should be able to have it on all summer.

Where does the time go?

It's been pretty crazy since we got back from St. Louis the last time we checked in with you here at internet.com. We went to Austin for the Craft Brewer's Conference. We were at Alefest at the Arlington racetrack. We had a beer dinner at Galways Tribes, and I worked Dark Lord day at Three Floyds. It's been busy to say the least. So here are some updates.

Alefest went better than I anticipated. There were some hangups with the organizing of the event which led to a shortened advertising period but overall things went really well. The turnout was decent and I'm confident that if it happens again next year that there will be a lot more people than this year. Arlington Park is a great venue and everyone got a chance to sample almost all of the Replicales for this year.

The CBC in Austin was amazing. I had 8 bbq meals in 5 days and I wish I could have had one or two more. I have sold Texas bbq short in the past but it is a mighty force to be reckoned with. In addition to gorging ourselves on smoked meat, we learned a lot at the various seminars and talks that are offered each year. My two highlights were from two Anheuser-Bush folks who gave talks about hops and malting. Whether or not you enjoy drinking their beers they have some incredibly educated staff and I felt very fortunate to be able to sit in on those presentations. CBC pictures can be found here.

On April 24th we had a beer dinner at Galway Tribes in Frankfort which went swimmingly. Those that came got to sample De Zuidentrein Frambozenbier, Blanche DuBois, Young Sarge, Wooden Hell, Pullman Brown, and Hoppy Little Gnome, all hand paired with dishes by Galway's Chef.







The night before DLD we had a very good crowd of travelers come in from all over the US to check us out before the mayhem began the next day in Munster, IN. A heartfelt thanks goes out to those of you who came and if you continue to show up the night before Dark Lord Day, we will continue to make it worth your while.

I worked DLD for the Floyds guys and it was certainly a spectacle.






If you have never made the treck to Munster you by all means should, and if you think you know what a parking lot of crazy people looks like, you don't unless you've been to Dark Lord Day.

Updates are Coming

I promise....

Schlafly Weekender

So we went to St. Louis and froze our asses off.

Well, there was quite a bit more than that, but for about a full day it certainly seemed like that. We actually had a really great time, and the folks at Schlafly were amazing hosts. We got invited down to St. Louis to represent Chicagoland beer at their annual Repeal of Prohibition Festival. The drive down was quick, and you know that you are in a different town when you hit downtown on a Friday, at 5:30, and there is absolutely no traffic. It was a pleasant surprise.

Schlafly didn't let us pay for anything the whole weekend despite our best efforts. Once we unloaded our beers, they handed us a pint of theirs and gave us a tour of The Bottleworks, their newer brewpub/production facility.





We socialized with the staff, had a great dinner, and turned in for the night all praying that it might get a little bit warmer the next day. The next morning, it was still horrendously cold. But people still showed up! It was a great turn out. Everyone had great compliments for our Chicago beers, especially the Schlafly brewers, which always makes you feel good.




(Tap room head brewer, Stephen and his wife, Sarah enjoy warm food on a cold day)

After the fest, we swung by this little hole in the wall BBQ place called Smokin' Al's. In my experience, the worse a BBQ place looks on the outside, the better the food is on the inside. Smokin' Al's did not disappoint. They make one of the best burnt ends sandwiches I have ever had. If you are around St. Louis, and you love real BBQ it should not be missed.

We checked out the Taproom downtown, their original location, and got a very cool tour of the facilities there too. More good beer, more good food, more good times. From the Taproom we headed over to Square One, a newer brewpub in St. Louis that is celebrating its first anniversary. We unfortunately didn't have much time to spend there because it was already getting late, but the grand cru I had was tasting good. It's good to see more beer outlets popping up in St. Louis.

But the whole weekend was a very good time, and I hope that some of the Schlafly crew come up to Chicago sometime soon so that we can repay the gracious hospitality.

Tap List 4/11/07

Hoppy Little Gnome (10% a.b.v.)
A beautiful marriage between American and Belgian beer, Hoppy Little Gnome is our nod to Belgian brewers that are nodding right back at us. Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Trippel and Urthel's Hop It are two belgian beers that are big on American hops. Ours leans closer to Chouffe with it's abbey trippel style dry body but is full of Amarillo, Saaz, and Columbus hops. This is IPA Experiment #2 this year.

