Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week:" Rock Bottom Barrel-Aged Sticke Alt

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jan 21, 2010 8:00PM

As The Stranger once told The Dude, "Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes, well, he eats you." We're still trying to process who ate whom at RB Grille and why someone thought it was a good idea to renovate a sizable part of perfectly functioning brewpub into a lukewarm bistro.

At least they didn't screw up the beer and, as far as barrel-aged experiments go, letting an altbier rest in bourbon barrels is a nice twist on the concept. Particularly, the stronger versions of the style like Sticke alts. Rock Bottom's sticke alt on its own is very good. Aged in bourbon barrels, the dark sugars of the malts are heightened considerably by the porous oak of the bourbon barrels and its remaining sugars. Rock Bottom's barrel aged sticke alt paired wonderfully with RB Grille's cornbread and the peanut butter mini pie dessert. this could also make for a nice rainy day beer, which is whywe decided to run the review today.

$6 for a 10-ounce stemmed glass pour.