Chicago Craft Beer Week - Day 6 (Tuesday May 24, 2011)

Jak's Tap
1. Bridgeport - Kingpin Double Red Ale. My Rating: The glass is half empty

Haymarket Pub and Brewery (has very good food).
1. Pizza Port (16 beers on tap)! This was definitely the most well organized and enjoyable tap tasting of this scale that I have ever been too! I had a lot of the beers - too many to list. It was especially cool to briefly meet with Haymaket brewmaster Peter Crowley and Pizza Port brewmaster Jeff Bagby and thanks to them for being so nice and letting me sit and have a beer at their table!! My Rating: The glass is full
2. Haymarket - The Alarm Double American IPA. My Rating: The glass is full
3. Haymarket - Fear American IPA. My Rating: The glass is full

Chicago Craft Beer Week - Day 5 (Monday May 23, 2011)

High Dive (has good food)
1. New Belgium - Dunkelweiss. My Rating: The glass is half empty

Cleo's
1. Summit - Unchained 06: Gold Sovereign Ale. My Rating: The glass is half empty

Twisted Spoke (sadly, I missed all the Goose Island barrel-aged stouts that were available earlier this night)
1. Stone - Arrogant Bastard". My Rating: The glass is full

Chicago Craft Beer Week - Day 3 (Saturday May 21, 2011)

Small Bar - Logan Square
1. Two Brothers - Cane and Ebel (firkin). My Rating: The glass is full
2. Two Brothers - Askew Sour Ale. My Rating: The glass is half full
3. Half Acre - Gossamer Golden Ale (firkin). My Rating: The glass is empty (at least for the firkin version).

Quenchers Saloon
1. Bear Republic - Racer 5 IPA. My Rating: The glass is full

Owen and Engine (my first time here - highly recommended)
1. Two Brothers - Oak Aged Resistance IPA. My Rating: The glass is full

Cole's
1. Great Lakes - Dortmunder Gold. My Rating: The glass is full

Revolution Brewing
1. Dos Osos West Coast IPA. My Rating: The glass is full

Rocking Horse
1. Great Lakes - Lake Erie Monster. My Rating: The glass is half full

Chicago Craft Beer Week - Day 2 (Friday May 20, 2011)

Small Bar - Fullerton
1. Half Acre - Baume Rye Stout. My Rating: The glass is half full
2. Two Brothers - Oak Aged Resistance IPA (firkin). My Rating: The glass is full
3. Metropolitan/Small Bar - Gold Star for Robot Boy (single hop pilsner). My Rating: The glass is half full

Paddy Longs
1. Three Floyds - Alpha King. My Rating: The glass is full

Chicago Craft Beer Week - Day 1 (Thursday May 19, 2011)

I kicked off the first day (yesterday night) of Chicago Craft Beer Week in my own spontaneous way.
The 4 bars that I visited and the draft beer that I had at each place:

Maria's Packaged Goods and Community Bar
1. Lagunitas - A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale
My Rating: The glass is full

the Village Tap
1. New Holland - Envious
My Rating: The glass is half empty

Jerry's Sandwiches (highly recommended)
1. Port - Wipeout IPA
My Rating: The glass is full

The Beer Bistro
1. Lagunitas - Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale
My Rating: The glass is full

Tonight (right now!) I'm off to Small Bar - Fullerton, and then maybe Paddy Long's or Sheffields.

Happy Chicago Craft Beer Week!

Sticky Fat from Half Acre

I'm enjoying these first few days of autumn-like weather and the Labor Day weekend with a growler of Sticky Fat from Half Acre Brewing Company in Chicago. It was just released and will probably have a very limited availability (in growlers only at the brewery). Read their tale of the Sticky Fat Bear on the Half Acre blog here.

I always love ales brewed with fresh/wet hops, which Sticky Fat most certainly is. But it is also a very nice dark ale along with the hoppiness, so it has fantastic balance of flavor.

Sticky Fat was released on Friday September 3 and already has a grade of A (outstanding) on BeerAdvocate.

It may be the perfect kind of ale to get in a growler. With the ABV at a reasonable 6.5% and with the fantastic flavors in each pour, you can keep drinking this one all weekend.

Happy Brew Year's Eve

Read this Wired article, to learn why today is the 77th anniversary of Brew Year's Eve, April 7, 1933. It's better if you are enjoying a cold beer while you do!

The pic to the left is a shirt that I have, made by Yesterbeer, which is a cool company that makes and sells vintage beer-related shirts and other products.