ABV Chicago Craft Beer Podcast

It’s no secret that we love Missouri breweries, and we’re delighted to try four beers from 2nd Shift Brewing. In this short show we manage to cram in our usual beer reviews, a thorough discussion of yellow candy, a few songs from Craig, and a sneaking suspicion that we have been drugged. This one ends with a tingle!   Ryan 1. Liquid Spiritual Delight 2. Art of Neurosis 3. Albino Pygmy Puma 4. Mull...

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000105 EndHTML:0000005622 StartFragment:0000002470 EndFragment:0000005586 We’re clearing out Craig’s cellar on this episode by drinking the first five beers Revolution Brewing released under their Deep Wood series. We learn valuable lessons about aging barrel-aged beers, distinguishing dark fruits, and drinking five high-ABV beers before attempting to make sense of rankin...

Now that we’re a year old, we can finally drink like grown-ups, while still behaving like children. So we attempt to class up the joint by drinking six fancy beers from Cantillon and inviting Ken Getty to join us. Listen in as Craig handles some actual research while trying not to fumble his lambic basket (literally and figuratively). Ken explains why Cantillon’s brewing methods are so hard to rep...

For this milestone episode, we revisit the inimitable Hill Farmstead by drinking and reviewing seven more beers. We reminisce on some of our favorite beers and episodes from the first 49 and reach an unprecedented level of, uh, professionalism by the end of the show. The beer is as good as the content is ribald. Here’s to another 50 episodes of craft beer irreverence!   Ryan 1. Arthur 2. Damon (Bo...

Winter is awful, and usually, so are winter seasonal beers. So we’re surprised to have some great ones on this episode with a few standout locals. We share our New Year’s resolutions and then take a lot of strange diversions along the way. There’s also an announcement of an exciting home brew contest with Middle Brow. Then, Ryan eschews traditional “research” by “making stuff up” and Craig admits...

As a gift to you, we brought back almost all of our guests from the first year for a holiday party recording. But since Ryan was absent, Craig took his one mic and brought people together to review some beers. In this episode, we sit down to share some of the audio from the party while tasting some new local stouts. There will be beer reviews and drunken talk of broken Prius locks, slash fiction,...

We unbox five Firestone Walker anniversary ales and try to dissect these complex barrel-aged beer blends through our arbitrary reviews. We also experiment with our own beer blends and feel the effects of these potent potables before we even hit our third pour. Thus, at some point, we make it our mission to raise awareness of...something I’d rather not type (or Google image search). Prick up your e...

In this episode, we discuss the fine art of craft beer labels with artist and homebrewer Matt LaFleur. We each bring a few beers to taste based on their label art, and Matt shares the stories behind the labels he has created for Arcade, Transient, and Middle Brow. We hit other topics like marketing, the overlap of art and craft beer, and homebrewing as an excuse to make beer labels.  Our tastes in...

It’s been a long, stupid week in craft beer thanks to Bourbon County madness, so we wanted to find some substitutes to feed those cravings on a budget and a whim. We review five bourbon barrel-aged beers that are pretty easy to find. It mostly doesn’t work out well. We talk about other barrel-aged beers that regularly inhabit shelves and whether or not length of aging makes a difference. Then the...

Episode 44 - Bourbon County 2014   With another Black Friday approaching, we sat down to sample most of this year’s Bourbon County lineup, and things get soulful. If you’re looking for divisive opinions or a contrarian stance on the corporate-owned hype machine that is Bourbon County, then you’ll be disappointed. These beers are delicious. And Goose Island gave them to us for free. We share tales...

On the day after FoBAB, we muster up the strength to recap our night of sampling barrel-aged beers at one of the country’s premier beer events. We also load up on electrolytes and review some common hangover remedies. We’ll share some of the positives and negatives about the new venue and discuss our favorite beers of the night, including beers from Off Color, Temperance, Upland, Fremont, Goose Is...

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000105 EndHTML:0000007416 StartFragment:0000002693 EndFragment:0000007380 Pipeworks has rolled out more barrel-aged beers, and we invite general public nuisance Dennis Lee to drink them with us. In addition to reviewing the beers, we let Dennis talk about his blog , depression food, black truffles, and the term “foodie.” There’s also a cogent discussion of how experimenta...

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000105 EndHTML:0000006666 StartFragment:0000002470 EndFragment:0000006630 This compilation of appreciation for Russian River’s wild, sour, and funky “-tion” beers ends in much exultation. We drink eight different beers, many aged in wine barrels, and experience much elation, with some acidification. We share some listener feedback, Ryan gives tips for vegetarian craft bee...

