ABV Chicago Craft Beer Podcast

Mike Pallen is releasing instant classics on a regular basis, and since the rabid fans demanded it, we drink some "updated" versions of his beers from our recent go-round with Mikerphone - with one bonus "track." This one also involves a little music trivia, Craig's new catch phrase, Ryan's advice for winning at strip-anything, and a huge wax boner. Rock over London! Rock on Chicago! Polaroid: see...

Just a spit trail east of Cowshit Corner in Newcastle, Maine, Oxbow Brewing has been making actual farmhouse beers since 2011. We're lucky to try five of their low-SRM ales - most of them thanks to David Leshinski - and talk about what makes them unique. Craig has an exciting update on a long-time fugitive, Ryan explains how he chooses music for the show, and we break the space-time continuum. Als...

Only one brewery in Illinois is also in the distilling business, and we leave the bunker to record amongst those lovely vapors. Maplewood is not only crushing it in the beer department, but they'll soon release their own small-batch spirits. Joining us are Adam Smith (brand manager/assistant brewer), Adam Cieslak (Co-founder/head brewer), and Paul Megalis (Co-founder/business manager), and they sh...

Get ready for a ton of nostalgia as we drunkenly bid farewell to the original recording space for the podcast. We clean out five of Ryan's cellar beers to help reduce the load and reveal our origin story. You'll learn about our convoluted early attempts at rankings, the many beta versions of the podcast, and why we've never had guests at ABV West. There's also a ton on aging beer, Malort, the Fire...

After last episode's penance, we are blessed with five outstanding hoppy beers on this one. United by their hop-forward nature, these beers prove that a perfectly-made IPA is no longer a rare find in the wild. And with great beer, it loosens up our conversation into all sorts of unpleasant, juvenile places. So, behold pellicle porn, a lot of wang talk, Jeff Bridges, cartoon personas, Yaz, and the...

Hoppy beers are best enjoyed fresh - that's just a fact. But what happens when you let them age well beyond their suggested shelf life? On this episode, we subject ourselves to a little experiment for educational purposes. We discuss a variety of hop-related topics like bottle dates, the insignificance of IBUs, alcohol as a preserver of hoppiness, trusting your bottle shop, and the benefits of can...

It's alright, because it's Chicago Craft Beer Week! We mark the occasion by drinking six beers from local breweries we've never featured before - and we've been missing out. We try to give some background on these breweries, but our "research" has truly reached a new low. There's also talk of marketing angles, bleach lambics, bomber fatigue, skateboarding orphans, noisy dick, head nipples, dweebs,...

Sometimes the show is about what we don't drink, and on this one, we have No IPAs. It's really just a cute name for a random beer show we recorded while already drunk late on a Friday. There are five beers from a few locals and a few others, and at least for some, we're happy we didn't say "No" to them. And hopefully you won't refuse us as we sloppily pitch movies, scrutinize our own similes, and...

Other Half Brewing is the latest small East Coast operation churning out heavily-hopped (and hyped) beers that are increasingly in demand. We scrutinize five of these Brooklyn-born ales on this show, trying to determine if their growing reputation is well-deserved. And because it's us, we also do some "NBA Jam" trivia, drink Sea Monkeys, ruminate on JNCO jeans, and stick our fingers in beer. We al...

At the foot of the Appalachian mountains just outside of Asheville, Fonta Flora embraces local ingredients while honoring the history of a flooded sharecropping community. For some reason, reviewing four of their beers brings out our feisty side - and the most violent reaction to a beer we've ever had. We hope you also want to hear about Spanish Yoda, Craig's cartoon hands, a little spooning, Byro...

Another Dark Lord Day approaches, so we review a vertical of 3 Floyds' signature special release with a little help from the Chicago Tribune's beer columnist Josh Noel. Should you ever age a Dark Lord? Is it really just a decent beer? Are the variants worth it? The answers will probably not shock you. But we do our best to contribute to the conversation by talking about the changes to the fest its...

Nothing is certain and all of life is a lie. We drink five Midwestern barrel-aged stouts without knowing what they are to test their true quality and our very confidence in ourselves. And it is discovered that we, in fact, are terrible. But major surprises abound as we mostly play a new game we should call “Is This Bourbon County?” And we learn that spotting a fresh stout in a sea of aged beers is...

