Phase Three Brewing Company | Pressed

You enter the store and wait through the excruciating line, the fog of early morning clouding your eyes. You get to the counter and place your order, saying, “I’ll take a grande, nonfat, Porter with a side of vanilla.”

It may not be Starbucks, but Phase Three Brewing Company, in Lake Zurich, Illinois, is brewing a series of beers that blur the line between coffee shop and brewery. Maple. Vanilla. Chocolate. Hazelnut. Coffee. Each is incredible on its own, but when brewed into a beer, they can become amazing if approached correctly. Phase Three is remarkable, and is fighting its way into your glass.

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Event Recap | 2020 Uppers and Downers

Probably one of the smallest venues for a beer festival out there, the intimacy of Thalia Hall creates part of the charm of Uppers and Downers, one of the top festivals showcasing the versatility of coffee. Moving to a Sunday for the first time since the inaugural event, the day change didn’t impact the crowd size as once again beer and coffee lovers alike packed the Pilsen music venue for two sessions of coffee beers, cocktails, and more.

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Inside Revolution Brewing’s Barrel Program Ahead of Cuvée De Grâce & Ten Year Beer

From late September through the end of February Revolution Brewing’s Marty Scott has one thing on his mind – barrel-aged beer. As the brewery’s Barrel Program Lead, he’s been working with the Deep Wood Series since the first bottle … Read More

A Year Without Hazy IPAs

At the end of last year, I wrote a piece on how in 2019 I was going to stop drinking hazy IPAs. Many people didn’t read past the headline and assumed it was just a purely negative piece on hazy IPAs; however, that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

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Revolution’s Boss Jacket Stars in the Third Deep Wood Release

While the barrel-aged releases are dying down as we get closer to the end of the year, Chicago’s Revolution Brewing still has two more for their Deep Wood series and the third release (of four) happens this Friday at the taproom on Kedzie.

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Chicagoland Best Stout Alternatives to BCBS This Black Friday

For years, Black Friday has been a day for craft beer fans to hunt down Goose Island Bourbon County and its variants. 

But as more and more breweries pop-up, the options for prolific barrel-aged beers are becoming greater and greater. If you don’t want to stand in line or feed big beer’s coffers by purchasing BCBS in Chicago, you have plenty of other options. Here’s our roundup of barrel-aged beers available in the Chicagoland area that you don’t have to wait in line for.

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Old Irving Brewing Set to Release Barrel-Aged Krampus

The brewery that took gold in the hazy IPA category at the Great American Beer Festival is getting ready to release its barrel-aged series this week as Old Irving Brewing’s Krampus is out of the barrels.

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Moody Tongue Opens New Brewpub in Chicago’s South Loop

Upon walking into the new Moody Tongue space, the only thing that would slightly remind you that the building once housed the old Baderbrau brewery would be the stairs you walk up. Otherwise, a full transformation has brought the feel of the Pilsen location to the South Loop.

The new space opened just a couple of weeks ago and allows for owner and head brewer Jared Rouben to finally pair his two passions of food and beer together.

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Saint Errant Brewing | Cauallier

It’s November in Chicago and stout season has arrived and it’s not just because Festival of Barrel-Aged Beers (FOBAB) brought a deluge of fabulous new barrel-aged beers. Rather, the 3-5 inches of snow and single-digit temperatures are really putting the city in the mood for a beer as dark as the sky at 4:45 p.m. (sigh)

Luckily, Saint Errant Brewing has an indulgent option for Chicagoans: Cauallier, an imperial stout brewed with cacao nibs and roasted peanuts. This brew starts with a dense black pour, visually preparing you for its richness. With a burnt but chocolatey aroma, the first sniff does its job of pulling you in with sweet, warm vanilla notes while still letting you know this imperial means business.

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Chicago Quick Sips | November 18 Chicago Beer News & Events

Quick Sips is our way of highlighting beer events, tap takeovers and other notable beer news around the city of Chicago. If you’d like to submit something to be included in the next Quick Sips, please email us at [email protected]

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Chicago’s Luna Bay Booch Co. Looks to Make its Mark in Busy Craft Beer Market

Drink good, feed good? That’s the vision behind Chicago’s first local hard kombucha maker, Luna Bay Booch Co. While Chicago is home to the nation’s most craft breweries per capita, the city’s appetite for lighter alternatives like White Claw and Truly Spiked Seltzer is also clear. So, why not hard kombucha as well? Kombucha continues to increase its popularity in the health and wellness market, especially among younger drinkers, creating a myriad of adjacent business opportunities for courageous thinkers like Luna Bay Booch Co. founders Bridget Connelly and Claire Ridge. The two saw the opportunity to bring hard kombucha, a popular product on the West Coast, to the Midwest by creating a local, Chicago-based brand that targets Chicago drinkers looking for a break from a beer along with those wellness-focused folks looking for a fun, spiked alternative to their favorite antioxidant-laden kombucha beverage. To find out more about the upstart hard kombucha business and what Chicagoans can expect from Luna Bay Booch, PorchDrinking spoke with Bridget. 

