It was a last second decision to buy tickets, and MY GOD, am I glad I did. The festival (FOBAB for short) is an annual event put on by the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild and featured some of the best and rarest beers. An incredible event. Below is the quick-drunk-of-the-moment ratings of the beers that Jenny and I sampled. The standouts are in bold. Be jealous…and make sure to come with us next year!
[Brewery - Beer (Style) Grade]
Allagash – Odyssey (Belgian Dark Strong) : A-
Bear Republic – Nectarine Grizz (Belgian Dark Strong) B+
Bells – Bourbon Barrel Cherry Stout (Stout, Fruit) B+
Bells – Wild One (Wild Brown Ale) A-
Court Avenue – 21st Amendment Ale (RyePA) B
Firestone Walker – Black Xantos (Dry Stout) B+
Founders – Kentucky Breakfast Stout (Imperial Stout) A-
Goose Island – Imperial Coffee Stout (Imperial Coffee Stout) B-
Jolly Pumpkin – Lambicus Dexterius (Lambic) B
Metropolitan – Eiffle Tower Eifbock (Eisbock) B
New Belgium – La Folie Sour Brown Ale (Flemish Sour) B
New Belgium – Tart Lychee Folee (Wild Ale) B
New Belgium – Transatlantique Kriek (Strong Golden Lager with Wild Ale) A
Odell – Peach (Golden Ale) B+
Lost Abbey – Duck Duck Gooze (Wild Ale) A-
Chicago Rock Bottom – Whiskey Sticke (Alt) B+
Russian River – Consecration (Belgian Dark Ale) A
Russian River – Temptation (Wild Blonde Ale) A
Surly – Pinot Three (?) B
Surly – Two 2007 (Cranberry Stout) B
Three Floyds – Blackheart (English IPA) B
Three Floyds – Conquistador de Muerte (Milk Stout) B+
Trinity Brewing – TPS Report (Wild Wheat) B+
Two Brothers – Heavier Handed (Wet IPA) A+
Next up a beer I picked up on my epic voyage to Minnesota for Surly Darkness Day. The brewery was nice enough to throw out a couple of kegs of this eye-opener (HA PUNZ) for those of us waiting in the cold at 5am.
Brewery Home: Brooklyn Center, MN
Serving Style: Pint can into pint glasses
Beer Style: Coffee?
Appearance:Dark brown body that softens to ambers and reds when you hold it up to a light. Thick, creamy head with plenty of staying power.
Aroma: COFFEE! Intense coffee bean aromatics that you really will not find in any other coffee beer. It smells fresh and roasty. From experience, these are all good things in a beer you are having at 5:00am…while waiting for the brewery to open up and sell Darkness!
Taste: Layered in coffee complexities. The ‘fresh bean’ character of the nose fades nicely into beery roasted malts. The bitterness is soft and the end has almost a sour/acidic roll to it. Mouthfeel is light, giving the body an almost foamy/creamy profile. The combination works in tandem very well. Or at least I think so; Jenny thinks it lacks complexity…and gives her heartburn? I think I feel this slightly too, WTF? Maybe it’s that burrito I had…
ABV: 5.1%
Drink one or all?: One. More if you live in MN…you bastards.
Cost: $12/4-pack
Overall: 18/20
It’s a lazy fall evening here in Chicago, and Jenny and I are in the mood to sample some beers. This was the first, a beer that I picked up for a local beer nerds gathering, the #gents.
Brewery Home: Middleton, WI
Serving Style: 12 oz into pint glasses
Beer Style:Munich Dunkel Lager
Appearance: Medium-fluffy off white head with medium lacing. Body itself is a crisp dark amber with rich reds around the edges.
Aroma: Complex and dark munich malt sweetness that round of the front and back. The middle mixes the dark ‘brown-like’ sugars with balanced, spicy noble hops. Clean with no obvious flaws.
Taste: Very much along the lines of the aroma. The sweetness of the malt is not too cloying and meshes nicely with a clean bitter hop finish. The malt character is still fairly light (at least for what I consider dark) and has an overall dry profile. Medium carbonation gives its great drinkability (I’m taking that word BACK), which right there, this beers best feature. Elaborate in all the right places but still an easily sessionable beer on a cold fall evening. Jenny calls it ’solid, but good’.
