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