Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
A concise brewery bio
Our initial stop on our tour of Australian craft breweries takes us to the alliteratively named Feral Brewing Company.
As was the case with the previous two breweries on this itinerary, the details are courtesy of the Crafty Pint. THE place to go for Australian craft beer information.
What jumped out at me other than the marvelous name was the barrel aged Hop Hog beer. Just sounds like a grand experiment. Though the Runt beer sounds good too.
Our final stop takes us to another brewery that is set to open in the near future (you know how dates are moving targets in the craft beer world).
Check out this recent article on Bruce Dir and like Tighthead on Facebook to stay in the loop on what happens next.
Strong Artisan Ales are whats promised from New Chicago Brewing Co.
Now they aren’t planning on opening until spring of next year but their plans look really cool and forward thinking. Read this from their website: “Brothers Jesse Edwin Evans and Samuel Evans are opening a production brewery in the Whiskey Point section of the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago, producing and bottling big, bold, strong ales. It will be a collaboration with insanely creative people in a 100% sustainable environment.
New Chicago Brewing Company’s planned launch date is March 4th, 2012, the 175th anniversary of the incorporation of Chicago. We are a socially conscious company partnering with- and located inside- a revolutionary food manufacturing facility called The Plant. It’s the first vertical farm facility of its kind. The Plant is a closed ecosystem that can handle its own waste and generate its own power. Every one of New Chicago Brewing Company’s byproducts will be fed back into a system that raises tilapia, grows microgreens and mushrooms and nurtures aquaponics gardens. View a diagram that helps to explain the ecosystem. It will become a culinary destination. One of the brewery’s main ingredients will be to give back by using our resources to benefit the positive things that are happening in the city of Chicago.”
Chicago is rising fast on the brewery front.
South Dakota has another brewery to slake the thirst of the state.
Banking on the colorful history of the gangster, Heist Brewing in Brookings have some brews that have certainly piqued my interest.
“Tea Off is a light bodied, full flavored wheat ale with a rich copper color. Green tea, orange peel, and coriander are incorporated in this wheat ale making it a refreshing choice on a hot day or night. Tea Off Ale beer that can truly be enjoyed by all.”
“Black Lotus is a heavy-bodied, chocolaty black ale with a malty roast flavor. Lotus is sure to tempt the palate of any beer coinsure. Black Lotus has the perfect amount of bittering hops to balance the intense malt profile.”
Usually the backstory of how a brewery came together contains some familiar elements. Hurdles overcome. Fortuitous meetings and the like. This is the first “Our Story” that I have read that includes surprising someone 4,000 miles away to re-kindle a brewery dream.
But that is the case with 5 Rabbit Cerveceria.
They have three main beers of which I want to focus on two:
5 Lizard
a Latin-Style Witbier
“5 Lizard is a creamy and refreshing wheat beer with some spicy complexity and light touch of passion fruit for a delicious and slightly exotic flavor.”
5 Vulture
an Oaxacan-Style Dark Ale
“5 Vulture is a deep ambered-colored ale with complex caramel aromas with toasted sugar notes and a long, elegant spicy finish. Roasted ancho chile is used to add depth and complexity, without adding heat or strong chile flavors.”
I got my first chance to sample some new Ventura County Brew from Enegren Brewing last night at the crowded but AC filled tasting room at Wades Wines.
My final Verdict was that the X1 Valkyrie was the best followed by the Protector IPA, regular Valkyrie and then the Summer Session.
If you are in Santa Monica next Wednesday, Enegren will be at the famous Library Alehouse.
Our first stop in the Windy City is Lake Bluff Brewing. Theirs is a common (and great) story about home brewing that grew into a brewery. I don’t know who is luckier? The people who received the home brew gifts and were the de facto R&D department or the people who now get to sample beers that are really dialed in and perfected.
A couple of the beers that caught my attention are…..
‘Tis the Saison
“No matter what the season, ’tis the season for our Saison. Historically a summer seasonal beer, ours is golden in color and flavored with coriander, cardamom and orange peel to give slightly spicy notes. Finishes nice and dry with the yeast providing much of that classic Belgian flavor.”
Softtail IPA
Hardtail’s little brother. Same great flavor and aroma, but easier drinking and not so heavy on the alcohol. A great summer beer.
Our third featured Nebraska brewery is Empyrean Brewing Company and boy have they grown like gangbusters.
It may be due to beers like the newly bottled….
Super Nova Summer Fest
“Easy drinking with hints of sweet corn, bread and caramel, finishing with a blast of citrus hop character and just enough crisp to balance the sweet. It’s a toast to rolling surf, Baja hoodies, beach BBQs and the elusive green flash.”
…or ….
Fallen Angel Sweet Stout
“A smooth-drinking, late-winter wonder. We’ve crafted this English-styled stout using roasted malts and a healthy dose of lactose sugar to produce a creamy-rich beer with hints of roasted chocolate.”
You can find their brews all across the state.
I first encountered Nebraska Brewing at the GABF a couple years back. I saw a few people in their logo’d shirts and I thought to myself that their brewery must be an oasis to thirsty Nebraskans.
Fast forward to today and you can get some Nebraska Brewing offerings in Portland and even here in LA. I’ve already alerted you to the new Toasted Barn beer. So let’s take a look at two other offerings…..
Hop God
“A beautiful golden crossbreed of a Belgian Tripel and a West Coast IPA. A remarkable explosion on the palate with spiciness, tropical fruit, and a firm citrus bitterness that will leave you begging for more!”
Itty Bitty Betty
“Producing Black Betty results in some significantly sweet spent grains, so we decided that instead of giving it all to the pigs, we’d extract some of that goodness and make a smaller beer out of it. By using different yeast and hops, we created a nice sweet stout that really stands apart from Black Betty.”
Available: Now
Here is the back story on this Nebraska brewery….“After years of working a local brewpub and experimenting in the garage, three guys decided to take their know-how and passion for great beer and bottle it.
Lucky Bucket Brewing Company is Nebraska’s newest craft brewery, growing almost as fast as we can brew it. Our first release, Pre-Prohibition style Lager, is getting some welcomed praise for representing the true character of beer, reminiscent of a time when beer actually had flavor. Keep an eye out for our latest releases including a very floral and flavorful American IPA and our first barrel-aged release, Certified Evil”
Check out their beer page HERE to watch some videos that talk more about their concoctions. Quite the coup to already have a beer with Oakshire and 50/50.