Chicagoist's Beer Of The Week: Temperance Brewing Company's Smittytown

By Staff in Food on Jul 4, 2015 5:45PM

I’m not extra or especially bitter, in general, but I do find myself a complete sucker for a good Extra Special Bitter (ESB).

For a while now, my ESB of choice has been Temperance Brewing Company’s Smittytown. Because, frankly, it’s damn delicious, due to the audacity, creativity and knowledge Brewster Claudia Jendron brings to the Evanston brewery. And all of that audacity, creativity and knowledge show in the fantastic combination of the “refined English malts” she put together with American hop varieties Zythos & Pilgrim. Thus, this beer is the only beer I know, for sure, I’m hauling from Chicago to Asheville, North Carolina for Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference. I can’t think of a beer I’d prefer to take for showcasing Chicagoland’s roots as a shipping hub, temperance and bootlegging epicenter, and current blend of vibrant, hard-working and generally solid fun life.

It’s not your “lawn-mower beer,” but at 5.5% it’s not so big that if you have a few of those while earning your Smittytown, that you’ll be laid out before you can finish grilling up burgers and sausages for dinner. And you were planning on grilling meats and veggies for dinner, weren’t you? Because that second Smittytown you’ll crack open when you sit down for your meal will pair nicely with a grilled summer dinner. (Or a beef stew on a cold February night. Just saying.)

Smittytown cans may be purchased at Binny’s and a variety of other purveyors of alcoholic beverages.

This summer we are featuring four guest writers for our Beer Of The Week column. Today's comes from Natasha Godard of MetaCookbook.