From Earlier in the Week

Whiskey Hill Brewing
Con Nopal
Wrapped in Steel
Crazy Calabrese

Tangled Roots Brewing Co.
GTFO (Get the Fruit Out)

Black Horizon Brewing Co.
Horizon IPA, Vol. 15

Friday, November 20

This Title Just Makes Sense

Have you met Pauly?  Pauly is Rt66 Old School Brewing's new head brewer.  So, what did Pauly do during his first days at OSB?  He's brewed a beer entitled The FIrst Days.  It's a West Coast IPA, 7.5% ABV, that uses classic hops like Columbus, Centennial, Cascade, and Simcoe.  You're going to get resony, piney, and bitter tastes.

The Return of The Artist

On Friday, November 20, Black Horizon Brewing Company is back with a tasty one - Life of an Artist.  It's a light and easy drinking milk stout infused with peanut butter for a rich, nutty profile that compliments the roasty, dark malt backbone.  

The Offspring Is Back

Coriander and bitter orange in a cream ale.  Sounds amazing, right?  It is.  Get out to Hickory Creek Brewing Co. and get Offspring of the Korn.  If that description doesn't intrigue you, the can definitely should.  

Saturday, November 21

Movember is Back at Pollyanna and Imperial Oak

The event may be different, but Movember is back at these two breweries.  The annual fundraiser raises money for the Movember Foundation - with both breweries making the same Barrel Aged Double Oatmeal Stout, as well as one variant.

• Pollyanna's Variant is Rye Barrel Aged with choclate and vanilla.
• Imperial Oak's Variant is Rum Barrel Aged with banana.

Tuesday, November 24

PB&J, Yay!

Nik & Ivy brought out a surprise beer today, PB&J Porter.  Call it a liquid lunch of dinner, make sure to get PB&J Porter quick - only one keg!

Kranberry Kriek from Hickory Creek

Sorry, don't have a photo of this one, but Hickory Creek has come out with a Cranberry sour lager.  It's a limited batch, so get it before it's gone!

Wednesday, November 25

Jeepers Peachers, Where Did You Get That Beer?

Mad Hatchet's latest is Jeepers Peachers.  It's a Peach Milkshake IPA - Mosaic, Amarillo, Peach, and Vanilla on this one!

Road Trip with PB&J

Ike and Oak's Newest is called Road Trip.  It's a beer perfect for fans of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Check out the tasting notes:  Red color, full bodied, lactose added for creaminess. Low hop profile, with flavors of peanut butter, strawberry, cherry, and blackberry. Hops: Summit & Saaz.  Check out the color on the beer ... it's how I'd imagine a blended PB&J sandwich would look like.  

Meet Oatis Campbell

This is the newest beer from Nik & Ivy.  Oatis Campbell is an American Pale Ale loaded up with Mosaic and Amarillo hops.  You'll get a lot of notes of tropical citrus fruit and Mayberries.

Everything Real Nice

If you're going to name a beer, this is a really nice one.  Literally.  Everything Real Nice Holiday Brown Ale is being brewed by Flapjack Brewery, featuring cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cacao nibs, brown sugar, and vanilla beans.  Look at this list of ingredients, it truly is everything real nice.  

Garage Band's Big and Bold Beer for Turkey Day

Fell on Black Days is Garage Band's Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout.  Big, bold and silky, with notes of raisin, black licorice, brown sugar, choclate, coffee and bourbon.

Saturday, November 28

A New Brew for the Season at MyGrain

One of the Joliet-based MyGrain Brewing's flagship beers is the City of Stone Rye Saison.  They produced a tasty holiday variant, featuring Cranberry and Sage.  It's a great twist on their classic beer, and puts you in a festiva holiday mood.  

Monday, November 30

Wooly Bully - It's a Dreamsicle Beer

I love me Dreamsicle beers, and I really love Ike & Oak's Woolysicle.  This one is popular, it's a milkshake IPA with orange, vanilla, and lactose.  Definitely worth picking up along with a pizza.  

Tangled Roots' Fancy Feline

Now, you don't have to be a cat-lover to enjoy Fancy Deline.  But if you love beer, you'll love this one.  It's an imperial milk stout that was aged in nocino (Italian-inspired liqueur) barrels with a blend of black walnuts, vanilla beans, cacao nibs, cloves, and cinnamon sticks.  This beer did take a bronze home from FOBAB, and when you try it - you'll know why.  

Tuesday, December 1

Marley's Ghost is Back at Hickory Creek

The New Lenox-based brewery has brought back Marley's Ghost.  It's their annual dark holiday lager, which they change up the recipe a bit every year.  Check out the description from their web site for the backstory ...

