ABV Chicago Craft Beer Podcast

We're celebrating our big 300 by treating ourselves to the exquisite (and expensive) beers from one of Belgium's longest-running gueuze producers, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen. Despite the occasion, we just do it like we have for the last 300 by reviewing carefully crafted beers as sloppily as possible, only diverting to mini-tangents about Craig's assassin dog, horse accoutrements, Goozzwords, vacation...

The most terrible tradition returns with our third annual gauntlet of gore as we try and outdo each other with the absolute worst-tasting beers we can find. Throw in some Zombie Skittles, and you have a profane exhibition of freakishly-bad flavors. We also try to avoid adding ounces to our Cuveé of Doom by guessing details on our brutal blind pours. We share some Halloween party conversation start...

In our yearly tribute to Chicago's biggest and best beer fest, we continue our tradition of giving our recommendations for the Festival of Wood and Barrel-aged Beers while drinking from a distinguished lineup of attendees - but that's not all. We introduce the FoBAB Fantasy Draft into the world, give you instructions on how to run your own league, and hold a mock draft between ourselves (before ou...

It's a joyous time in the ABV bunker as we celebrate Craig's engagement by letting him pick a lineup of seemingly incongruous beers that are as significant as they are interesting. With a mix of cellar dives and recent finds, Craig imbues this episode with a certain personal resonance while also napalming Ryan's esophagus. Craig shares his creative and beer-related proposal story, but we also expo...

For three whole days, we are the masters of our domain - which is the expansive festival hall in Denver, Colorado for the Great American Beer Festival. We're double dipping on this episode as we combine interviews from the festival floor with beer reviews and a weekend recap from the comforts of our hotel room. We stop short of two hours on this one, but it's filled with takes on our favorite beer...

Already an established force in IPAs, Revolution was curiously slow to embrace the hazier varieties. Not rushing in has afforded them the ability to learn from others and perfect their approach, starting over the last year through wildly popular test batches at the brewpub. But since this summer, Revolution has jumped in head first by releasing two murky Hero varieties and collaborating with a few...

In this long-awaited sequel, we are filling our meters with GABF excitement as we talk about the upcoming fest while drinking some local medal winners. We sample four Chicagoland beers that have previously earned medals - and deservedly so. There's also a lot of tips for the Great American Beer Festival for 2019, including our Illinois brewery picks, which new-to-us breweries we're most excited ab...

The number of breweries in or around Chicago has surpassed 200 at this point, deflating the opinions of those that speculated about a major bubble bursting in the last few years. But that market density means that breweries must start strong to gain their footing with consumers. On this episode, we're sampling five beers from five Chicagoland breweries that have opened or begun releasing beers in...

Like hooded sweatshirts and nutmeg-dusted coffee drinks, Oktoberfests make the impending colder temperatures much more bearable. Is it beer's most popular seasonal? Probably! We had no problem finding nine different Oktoberfest/Märzen beers, most of which were brewed right here in Chicagoland. So we put them into a big blind tasting to determine which malty lager rises to the top, and we are despe...

Our state show journey reaches New Hampshire, courtesy of listener and friend David Leshinski, who sent us a state sampler box with * record scratch * no hazy IPAs?!? We enjoy this welcome and scenic diversion from our usual (lactose) fare with five different beers from five different New Hampshire breweries, and we're livin' free. Also, Craig Pokémons his dog and relives his time at Riverdance U,...

The *ahem* hot new yeast on the scene for both homebrewers and professionals alike is actually an ancient and pastoral tradition, propagated by Norwegian farmers and evolved by necessity. Kveik yeast offers undeniable positives for brewers: it ferments fast and clean at unusually hot temperatures, often infusing the resulting beer with a welcome fruitiness that seems to match most styles. To learn...

Though it's been three years since their last feature on the podcast, Triptych has remained one of our favorite downstate breweries while continuing to grow into fine purveyors of all things hazy and beyond. For this one, we sample six different beers from the Savoy-based brewery (and "Memery") to try and make an arbitrary case for which super flavorful beer is better than the others. It's a tough...

In the three years since we last drank five Georgia beers on the show, there have been significant law changes allowing breweries to sell directly to consumers, resulting in another wave of craft beer growth in the Peach State. Listener Brandon Ramirez sent us a box of tasty treats for our review, and none are short on flavor. We also mark a historic event before it happens, fire up the Aquafier,...

