Good 'train station bar' beer. I'll drink it when High Life isn't available. Slightly more crisp and lighter than High Life. Very drinkable.
Gotta love the Newkie Brown. Nutty, sweet brown. I used to like this on tap when you could find it, but it all seemed to go sour, no matter where it was. The bottle was always sweeter.
This little Irish Pub pours a good Boddington's - creamy but with a good roasty quality.
Hoppy, citrusy IPA
Good drinking brown ale. I'm glad it's back in Chicago.
Tastes like they didn't empty all the bourbon out of the barrel before they casked this one! I love this style, but it's a bit over the top.
Went great with their excellent pizza.
Nice warming, strong 10% spicy and boozy.
Well balanced, hearty, but not overpowering hop and malts. Excellent drinking ale, although 6.5% isn't for pounding.
Slightly spiced, typical hop level of most Sam Adams
Chocolately strong ale with a slightly cherry twinge.
Big time hops, but well balanced, citrusy, orangey and about as hoppy as you'll find
Slightly hoppy, candy sugar, very nicely floral Tripel.
Had another one of these several nights later at Prairie Moon - the other beers during the Paramount Room session overwhelmed it. This is a nice chocolaty, smooth delicious stout.
Dark, chocolaty, but not stouty
Another good drinking beer from Bell's - although I expected something more than a toaster, darker version of their Brown
Classic Belgian Blond - fruity, spicy.
Great American IPA, hopped up but drinkable.
Huge malt, medium hop, huge alcohol.
Coffee, Coffee, Coffee - but not bitter and acidic like you might expect in drinking .
Good vanilla nose, more real vanilla and more drinkability than most vanilla extracty beers. I want to love this style, but I'm not sure what it needs - maybe more malt?
Crisp but slightly sweet, light tasty malt. Good drinker.
Feb. 6 is time to take Christmas lights down and have the last holiday beer - nice and hoppy and spicy, but not over the top. Smooth but hardy off the cask. Only had time (and ABV limit for one at the Gingerman, and it was just too crowded when I went back at 11pm.
Okay winter ale. No much different than the Sam Adams version.
Good American Lager. Dark amber, maltier and hoppier than typical lagers - very drinkable.
Can't believe I don't have a Smithwicks on the list yet. Now ubiquos enough to be pronounced correctly everywhere. One of my favorite brown/red session ales, since Newcastle seemed to have gone sour years back.
Can't believe I don't have a Guinness on the list yet. This was a particularly good pour, by a real Irishman, creamy head, roasted malt coming through a surprising light pint.
Left over from my stay at Christmas time. Good milk stout - not as creamy or sweet as the Left Hand or Mackeson, but still a tasty, drinkable version of this style.
Left over from my stay at Christmas time.
Outstanding hoppy rye. Good 'n dry, with a rye spicyness that makes it very drinkable
Has a sweet malty quality in the finish I can't place - Cap'n Crunch? Might become my favorite amber.
Strange to be drinking an obvoius summer ale in Feb, but we are having record warm temps at the moment.
A hop bomb. Piney and citrusy.
I really love a good bock, but this one just isn't 'bocky' enough. I like their Big Butt dobbelbock better.
Floral Belgian style. Yeasty and Fruity with a slight Wit finish.
Crisp, that's about it. Rather drink one of these than a Bud.
Haven't had one of these in awhile - since they left Chicago. Crisp.
Dark tasty Austrian Lager
Dark toasty porter
Drinkable IPA
Baltic Porter style - english porters made stronger to make it to the Baltic Sea. Dark chocolate noise, sweet roasted malt finish. Perfect balance hides an 8%abv. This one sold me on Flossmoor.
Belgian blonde
American hopped up wheat makes for a tasty, all around town beer.
Okay, my palate was busted up at this point, so I gotta try this one again. I asked the bartender for something lighter, and she apparently hadn't tried it when she gave me this one. I do remember grimacing on the first sip - Hops, with a capital H.
Nice English Bitter, balanced malt and hops.
Great complex porter. Classic roasted malt, coffee and chocolate.
Pale Ale. Classic English Pub ale.
Excellent coffee stout. Milky, nutty, complex. Pleasant chicory finish.
Nice sessionable amber. Caramel malts with a little hop. 5th Bell's so far this year.
Overhopped version of their Pale Ale. Smoother, not nearly as over the top as other hop bombs. This right between an IPA and a double IPA.
Sour flemish red ale. Sour apples in the noise and taste, this one grows on you as the complexity comes out from behind the vinegary fruit.
Deep black, but light, clean, crisp, roasty w/ sharp rye? balanced in.
Local brew, out of Ravenswood. Clean, crisp, slight sweet malt. Nothing outstanding, but a good basic drinking beer. Nice to come down to after one of those killer punch-in-the-palate beers.
Big, sweet, malty stout with serious complexity. This one is really good. The guy next to me was having one and said it all - this beer has soul.
Balanced European hops and Belgian yeast complexity hide this one's 9%
Nutty amber, caramel malts and hops balance out nicely.
Tripel style. Strong, nicely fruity and complex, but it's alcohol forward and up front. A beer that will not sneak up on you - you see it coming from the aroma.
Coffee Porter - not one of those sweet dessert coffee beers, bitter chocolate, strong coffee.
I knew I had to try something horrible eventually - I hate the Witbeir style to begin with, this one is soapy, bitter with coriander, no fruit, just downright nasty.
