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,

BloggerA

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

Representing the Illinois Central and Metra Electric

One of our dynamic husband/wife duos manning the taps

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

Bryan and Arnie looking rather official

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

Upcoming tappings and bottle releases...

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