ABV Chicago Craft Beer Podcast

Who says you need a reason to saison? Saison is all the reason you need. On this landmark episode, we again drink five different takes on our favorite style of beer - but we pepper this one with some interviews. You'll hear from Sarah Flora from Flora Brewing on how she ended up releasing a saison with Chicago's Pilot Project, in addition to how the art world brought her to be one of the most popu...

For our 29th State Show in our decade-long intermittent series, Craig's travels reward us with beers from one of the great beer states in the nation: Oregon. This impressive lineup of five different styles from five breweries put this one high on our all-time State Show list, and our rankings are more difficult than ever. Also, Craig learns the hard way about Oregon's gas-pumping law; Ryan is the...

It's our job to bring together five local table beers (and deal with Eddie Munster), so we seek to further understand this lighter cousin of saison by talking with Mike Thorpe of Afterthought Brewing about the style and his TableFest™ on September 11th. Also, Ryan finds the perfect work night beer; Craig says the brewery name that makes him squeamish; and we both create the flavor better known as...

BlackStack Brewing has built quite a reputation off of exceptionally well-crafted hazy IPAs, and we have three of them in this lineup to prove it's true. Craig also managed to find two other styles to help us better understand this five year-old brewery out of St. Paul, MN. You gotta love a show that challenges your expectations of style, and this one reinvigorates some haze appreciation on our pa...

Unlike a usual episode where we rub our fuzzy faces and gaze at our navels, this peach beer show comes with a twist. Certainly we review five local beers under a shared theme of "beer with peaches," but we also foray into a dice-rolling RPG-style podcast with a whole game based around a popular mustachioed video game character (who is not Mike Haggar from Final Fight…sorry). Fortunately, the beers...

Known as Beervana for a reason, Portland, Oregon is maybe the premier beer destination city in the United States. Summer Craig recently spent some time getting to know the beers of the Pacific Northwest, and he got some help from accomplished beer writer Jeff Alworth. The Beer Bible author gives us the story of Portland's beer proclivities and how they don't always follow the national trends. Also...

The hefeweizen is a pretty universally appreciated summer beer, and we've amazingly never dedicated an entire show to the style. But thankfully a bunch of cool local brewers have put their best non-hoppy hazies in cans for us to consider, as we rise from 5% ABV all the way up to 5.4% ABV in this lineup. Also, we do some summer PD by putting Summer Craig through a SWOT analysis; Ryan has rediscover...

Though it may not be many people's pick for Oregon's best beer city, it's hard to ignore the quality beers produced in Bend. From Craig's trip, we have five diverse beer styles from five different Bend breweries that both impress us with new flavors and stir up some nostalgia. Also, Craig talks about his trip to The Last Blockbuster and quizzes Ryan on related trivia. Plus there's talk of squirrel...

Plunge that hand deep into the slushy depths of that beach-ready cooler and help yourself to a cold and refreshing serving of…lactobacillus, saccharomyces, and brettanomyces?! That's right - we are packing our coolers with refreshing and fruity mixed culture sour beers from local breweries to bring some new energy to our summer gatherings. These are the kind of tart beers that can only be measured...

For almost 30 years, Alan Sprints and his Portland, Oregon brewery Hair of the Dog pioneered American craft beer through some of the earliest barrel-aging experiments and developed potent beers built for aging, creating some of the original "whales" in the process. Once Alan decided to retire and close his legendary brewery in June of 2022, Craig booked a trip to experience Hair of the Dog for a f...

The time has finally come to pit the world's premier saison producing cities - Chicago and Milwaukee, obviously - against one another in an arbitrary competition to determine once and for all whose farmhouses rule the I-94 corridor. We have six saisons, three from each city, going head-to-head in specified categories to help determine a "winner." Also, we evaluate which candies would make the best...

We've long loved Hood River's Pfriem Family Brewers, and thanks to Craig's recent travels, we are able to drink through five of their impressive beers. For this one, we experience a wider array of styles, and a few challenge the best of style available locally. Also, we dream of having our own Streisand-like underground malls, we settle into a good butt nook, and we try to forget some bad brut mem...