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Staff Picks | The Festival of Barrel-Aged Beer’s (FoBAB) Best of the Best

Once again the UIC Forum was packed with breweries from all over the country pouring some of their best barrel-aged beers at this weekend’s Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beers. In 17th annual showcase of country’s elite barrel-aged beers, Bottle Logic repeated in taking home Best-in-Show honors for Arcane Ritual.

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FoBAB Judges Avoiding Heavily Adjuncted Pastry Stouts

While those big pastry stouts that go heavy on the adjuncts might command the hype, long lines, big prices, and high trade value, they’re lacking one thing – FoBAB medals.

A message was sent from the  FoBAB judges once again in 2019: medal-winning beers need to show balance in the ingredients used and they need to feature the barrel. This isn’t a new message though. Looking back at the history of FoBAB medal winners (thank you to the guys at ABV Chicago for compiling the data) pastry stouts have not had a lot of success at FoBAB.

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Revolution’s Gold Medal Beer FoBAB Winner V.S.O.R. Releases Friday

Before Revolution Brewing releases the next two entries in their highly vaunted Deep Wood series, they’ll already be able to boast a FoBAB gold medal for one of those two. Very Special Old Ryeway (V.S.O.R.) and Straight Jacket will be released at the brewery after V.S.O.R. earned top marks in the Other Strong Dark Beer Category at this weekends Festival of Barrel-Aged Beers.

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Maplewood Set to Release First Barrel-Aged Cuppa Beers

Known for their thick body, heavy adjuncts and deep flavors, the Cuppa beers from Maplewood Brewery and Distillery enter a new chapter tomorrow with the release of their first barrel-aged versions in the series.

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Cruz Blanca’s Luchador Series Continues to Fly Under the Radar

Chicago’s barrel-aged beer selection is second to none when it comes to quality and quantity. While it’s easy to get lost in the releases of Bourbon County or Deep Wood, there are many smaller barrel-aged releases that deserve the attention of the craft beer market. For the second year in a row, Cruz Blanca’s Luchador Series brings big flavors and unique adjuncts to a set of beers that are standouts in a crowded market.

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Everything You Need to Survive FoBAB This Year

Two hundred breweries from around the country will come to Chicago on Nov 8-9 and offer guests a wide variety of wall-to-wall, remarkable barrel-aged beers. However, with an abundance of wilds, sours and a host of bourbon, rum and wine barrel-aged brews, the Festival of Barrel Aged Beers (FoBAB) tests both one’s liver and belly.

So, how do you survive? How can you avoid getting so inebriated you can’t taste the beer…or walk? How do you avoid having your stomach curdle? For that matter, how do you enjoy FoBAB fully?

Don’t worry; we have a plan.

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First Taste | 2019 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

Following a year that saw Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout go heavy on adjuncts such as vanilla, orange, berries, and chocolate, the 2019 lineup is focused on the barrel itself.

The eight-beer lineup will be released, as is the tradition, on Black Friday but those attending FoBAB or Prop Day will have a sneak peek at the beers ahead of their official release. The media was invited to the Goose Island Barrel House for the first public tasting of this year’s lineup.

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Revolution Brewing Releases First 3 Deep Wood Series Beers

As they did last year, Revolution Brewing is once again staggering the release of their Deep Wood barrel-aged series. The first three beers got released last week at its now routine release party, which included cans to-go and a draft list full of rare and stand out beers you won’t find packaged.

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2020 to See Expansion for Many Chicagoland Breweries

Not only is Chicago’s craft beer scene seeing new breweries opening seemingly every month, but more than half a dozen breweries in the Chicagoland area have also announced expansion plans, setting the stage for a busy end of 2019 into 2020.

Breweries like Marz Brewing Co. and Ravinia Brewing Company will be opening second locations within the city of Chicago. While Noon Whistle Brewing and Pollyanna Brewing Company are expanding in the suburbs. Meanwhile, Forbidden Root Restaurant & Brewery is opening a second location in Columbus, Ohio.

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