Milwaukee's great reputation as the home of brewers (and The Brewers) was long built on cheap adjunct lagers. But in three years time, the Brew City has been reborn as a craft beer destination. Ryan and Craig had a torrid affair with Milwaukee's beer scene in 24 hours, gathering beers and interviews along the way to provide a whole episode that is basically beer tourism propaganda. Listen as we we...

Even though they're not even three years old, Eagle Park Brewing Company has already acquired its third location to brew their top-tier beers to serve the Milwaukee area. We chat with co-owners Max Borgardt and Jake Schinker about their explosive growth while sipping through a taproom lineup of flavorful show-stoppers. Everything about the business' past, present, and future is explored, from how...

The two great local conquests of the haze-chasers in Chicagoland for 2019, Phase Three and Hop Butcher have built a hype train of hops that has no signs of slowing down. So we do some blatant pandering to the beer geeks by having three double IPAs from each brewery in a blind tasting to finally determine...well, very little, actually. Taste is subjective, our opinions are arbitrary, and we have we...

Founded in 2017 as the first brewery in Homewood, Rabid Brewing combines mythical lore with artistic passion to bring a diverse and delicious beer menu to their taproom. We sit down with co-owners and co-founders Raiye Rosado and Tobias Cichon, along with brewer Max Sterbenc, to taste through the whole taplist while talking about how Rabid came to be and where things are headed. In the process, we...

We're taking a liquid voyage to the great state of Tennessee for our 21st state show, thanks to listener Matt Milam. There are five beers from four breweries for us to sample, and at least one of us gets injured in the process. We learn a bit about these great breweries, even if one of us refuses to learn how to properly pronounce their names. Craig reports on his scooter experience, Ryan takes a...

Born from a union of Funk Factory's Levi Funk and Octopi Brewing's Isaac Showaki, Untitled Art was launched in late 2016 to bring exciting new styles to Wisconsin before everyone was doing them. Now that everyone is doing them , how has Untitled Art grown to establish itself? Well, it certainly helps to have really cool friends. On this show, we gallery walk through five flavorful collaborations a...

Though we'd all like to pretend Hazy IPAs or pastry stouts represent the most significant trends in beer over the last decade or so, the real big money game-changer is the astronomical growth of Michelob Ultra. So how does craft (or "craft") beer respond? We find out by drinking a lineup of low-calorie, low-carb beers that will help counter our lactose-enhanced waistlines. We pitch some fitness in...

For decades, brewers have been harvesting the funk from brettanomyces yeast strains for a variety of purposes. Whether it's to add some phenolic funk to a sour beer or some fruity depth to an IPA, brett has become a household name in brewing. Chicago's Lake Effect Brewing and Omega Yeast Labs collaborated on a mixed 4-pack, titled School of Brett, by dosing a wine barrel-aged base saison with thre...

More sustainable and definitely more rustic than your city brewery, these five beer producers also operate in conjunction with a farm, using ingredients grown on their lands for a uniquely artisanal experience. We have a range of styles from Illinois, Tennessee, and Vermont that teach us a lot about ingredients and just basic vocabulary, to be honest. Ryan subjects Craig to a game of Two Truths an...

For our 20th State Show, listener and friend Jim Plachy offered to round up five Oklahoma beers, and we said that'd be alright with us. And with a lineup this flavorful, we wish we would've done this state sooner. Fill your ears with some word jazz as we talk about movie tropes, melty faces, weird tongue stuff, Chris Elliott, and whipping jerseys at babies. Mmm, Zangy! Beers Reviewed Prairie Artis...

What's better than hanging with your buds and sipping on some murky hop suds? We don't know because everyone's preferences are subjective! On this episode, we drink five hazy IPAs that happen to be collaborations between local breweries and their cool friends. We start this Sweeps Week out right with the three P's; we try to make two half-Phase Threes into a whole; Ryan peels back the layers on th...

For the third straight year - and our first at Forbidden Root - we celebrated Illinois Craft Beer Week by bringing together some of the area's best saisons and saison brewers. On this episode recorded (mostly) live at Forbidden Root, we sample a wide variety of the style with some of our best friends in beer. There's a lot of great technical talk for saison nerds, but we also explore the Power of...