Pittsburgh's Necromancer has just crossed over a year in operation, and we're already onto our second show featuring only their beers. Why?  Kuit beer is the reason. We catch up with head brewer Lauren Hughes about five of her "Resurrection" releases - beers that were previously "dead" or so obscure that there's almost no example for comparison's sake. (Much like our beloved Kuit beer.) She also s...

No matter how much trends fluctuate, one of the steadiest beers to bank on is the pilsner. Everyone who loves beer loves a great pilsner, and in our opinion, no beer list is complete without one. So we pick five pilsners from five midwestern states to taste through and appreciate while trying very hard to banish the term "drinkable" from the show. Also, Bo Jackson is behind the wheel on the way to...

It is once again time for us to drink more barrel-aged beers (MoBAB), with Craig and Ryan as the only two heroes that can withstand this lineup of sinister and imposing stouts. Because it's a sequel, we brought in ALL RINGERS for this one, and capping it at four beers was the best decision we could've made. Also, we sketch out Jef Lambic, Attorney at Law; struggle mightily against wax; and reflect...

Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Giant Jones is a woman-run, certified organic brewery specializing in big beers and obscure styles - a few of which are completely new to us. So we have on co-owner and brewer Jessica Jones to talk about how Giant Jones gets creative within the limits of organic ingredients, why some of their signature beers were born somewhat accidentally, and how they've evolved from...

Established in 1998, Kuhnhenn remembers a simpler time for craft beer. But Kuhnhenn also remembers that there were big and flavorful beers done differently - to emphasize style while also honoring drinkability - in the early part of the 21st century. This lineup of five beers from the Detroit suburb-housed brewery gives us a lot of nostalgia while finding a way to keep up with some of the big flav...

Hard seltzers are starting to see a bit of a dip in sales, but it's probably because they're not all loaded up with chunky fruit and 250-plus calories per can. Last year's "phenomenon" of the smoothie hard seltzer was kicked off by an offshoot of Ann Arbor's HOMES Brewery that goes by the name of Smooj. Craig stopped by the Lab (which should really be called the Smoojery) to pick up five slim cans...

Currently operating out of Pilot Project, Azadi Brewing may be small at the moment, but their flavors are big and inspired by ingredients from regions all over India. We talk with co-founders Bhavik Modi and Gator Schrand about their unusual collaborative process that results in a rich lineup of beers that seek to tell a story and educate the consumer about India, Indian food, and Indian communiti...

Malt-forward and flowery, the bock-style lager most made for the Spring season is typically a maibock, though not all breweries embrace the confines of that title. We collect five local bocks made with Spring in mind to help Craig make up his mind about this style that once literally saved a city. We also meet two diabolical breakfast buffet villains, get our minds freaked by food commercial secre...

One of America's few original styles also happens to be a commonly misunderstood one. The Cream Ale has no dairy or lactose (much to Craig's chagrin) but is instead much more similar to the flavorful and easy-drinking Kölsch. We drink through five examples of the style to better grasp its nuances and are once again surprised by the refreshing amount of subtle variation. Also, we discuss the ultima...

We've been summoned to do our civic duty in Haze Court, giving five hazy beers their due process through our arbitrary…arbitration. We're ready to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that we should drop the charges against haze, and sentence our taste buds to about an hour of hop service. Also, we imagine adding a twist to new MLB rules, experience the Mandela Effect with Sir Mix-A-Lot, and try...

In less than two years, Atrium Brewing already has folks claiming them as the best brewery in Louisville - so Craig had to visit and find out for himself. Head brewer Spencer Guy hops on for an interview to talk about the brewery's origins, being known for kettle sours but having a penchant for clean beers, and what to expect once they are able to add more space. Then we drink through five diverse...

As if the Chicago shelves couldn't be more saturated with tantalizing options, a whole new round of hot drops has hit recently that got us out to the bottle shops to see if they'll take valuable fridge space away from our local faves. We have five very different beers from some notable out-of-state breweries - and we have our first ever D.O.A. Hot Drop. Also, Ryan is living with the horror of a ro...

Well ahead of Derby Day, Craig trotted down to Louisville, Kentucky to check out their beer scene and bring back a five-pack, along with an interview. The range is wide on this one with easy-drinkers to adjunct-crammed sippers all fighting for the top spot in our arbitrary rankings. Also, Craig chats with Andy Cobb from Butchertown to learn about his growing operation, how to determine the right a...