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) [almost gone]
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.

House Character Pt. Drei

Some more responses to post:

Stan Hieronymus said...

Shame on me. I came to this topic late, was slow to add a comment and now it is wrapped up.

I hope to see the discussion continued (here and elsewhere). It might be something to talk about as you introduce your beers.

I would argue that the issues of house character and how many beers you can brew well (which is a question I've heard European brewers ask) are different.

Why can't you have a house character and brew a bunch of different beers over the course of a year? You just wouldn't expect them all to show that character.

So you might choose to leave your brewing water unmodified (or less modified), use the same yeast, etc. for some beers. And if you wanted to emulate beer from a particular region then you'd mess with the water, change the yeast and so on.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Greg Furgason
I don't think having a house flavor is as important as having a reputation for producing well crafted beers, which the two of you obviously have; and rightfully should have. There definitely is a different culture in Europe surrounding beer, ie how it is priced, what is available at which pub, etc. I enjoy a great deal of European beers, but I have the luxury of having the variety of choice at a good liquor store. For a brewery I would say maybe it would be better to not have a house character but a flagship beer. Something that is available all the time that is recognized as a great brew, like the Pullman has been recently. In the past I would say the Iron Horse was the most popular.
Personally I would like to see more specials rotated through. Right now is great because you have 4 on tap. When there are only 2 available it gets tough to choose which beer I want. If you were to analyze sales of the house beers and see which ones were not as popular, I would not be offended to see one or two of them disappear or become specials in favor of a larger rotation of the special/seasonal brews.
Regardless, you both do an excellent job and give me plenty of reason to stop in for a pint and bite to eat.
Cheers!
-----------------------------------------------------
I agree with Rich's posting. I think the House Character of Flossmoor Station Brewery is having your 6 or 7 wonderful standards and two or three others to try. It is a bit like Christmas each time we come in and see what is new on the board. We try a sample of each one and decide what we want. When we find something we're nuts about it is a challenge to see how many times we can come back and have another pint or two before it is gone. But when it is gone there are always a couple wonderful new choices from which to choose. There is something for every taste. We've never left disappointed. Keep up the good work!
- Jen
------------------------------------------------------

So in conslusion, there is no conclusion. I heard about a place in St. Louis that uses Kölsch yeast for all for all of their beers. I don't know who the brewery is or why they chose to do that, but that would certainly be a distinct house character. I like doing a little bit of everything and I think we do it pretty well. And we have a few medals that say we do a pretty good job too. If more comments or opinions trickle in, I'll be happy to post them.

House Character pt 2

Okay so I have received some responses from you faithful readers. I'm still holding out for more but here is what we have so far.

Just a couple of comments on your "House Character" question.

I tend to agree with you that a wide variety of styles is better. I can't imagine that the brewers at Orval continue to find their profession exciting. They only do one beer. They certainly have perfected that recipe and made a great brew, but my God, how boring it must be to do that every day! A brewery like Three Floyds has their regular lineup that they do all the time, but what makes them interesting for me is the small batch experiments that they do for the pub. Just looking at the variety that they had on tap last week, you had your pick of a coffee stout, an ESB and some kind of weird belgian pale ale experiment. They may never brew those beers again, but that's why I keep going back there. That is also why I keep going back to Flossmoor. Your regular brews are all great, but I've had them all so many times that they've lost my interest. It's the seasonals and the one-offs that draw me in.

Personally I haven't noticed a particular quality that runs throughout all of your beers, which I think is good. I think the only times when a house character is noticeable is when it's not all that pleasant. There is a small brewery here in Indiana that I think has a problem with that. It just makes all the beers taste too similar, and not in a good way.

Just my 2 cents.

Jeff

---------------------------------------

Anonymous
Both sides of the debate have valid points I think. In older countries the people would identify more with tradition whereas in the U.S. this is all new. Better to challenge beer drinkers since they come to your brewpub looking to taste new creations. There's always a sad macrobrew that can be spectacularly countered by a far more intense style of craft beer. In Europe the beer drinking culture never collapsed as it did in the late 20th century here in the U.S. until by the force of entropy craft brewing arose.

-----------------------

Andrew & Matt, Isn't the problem of a brewery developing a house flavor more like crating your own boring little flavor world? Maybe if you are catering to a small market. But we here in America love diversity. Where would Starbucks be without it? Keep on brewing the fantastic beers you're making now. They're great. Stop worrying and go have a beer.
Jerry S.

