Jul 11, 2008
Beer Homework
Three things to do this weekend:
1. Stage your own taste test of Bud versus Beck’s, and see if the possible InBev takeover of Anheuser-Busch is worth getting worked up about.
2. Nurse your way through Ale Fest, the traveling ode to craft beer that’s camping out in Soldier Field from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday the 12th. Admission is $40 and gets you 20 samples, plus a take-home glass and a bottle opener. GTTP recommends cozying up to Abita, Allagash, Great Lakes, and Lagunitas—and show some love for locals Piece, Three Floyds, Flossmoor Station, and Two Brothers.
3. Or avoid the crowds and drink a Flossmoor Station IPA in the comfort of your own home. The much-lauded microbrewery (2006 Small Brewpub of the Year, Great American Beer Festival; 2002 Best Brewery in Chicago, Chicago mag) just started bottling its beers this past April. In addition to the Station Master Wheat and Pullman Brown, look for a rotating IPA from the never-the-same-twice “Brewer’s Whim” series; the color of the wax dip crowning the cap indicates which IPA is inside. I found the Pretty Big IPA (gold wax) last night at Provenance ($10.50 for 22 ounces). Brewer Andrew Mason says the next in the series, the Lady Columbia IPA (blue wax), a slightly belated toast to the Fourth of July with American-grown Columbus hops, will start popping up around town next Tuesday, the 15th.
Extra credit: Keep tabs on what Mason and brewmaster Matt Van Wyk are up to in their own blog.
Posted at 04:31 PM in Get to the Pint | Permalink
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Reader Comments:
Love the shout out for Abita - I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the beer of my home...
I"m not a Anheuser-Busch fan, but if you ever get the chance to take a tour of the Anheuser-Busch factory in St. Louis do it and shell out a few bucks for the brewmaster tour. They give you a glass of Bud Light right out of the finishing tank that is a million times better than any of the standard light beers I've tasted.