ABV: 5.4%
Drink one or all?: Sessionable, but I’d do one or two
Cost: $8/6-pack
Overall: 16/20
I have been working on a rye pale ale for a bit (to limited success right now) and figured it would be wise to try one of the best. I’ve had this beer many times before and it deserved the Beertastic treatment. Go buy their beers now. Another excellent brewery Illinois can be proud of.
Brewery Home: Warrenville, IL
Serving Style: 12 oz into pint glass
Beer Style: Rye Pale Ale
Appearance: Clear dark amber body. Holding it up I was surprised how much (dark) color it had! Rich reds around the sides of the glass. Head is small, off-white and sinks back into the body after a minute or two.
Aroma: Excellently balanced dark malty sweetness with a great rye twang. The hop aroma rounds out the profile with a crisp, citrusy and earthy American variety bite. I may also detect a hint of hot alcohol sizzle in the background.
Taste: Nearly flawless taste front to back in this drinkers opinion. It has a tinge of crystal (dark) malt sugars that blend into a rye edge, ending with excellently nuanced hop bitterness. The bottle notes that this beer is 68 IBU (high bitterness), which is more than my tastebuds are telling me. The bitterness is clean, dry and just wonderful. Hard to find any serious flaws. Jenny likes it a lot too…which could be a bad thing since we have to share a fridge. At 7.0% it is a bit high to be a session beer, but I am willing to commit. Incredibly drinkable.
ABV: 7.0%
Drink one or all?: How good do you want your night to be?
Cost: $10/4-pack
Overall: +19/20
Grabbed this bottle in preparations for a #gents night out. It ‘accidentally’ got left at home.
Brewery Home: San Diego County, USA
Serving Style: Bomber into pint glass
Beer Style: (Double) stout
Appearance: Dark tan head that smoothed out into a nice thin layer of strong bubbles. Great lacing. The body is opaque. Black.
Aroma: Maybe a little thin when I first poured but as the beer warmed it became wonderfully rich roasts and chocolate. Hints of fruity esters round out the satin-like malt profile (recognize it from my homebrew!). Don’t know if this makes sense but there is almost a big chocolate or coffee wave hidden under the big ‘charcoal’ roasts.
Taste: Excellent excellent mouthfeel. The body is smooth with like bites of carbonation, it feels like the darkness just coats your tongue. The aftertaste is dry, roasty and just the way I like it. As Jenny put it “this one doesn’t taste like soy sauce!” I think she means that this one does not have the high residual sugars that can sometimes mix with the roast to give an almost meaty, salty flavor (although I did get this in the aroma at the bottom of a glass). The dark malts are balanced with clean Target hops and some alcohol bite that all together make a great sip start to finish. Absolutely sublime. Favorite.
ABV: 8.8%
Drink one or all?: One.
Cost: $8/bomber (?)
Overall: 19/20
You feel it coming. It’s so close. October; perhaps the most metal month ever. I am getting a very early (but seasonally acceptable) start with this bomber from one of Beertastic’s favorite breweries, Three Floyds. 
Brewery Home: Munster, Indiana
Serving Style: Bomber into pint glass into my belly
Beer Style: Oktoberfest
Appearance: Minimal white head. The body is a rich golden yellow that’s somewhat hazy.
Aroma: Big, bready pilsner malts in a lovely duet with light, clean noble hops. Sweet finish with maybe a hint of tarty green apple esters. Three Floyds again delivers a big beautiful nose.
Taste: Somewhat sharp carbonation. Flavor begins grassy and hay-like with undertones of dark fruits and caramelized sugars. Rounds off into an almost corn bread finish (lightly sulfury as it warms?). Aftertaste is well rounded and somewhat sweet – as the beer warms it becomes much more grassy. Not one of their more ‘crazy’ brews but nonetheless very easy and enjoyable drinking. Jenny really likes it, maybe even more than I do.
ABV: 6.0%
Drink one or all?: Hurray for bombers
Cost: $8/bomber (?)
Overall: 16/20