-----------------------

I like it when you have three to four special beers along with your standards. I always like to try the new ones. When I’m with people who may not be as daring or who don’t appreciate other styles of beers, they like your standards.

Rich

I'm still not sure that I have the answer I'm looking for but I appreciate the comments and I will continue to post whatever else comes in. My personal conviction is that while I certainly appreciate house character, I seek it out when I can in the right context, I have experienced it in Belgium, Germany, and other countries, I lean heavily towards diversity when it's up to me to make beer. Unless your house character is "making totally awesome beers," in which case I'm all for that.

I'm just about out the door to St. Louis as I type this. We are serving up our wares from Mickey Finn's, Piece, and Flossmoor down at Schlafly this weekend at their repeal of prohibition festival. I just hope we stay warm.....


Keep the comments coming and maybe I can reach a satisfying conclusion.

Jenlain Beer Supper at HopLeaf / Do American Breweries Need a "House Character"

This Sunday I got a cool chance to meet and talk to a French brewer named Jean-Jacques Giard, of Brasserie Duyck. My girlfriend and I had responded to a message sent out from Shelton Bros. distributor, Ron Extract, inviting us to sup' with Jean-Jacques, (and whomever else answered the invitation), and drink three of the very enjoyable beers that his small Northern French brewery produces. The venue was the Hopleaf, in the Northside's Andersonville neighborhood, long known as one of the best beer bars in Chicago.


(sorry about the darkness of the photos, the French are afraid of flash photography as a people)

Jean-Jacques spoke a little about his family owned, 4th generation brewery, and a little about the beers, two biere-de-gardes, an amber and a blonde, and an abbey ale known as St. Druon French Abbey Ale. They were all solid beers and we certainly enjoyed more than the $20 entrance fee we paid.



When I quizzed Jean-Jacques about why he was in the States, he said that it wasn't really to promote his beer, although the dinner did serve that function to some degree, it was more to try to understand the current American beer culture, especially craft beer culture. I was rather surprised because it seemed like a very ambitious goal, and I'm not sure how long he plans on traveling for.

While we drinking and discussing the large diversity of American beers, Ron brought up that one of his pet peeves, or complaints, or wishes, or something to that effect, is that most American brewers, (re: craft brewers), try to do a little of everything rather than focus on a few different beers and really make them specific to the region or the establishment. In Europe where one brewery might have been brewing for hundreds of years their beers tend to be very specific and have either a local flavor or a very specific house flavor. Bamberg, Germany is known for having "Rauch" or smoked beers. Schlenkerla is on of my favorites and in fact they make a helles that has no rauch malt in it but still has a house flavor of smoke. Ron's example of an American brewery that makes an effort to have a house character was Jolly Pumpkin in Michigan. (They are also the only American brewery that Shelton Brothers distributes.) Pretty much all of their beers are sour beers and the reuse of their wooden barrels and wild belgian yeasts lend to a very specific character.

So why don't most American craft brewers have this kind of house character? I personally think there are a lot of reasons. I also think that here at Flossmoor we do have a house character in our house beers. We use the same yeast strain that we have used since day one for all of our house beers, but we don't really have the facilities to store the yeast in house and use generation after generation of it like some breweries. It's a commercially available yeast strain that any brewer could buy and use so it doesn't really make us that unique.

But, 1) having a specific house character is a bit of a risk. If people don't like it they tend to group all of your beers together into a category of "beers they aren't interested in drinking."

2) We have only been around for 11 years. Most breweries that have distinguished flavors that Ron is looking for have been around for decades or centuries.

3) It's boring to always make the same beers the same ways or to have a handful of beers that all taste similar. Right now on tap we have a belgian wit, an american double IPA, a Baltic Porter, a German Dopplebock, a milk-stout, and all of our house beers. Variety is the spice of life. (I also think that we do a pretty good job with these styles whereas I think some might argue that a lot of brewpubs try to do a little of everything and get nothing right. Jack of all trades master of none kind of thing)

So what does everyone else out there think? I'll be happy to post some of your responses if you e-mail them to us using the "E-mail the brewstaff" link on the right side. I'm interested to hear what yous peoples out there think.

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!