Homebrewers Sparkle At Brew Ho Ho
By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jan 23, 2012 10:00PM
500 people RSVP'd to Saturday's Brew Ho Ho event in Wicker Park. It's an astounding number for an event centered around local homebrew clubs made more so by the fact that Maria's was hosting a Brewpub Shootout at the same time. As much as Chicago's craft brew community has grown in recent years, the homebrewing scene is probably more diverse in the beer being produced.
In fact, after tasting out close to 20 beers at Brew Ho Ho, we preferred some of the home brews over what's being produced locally. Home brewing clubs like Corazon, Soma Ale Werks, Big Dicks Brewing and Powell Brew House are making beer that would fly off shelves if they became full-fledged brewing operations.
Some homebrew clubs, like New Oberpfalz Brewing, are in the process of making the jump. Other homebrewers like improving their skills from those who came before them. Some of the best beers at Brew Ho Ho were made by Ryan Burke, a brewer who's working with Greg Hall on his Virtue Cider project. Burke's wheatwine was hands down the best beer at Brew Ho Ho, followed closely by two different smoked harvest apple ales. The first, made with a wit yeast, had a crisp effervescence to it. the one we preferred was brewed with Scotch ale yeast, giving the beer a warmer, richer flavor more suited to the weather.
Powell Brew House brought a variety of stouts to the event, none better than a peanut butter cup stout that was rich and sweet on the palate. Corazon is doing amazing work playing with Latin flavors in its ales, like adding tamarind to a brown ale or Mexican cocoa nibs to a firkin of stout. Tom Gustafson of Soma Ale Werks impressed with a breakfast stout aged in Pappy Van Winkle casks on toasted oak spirals soaked in Pappy Van Winkle 15 Bourbon for a few months (basically this is a way for homebrewers to achieve a similar effect of barrel/cask aging when you don't have the actual barrel to age your beer in) and a cucumber saison that balanced earthy yeast notes with sweetness.