Old Irish Red Ale with typical Floyds hop character.
The name is perfect. Delicious, dark, dangerous. Fizzier than expected - it's not heavy and syrupy like you'd expect. I wish I could drink more of these, but they make me numb.
Lager.
Toffee malt is bigger than the hops in this IPA - which makes for a tastier, smoother drinker.
The oak-aging takes this rich, roasty chocolate/coffee stout to a sublime smoothness.
Rich chocolate bitterness and tartness makes for terrible drinkability - 1st taste is interesting and complex, and but it get worse from there. Really wish this was smoothed out more.
Mis-named. Nice floral aroma and light malt palette with a fresh finish - a good drinking pint but nothing stimulating.
Deep dark, tan head. Same base as their Bourbon County. No hiding the alcohol in the noise, even behind the chocolate and hop aromas. Flavor matches the aroma - warming alcohol, chocolate, hops, than alcohol again. Nice and smooth, despite the high-octane and hops. Really well done, but I wish it was a little less alcoholic so I could have another.
Serious IPA with a hop and alcohol level beyond even the heavy hitters.
I'm sure I've had one of these at some point already. Good local, always fresh, drinkable.
Mild malt and grain. This one was fresh - this brand all to often has some level of skunkiness. Making love in a canoe beer - if you know what I mean.
Milder than you'd expect in a Belgian-style pale. Floral noise, sugary malt, yeast and fruit taste with hop finish.
German Pilsner. Light, crisp mild grassy grain. Sessionable. Especially when the damn bartender won't stop pouring them.
Not a fan of soapy, coriander witbeir, but this one's sweetness and creaminess balance it into a nice version of the style.
Raisins, molasses, oranges come out of this medium dubbel.
Server assured me I wasn't mistakenly given one of the huge IPA's (Neil Diamond or Double Diamond), but this just didn't match the description - it was a hugely hopped pale, without any of the barrel notes so obvious in any of the other barrel-ed Rock Bottoms.
Sweet, toffee, a bit of fruit, lightly spicy finish. Good solid Belgian.
Dark, dark, roasty and slightly smoky. Not as sweet as some porters (i.e. Bell's)
Lightly spiced version of a saison - I expected a stronger, more rustic, wild yeast style, but it's pleasantly drinkable (5%).
Malty start, piney, hoppy finish. Sweet malt really smooths out the 9.5%.
This nutty English Brown wasn't nearly as robust as I expected.
Ginger and honey make this a nice quencher, but I can't see drinking more than one in a sitting. Used a bottle to cook a ham - which worked great.
Doesn't start off as hoppy as most DIPA's, but finishes bitter, with a lingering hop burn.
Michelob with maybe one extra hop cluster in it. Doesn't live up to its name, but might be a good 'starter beer' for those not quite ready to move to a big IPA. If the price point was a bit lower I might consider this again, but since it's close to most micros, I won't.
Stale hops, way too astringent and bitter. Might have been an old bottle.
Great nose, yeasty farmhouse style.
Big American strong ale. Highly present warming alcohol, lotsa honey - sometimes referenced as a mead.
I always like welcoming this one back - although years back I loved for what seemed a creamier quality.
Nice apricot on the nose and palate. Not overly sweet. A great quencher.
Good classic choice for #100. Gusto? Maybe not, but the original formula is one of the best of the fizzy yellow American lagers
Grainy, bit of cherry, subtly interesting and drinkable.
Light bodied lager - very mild hops to make it a little crisp. I'd never guess this as a Rouge.
* Bottle
Typical Irish Pub taps - excellent nitro Guinness and Boddingtons, along with the usual Harp, Smithwick's, a cider. About 6-7 bottles including Carlsberg for the Liverpool fans, a seasonal Berghoff and a couple of other English varietals.
Around six taps with one or two unusual rotating. They'll be a Belgian (Karmeliet at the moment), a Three Flyod's etc, and something cheap. Good food, good food specials - cheap Monday hamburgers etc. They make everything in house. Great tots, great Mac and Cheese.
Best selection anywhere I've seen - 70 taps
Typical Irish pub taps and a good Guinnness, but has been getting slightly more adventurous on their 10 or so taps - with a couple of Rogues, a couple of Bell's, an occasional Dogfish, along with the usual Goose Islands etc. Bottles include The macros to Delerium with an occasional rariety like the New Holland Mad Hatter.
10 very selective taps with an excellent rotation - a couple of Belgians, several Midwestern seasonals, a German, a Cider. 'No Crap on Tap' attitude.
16 really good taps with a good rotation, a couple of Belgians, the obligatory Delerium, 1 or 2 knock you on your ass high-ABV's (Dragon's Milk, Hopslam etc.) and a few sessionable regulars (Bell's Brown, Sierra Nevada, Guinness etc.) Tons 'O bottles. Good food.
While the location, crowd and staff are typical Wrigleyville, a serious attempt at
Chicago version of the brewpub chain from Denver. The local brewmaster here gets to stray from the 'corporate brews' with about 5-6 specials available at any time. 1 or 3 are usually outstanding.
20 really good taps, at the moment 4 different stouts, 2 or 3 high ABV strong ales, something from Flossmoor, Surly, etc.
Bottle, The Keg, Evanston
My favorite dive bar/lawnmower beer. Corn sweetness, light and drinkable.