The Brit and Yankee Craft Beer Podcast

Mundelein IL is home to  Tighthead Brewing , who have been around for over 12 years, and now joining them is one of our newest Illinois breweries,  Tonality Brewing . Tony Bena is co-founder and head brewer, and the podcast crew headed up north to find out more about TBC and sample some of his current tap list. Set in a building which they have completely gutted and renovated, TBC also features a...

This weeks' episode is a retrospective of our show and some of the milestones in our first 399 shows. It's thanks to all our listeners who keep us recording each episode, and thanks to all the brewers who have given their time to talk to us. Plus thanks to all my co-hosts along the way, especially the 'original' Yankee, Lingo! We've drunk a bunch of brews on our journey, and th...

Since 2021, Lisle has been home to Bubblehouse Brewing , and when we asked the craft beer community in the Chicago area where we should visit for our next interview, the Bubblehouse 'popped' up as a favorite. The Brit and co-host Ken McMullen ( Fox Republic Brewing brewmaster) headed over there and sat down with Jon Miller, Head Brewer and co-Founder, to discover more about this very popul...

In this episode we venture back up to Lake County and the village of Lake Villa, where we visit with a brewery that has been in existence for over 5 years, but seems to be a "best kept secret", at least from those in the southern suburbs!  Harbor Brewing Company is located just a short walk from the Metra station, a stop on the North Central Line, so accessible from Chicago. Plus they ha...

It's hard to believe we have been recording our annual barley wine show for 7 years, but yes, we have shown this style some love since our first one was recorded in the now gone but not forgotten, legendary John's Tavern in Winfield. We have tasted and reviewed over 40 barley wines from across the USA, and this year we have another 7, plus 2 from the UK! This year, Art History founders, To...

It was just over 50 podcasts ago in December of 2020 that we spoke with Josh Grubbs, as he was preparing to open Black Lung Brewing in 2021. It was a brave move as this was during the restrictions of  the Covid pandemic, plus at the time he was brewing his beers out of the now closed Zumbier Brewing, and who names a brewery after a deadly mining disease! You would think that he was trying to mirro...

We are back in the pub studio for this episode, which will be the last one until the end of January , as we are taking a short hiatus to take care of some family issues. But, we do have an all-star cast in the house with co-host Ken McMullen from Fox Republic Brewing , co-host Chuck Fort from Church Street Brewing , plus the head brewer from Church Street, Sean Gregor. And this is a bumper edition...

The greater Chicagoland area hosts many of Illinois craft breweries, but there are plenty of downstate options to visit and enjoy. In this episode The Brit, and co-host Ken McMullen of Fox Republic , travel to Kankakee IL to visit  founder and brewer, Matt Strysik, who together with his wife Emily, co-own Knack Brewing located alongside the Kankakee River. Knack has been open for nearly a year and...

Bob Salzman has been the Brewmaster at BBGB for around 5 years, and we need to apologize to him upfront! We have no idea why we haven't been out to taste his brews before, but we're glad we have now! BBGB is the brewery arm of an amazing restaurant called Hardware, which from a distance looks like something out of a Mad Max movie, but in reality is an experiment in recycling. Opened in 200...

Home brewing is where the craft beer movement all started. President Jimmy Carter back in 1978 signed HR 1337, lifting some 50 years of prohibition on homebrewing regulations, and thereby creating a thriving amateur brewing environment that developed into the craft beer industry we have today. So many professional brewers have come from a homebrew background, and one of the organizations that has...

Glen Ellyn IL is home to The Beer Cellar , one of the first craft beer bottle shops in the area, and a couple of blocks away is Glen Ellyn's intriguingly-named craft brewpub, Two Hound Red . Steve Woertendyke has been the head brewer there for 3 years and has managed to provide a well-balanced variety of brews that will be sure to suit everyone's palate. The Brit and Yankee team of The Bri...

This weekend is Labor Day and there's going to be plenty of barbecues and parties held across the state. Why not offer your guests something that won't leave them with a headache the next day, or perhaps you have guests who don't drink, but want to be part of the craft crowd. In this edition we visit with what we believe is the only non-alcoholic craft beer brewery in the state, Go Bre...

There have been two new breweries opening in Illinois in the last few weeks. We visited with Fox Republic in the last episode, and this week we focus on the one that opened just a week before, Sundial Brewing and Blending . Co-owners/brewers, Mike DeMalpartida and lan Swanson, together with co-owner Diana Carlini, have taken over the space previously occupied by Flesk Brewing, in Barrington's...