Marley's Ghost is a major character in Charles Dickens' immortal story "A Christmas Carol."  Marley is also a nearby town in New Lenox Township.  Marley also happens to be the name of the street where Hickory Creek Brewing was founded. So what better name for our annual holiday  ale? We change the recipe every year, but it's always spiced up with a variety of flavors and a big dose of Christmas spirit. 

Thursday, December 3

Has Will County Brewing Topped Juicesicle

Juicesicle, you've met your match.  if you're a fan of the blog, thank you.  Also, if you're a fan of the blog, you know that I'm a huge fan of dreamsicle flavored beers.  One of them being Juicesicle - one of my favorites from the WCBC crew.  I think there latest variant however surpassed it.  Strawbana Juicesicle is here!  It's there OG Juicesicle with strawberries and bananas added.  A true thumbs up, well done, kudos, standing ovation on this one.  

The Silverback is in Charge

Metal Monkey Brewing's Silverback is now available in 22oz Bombers.  It's an American Barleywine weighing in at 10.1% ABV.  Deep amber color, malty aroma ... and it packs a big wollop.  Dan from Metal Monkey tells the story of Silverback ...

Silverback has a really cool story behind it. This beer originally came to be years before Metal Monkey was around. When I was a homebrewer and had recently moved to Romeoville, my friend Lothar and I wanted to brew a big-ass barleywine that we could barrel age as well. So we did on the back porch of the small house I was living in with a few roommates. I found a small barrel online from a small distillery in New York, and we aged half the beer in the crawlspace of that house.

The barrel moved with me when Brandi and I got a house in town, and after about a year and a half it tasted amazing. We carbed it up and only busted it out for special occasions.

Years later we wanted to brew a barleywine so Jason and I resurrected this recipe. We've brewed with Lothar a few times since (Til the Sun Turns Black is a collaboration with one of his bands, The Skull), and have had a few of his other bands play the brewery (Divinity Compromised, Sacred Dawn).

This time around we barreled more of the beer for release some time off in the future for a special occasion. We've packaged 15 cases of the unadulterated beer. And it tastes like drinking craft beer 10 years ago. It's big, malty, boozy, rich, and complex, and it's just a damn good beer.

Friday, December 4

Miskatonic's New Small Cellar Series

Today, Miskatonic is kicking off their newest series of beers, featuring hand-bottled brews showcasing a unique technique in bottle conditioning and wood aging.  They've got two for us from stainless:

• They took their 11.7% Russian Imperial Stout and added neutral yeast.  This will result in a silky-smooth pour.
• Their second one will yield a lovely vibe - their 7.1% Brown Ale was finished on neutral red wine yeast for this series.  

Don't overlook the cool vibe of the bottles and label either ...

Take Two Deep Breaths

Rt66 Old School Brewing has a new beer out, an American Pale Ale named Take a Deep Breath.  It's a zestry, refreshing beer with notes of citrus.  Take a deep breath, then take a sip of Take a Deep Breath.

Not Ready for Snow, But I'm Ready for Winter Porter

Tangled Roots' Winter Porter is now available.  If you haven't had this tasty winter beer, it's a robust porter with coconut and liquid cacao.  Grab your four pack today!

The Complete Opposite of Winter

Surf Chicago is being released at Nik & Ivy.  This is a hazy IPA loaded with citra, mosaic, and wai-iti hops.  Notes (or waves as N&I describe it) of pineapple, mango, orange, lime and berries.

Coming Soon

Ho Ho Ho, It's Jinglebeard

One of the best holiday traditions around is opening up a can of Jinglebeard.  This is the first Will County Beer I remember hearing about, and it fits perfectly in the holdiay seaosn.  It's a peppermint stout that Kris Kringle himself would drink four or five of.  (Did you all ever wonder what Santa does on December 26?)

A Trio for Pollyanna Roselare's Third Anniversary (Available in Lemont and St. Charles too)

They grow up so fast.  Roselare, Pollyanna's location in Roselle, IL, is turning three.  They're bringing out three beers to celebrate the anniversary.  And, if you can't make it to Roselle, those beers will be available in St. Charles and Lemont as well.  Here's the beer details:

• Third Anniversary Beer - An Altbier Sticke - a hybrid lager/ale with fresh Noble hop bitterness and light malty sweetness.
• Controlled Reentry - A Double Dry Hopped IPA with Mosaic, Citra, and Simcoe.
• It Takes Me So Long To Get Ready, Red Currant - a foudre-aged sour fruit beer

Alter's HVAC Sounds Like It's Working Fine

Hazelnut, Vanilla and Coffee.  Sounds like a great beer on its own, but listen to this ... Alter took those falvors and blended them into a bourbon barrel aged barleywine.  Barrel Aged HVAC Barleywine Ale is coming soon!

A Gold Butcher Collab