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000105 EndHTML:0000004852 StartFragment:0000002471 EndFragment:0000004816 The brewers at the Goose Island Clybourn brewpub embrace experimentation, and they take on their riskiest one yet when they invite Ryan and Craig into the brewhouse to record. Brewmaster Nick Barron and brewers Jacob Sembrano and Jon Naghski share five of their incredible one-off beers and the inspi...

Founders Brewing Company has been influencing the way Midwesterners drink for almost two decades, so we show our appreciation by drinking their beers to excess. We review eight diverse 12-ounce offerings from the Grand Rapids brewery, only pausing briefly to play a little Founding Fathers trivia. Well, actually, the beers are so good that we get obscenely inebriated and talk about Craig’s DJ name,...

We have five beers new to bottles from Chicago-area breweries and find that you don’t need a lot of experience to impress us. Five unique styles are up for our review, and we unsurprisingly get hammered in the process. There’s a few GABF remnants, Ryan consults his Urban Dictionary, and Craig talks about Mega Man for a while. Trust us - you won’t even need to use a continue.   Ryan 1. Middle Brow...

After three straight days of drinking at the Great American Beer Festival, we open a few beers in the hotel and play back a bunch of interviews with brewers that all won gold medals (in our hearts.) You’ll hear interviews with brewers from Yazoo, Wicked Weed, Comrade, Almanac, Transient, River Dog, The Rare Barrel, and Melvin. There’s also a brief appearance by a well-lubricated Sam Calagione from...

We try to have the most sincere show in hopes of a visit from The Great Pumpkin Beer, as we try 8 of them. Kim Leshinski of Hail to the Ale and Chicago Beer Gals is our guest. As a BJCP Judge and a homebrewer, she carves up some serious knowledge on the intricacies of the style and drops in a candle on what Chicago breweries have to offer. Kim also talks about her many beer-centric endeavors inclu...

Episode 36 - Chicago After Dark   Turn the lights down low, because we’re drinking six dark Chicago beers of varying styles. We attempt to eloquently marvel at dark malts and their multiple applications, but then we play another filthy round of Beers Against Humanity. Aside from our usual reviews, topics include cat huffing, actresses named Emma, Robot Dong, proper cookie pairings, awkward sexy ta...

    Perennial Artisan Ales’ Abraxas is Craig’s favorite beer, so we drink it four times. Actually, we have a mini-vertical and experience two variants - one far superior to the other. Our third different guest named Chris joins us to drink our beer and chat about 80’s “extreme sports” movies and Santana. We also pair the amazing beers with some Bee’s Knees Mexican Hot Chocolate Almonds, Ryan’s Cin...

Episode 34 - The Hoppening   This week, we resist the bacteria-born urge to kill ourselves by downing six random hoppy beers!  We’ll regale you with stories of our trip to Decorah, Iowa, and then get off topic a lot as the beer tastes better and better. Then we spend half of the time insulting each other, and Ryan explains to Craig why M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening” is so bad that it deserve...

Ich Bin Ein Berliner Weisse episode! We review five local takes on the style and try some with traditional raspberry and woodruff syrups. We start with a table-setting traditional Berliner Weisse and end with Ryan putting crushed-up Skittles in his beer. And there's the long-awaited meeting of Upton Sinclair and Nicki Minaj. For such a low-ABV show, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the amount of...

Horse Thief Hollow is a South Side neighborhood brewpub that is churning out quality brews and delectable food, and we were invited to sample a whole lot of it. Head brewer Dave Williams and owner Neil Byers share a mic and their craft with us. Neil discusses some of the thoughtful choices made in distinguishing the business from the many nearby Irish pubs and how they manage to keep up with the c...

Brewer Chris Betts brings some of his Transient Artisan Ales for us to sample, and we couldn’t be happier. Humble and soft-spoken, Chris is one of the only brewers in Chicago focused on handcrafted barrel-aged sours, and the buzz that has followed is rightfully earned. We’ll learn about Chris’ history at Witch’s Hat and One Trick Pony, his “barrel library”, how he manages wild yeasts and bacteria...

Craig spent a long, drunken weekend at the Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison, Wisconsin, and he brought a microphone. So we’ve assembled a “Low ABV” show around a few clips from his experience, and we open two incredible New Glarus beers while wading through the alcohol-induced fog of Craig’s memory. Here’s what you’ll hear: - Dan Caray from New Glarus discusses the Wild Peach release and a fe...