This episode we are down in Yorkville IL, and one of the newest breweries to open in the Chicagoland area,  Fox Republic Brewing . Of course, it was a shoe-in getting an interview here as the Brewmaster and General Manager is one of my co-hosts on the podcast, Ken McMullen. Joining him is his brewer, Sam Walstaff, who we are christening “The Tallest Man in Brewing”, coming in at a fine 6′ 9″!! FRB...

McHenry County in northern Illinois, is home to several great craft breweries, all of which you can check out on the McHenry Co. Craft Beverage Trail. This week we are visiting one of the two located in Woodstock IL, Kishwaukee Brewing who recently won a silver medal for their Bufflehead Brown Ale at the 2023 World Beer Cup. Kishwaukee Brewing Co., is the pride of founders and owners, Dan and Cara...

We jump in the car and head south to Route 66 in Wilmington, IL., where located on an island between the Kankakee River and the Mill Race channel is Old School Brewing. Paul 'Pauly' Bidne is the head brewer there, and we chat with him about his brewery which can literally be described as an 'old school' tap room/brewery producing great beers and full of friendly people and lively c...

Recently, our friends over at Broken Brix, Ed and Sue Seaman, took a trip out to Iceland. Aside from traveling the country and going to see Chicago's legendary band Wilco for their 3-night tour in Reykjavik, Ed was on a quest to find what the Icelandic nation drank during all those long winter days! He brought back (or was it 'smuggled' back?) a suitcase of goodies, including craft bee...

Buffalo Creek Brewing is located in the northern Chicagoland suburb of Long Grove IL, and boasts one of the largest biergarten's in the area. Owner/brewer Mike Marr produces several excellent German-style beers (very suited for drinking in the biergarten!), and The Brit asked Mike to take the blindfold taste challenge on one of them. He selected their Munich Dunkel, Bus Wedgie, as the beer to...

We're having some fun with owner/brewer Alex Drayer over in St. Charles, IL. Alex produces a very drinkable Kolsch and he was up for the Blind Taste Challenge! The Brit paired his brew against one of the world's best examples of this style and asked Alex to see if he knew his beer. We're finding that the blindfold challenge is more difficult than it seems, so did Alex choose wisely...c...

This week we are releasing a video episode, also available on our YouTube channel . Art History Brewing has opened a production brewery, hidden away in Geneva IL, and we get to take a tour of the new facility. As of this video, it is not open to the public, but it is brewing all your favorite beers. The day we visited, Greg Browne was brewing up a batch of APA Lincoln Highway. Join us to take a pe...

The Brit took a trip out West to the craft brewing mecca of Denver, Colorado. While there, he visited a unique brewery where real ale takes the spotlight, Hogshead 54 Brewery . Robert Bell is one of the 3 people responsible for this oasis of British ales and does most of the brewing. In this special episode, we find out about his passion for brewing beers that can be dispensed through hand-pull en...

We're back with and audio podcast this week, and recording down in the Brit and Yankee Pub studio. The Brit's co-host is Ken McMullen from Hopvine Brewing, and together they welcome Chuck Grote of Wood Fired Pizza fame. Chuck is probably one of the most well-known food truck vendors in Chicagoland's western suburbs, but not many people know that he also has recipes for brewing excellen...

Sometimes a brewery sneaks up on you, and their beers just wow the heck out of you!! That's what happens in this week's episode when we talk with Afterthought Brewing's owner/brewer, Mike Thorpe. They have been producing beer for sometime, their first release being 6 years ago, and we have tried and enjoyed some of them obtained from bottle shops, but we had never been out to the tapro...

We head out to the newest addition to the Chicago brewing scene, and the first in Carol Stream IL. A converted Subway store is now home to a nano-brewery called 206 Brewing , where we talk with owner, brewer, retired firefighter, Bill King. The brewpub had just opened for the day when we showed up, so you may get a little background noise, but hey, it's all pub ambiance! After many years in the fi...

This episode might seem late for last year's Festival of Barrel Aged Beers (FOBAB) , or perhaps too early for next year but...there were a number of FOBAB brews that needed drinking so we gathered a few chums at the Brit and Yankee Pub and had a tasting session! On the distinguished panel are FOBAB volunteers Ken McMullen from Hopvine Brewing , Kevin Herbst, and John Bittermann, plus your host Phi...