We’re all too eager to try more from Boston’s Trillium Brewing Company as we were positively gobsmacked by their beers last time. This time around, we have MC Johnsen from Worth 1000 Beers to help us review these five offerings and steer us into some serious streams of consciousness. We talk a bit about Trillium’s expanded production and second location, saison brewing, and hop blindness. For the...

Check. Check. Is this thing on? Everybody wants some Mikerphone Brewing, and we find out exactly why on this episode. With a mixed 4-track of Mike Pallen’s beers, we have our asses rocked by a few of the best beers we’ve had in a long, long time. We share an update on Mikerphone’s new location, and discuss New England style IPAs, beers as musical instruments, and the fault of first impressions in...

Somewhat quietly, Jerry Nelson from Une Année has been making some of the best sour beers in Chicago - or anywhere, frankly. On this show, we review the first five beers from the Le Seul series of wild ales and fall in love with the solera method. We also talk about Une Année’s recent news, share some info on the souring process from Jerry, and discuss the challenges of a sour beer membership prog...

Two Michigan breweries enter Illinois; only one will be declared victorious. Well, not really, as we’re sure that both Short’s Brewing and Odd Side Ales will make a lot of new fans in Illinois. We pit six of these Michigan export beers head-to-head on this episode - and the real winner is good taste. But also, we take asides on Craig’s Street Fighter knowledge, offensive beer names, Johnny Cage th...

We disengage our clutches and rev up our car metaphors for a whole show dedicated to the Speedway Stout from AleSmith. Mike Zoller from PorchDrinking joins us to taste five versions of this coffee-fueled, high-octane stout, and it’s a damn good thing we’re not actually driving. We talk about aging coffee beers, infected beers, and barrel-aging’s impact on ABV. But we also discuss Wacky Races, reco...

Episode 111 - Stoneface Brewing Co. Since 2014, the people of Stoneface Brewing Co. have been focused on churning out a small variety of high quality brews. We drink five from the New Hampshire brewery, and there’s nary a complaint to be made about these great beers. But the diversions we take are more, uh, graphic than ever. Expect to hear about a Mozzapocalypse, perfect rimjobs, the genius of Ne...

To celebrate the opening of their new bottle shop, Off Color has released a few unique beers that we combine with two other shelf selections for review on this episode. And because Craig spent the day acquiring cideries at the Cider Summit, we try to keep it brief and on topic - which fails quickly. There’s a little talk of food color byproducts, two new Craig characters (John Apple and French Stu...

We enter unfamiliar territory on this one by doing our first-ever cider show. Kim Leshinski of Hail to the Ale and MC Johnsen of Worth 1000 Beers join us to educate us on these fermented apple beverages. You’ll learn a lot about how ciders are made, apple varieties, local cider sources (including Broken Nose Cider), heirloom apples, and “the long pour.” We go from “cider stupid” to just plain stup...

Straight out of the cellar and into your earholes, five Side Project beers are on the table for this one as Steph from The Girl and Her Beer joins us to review these ridiculous works of liquid art. It’s not news that Cory King makes badass 100% barrel-aged beers, but you can live vicariously through us as we experience them. There’s also a musical side projects game, blending talk, a wall of aceto...

From the caves and laboratories of New Glarus, these four beers undergo our own “research and development” - by which we mean we “review” them and get surprisingly “drunk.” But the beers are of the usual New Glarus quality, so it gives us a lot to talk about: if Barney Rubble smells worse than a band-aid; what a “funk blanket” is and how to use it to get out of your Cicerone exam; and whether or n...

We dipped into our vault this week to bring you our little tribute to working together. All five beers on this show were the product of collaboration featuring at least one local brewery (or liquor store) and a brewing buddy. Recorded back in August, this episode just got buried in our release schedule, but we’re proud to finally bring it to you so you can hear our trite discussions of the Aggro-C...

It’s about to get all rustic up in here with four tart beers from Casey Brewing and Blending. Troy Casey subscribes to the Old World philosophy of brewing by using local Colorado ingredients and 100% oak fermentation to create these masterful brews. We subscribe to the ABV philosophy of getting completely off-topic from our beer reviews to create a fever-dream of a podcast. In addition to our take...

To clumsily pay tribute the only way we know how, we drink some beers to honor David Bowie that have some tangential relationship to his career. And though we don’t attempt to give Bowie a proper send off, the beers turn out really damn good and silliness abounds. We talk Monster cereals, sing some Cher, fear “target character drift”, defend Elisabeth Shue’s honor, and recall Quantum Leap. And the...