This pale wheat ale is chock full of tropical fruit notes and the spicy hops that have come to define West Coast pale ales. But it goes down smooth; all that flavor masks a heavy 7.5 percent ABV content. Three or four of these and you could be ready to sign Jake Melnick's waiver and tear into some of their wings. more ›

Pumpkin brews are delicate creatures. Unfortunately, a lot of breweries go overboard, either brewing them too sweet, too spicy or thinner than water, instead of trying for balance. more ›

(Read Part 1 and Part 2) more ›

I helped brew the Beer of the Summer. If there were no Sai-Shan-Tea, this week's selection, a collaboration between Goose Island and Rick Bayless, would be a strong contender for the crown. more ›

Hot on the heels of their "Invasion" Helles bock collaboration a few months back comes the second in a series of from Half Acre and Three Floyds. On the Half Acre blog, Gabriel Magliaro described She-Wolf IPA thus: more ›

The recent purchase of Sam's Wine and Spirits by Binny's meant that we had to replace our Sam's rewards card with a Binny's rewards card. Ug, monopolies. more ›

Friday night we ran through most of the menu at The Southern sitting at the bar with six or seven others. Looking for something to drink, one of the others pointed to his beer and said, "Get this." We like a beer can depicting a cowgirl on a red, white and blue rocket as much as the next man. It's very subtle artwork. But what's inside better damn well match the outside. more ›

We were running around finishing Christmas shopping Sunday when we found ourselves near the Gage. Dirk Flanigan's Michigan Avenue tavern makes quite possibly the best poutine in the city, teeming with cheese curds and rich elk ragout. It's a hearty dish that requires a hearty beer to match. We weren't in the mood for an Imperial IPA, but our first two choices were 86'ed. By process of elimination, Harpoon Brewing was the recipient of our thirst and food pairing skills. more ›

We like coming home to a package of beer samples on the doorstep after a long bike ride; it lets us imagine we're at the general store by Kettle Moraine after a long day on the trails. more ›

The big question with Graham Elliot's "Sexy Burger," besides recalculating your life expectancy with every bite, is what beer is bold enough to pair with it. Say hello to Mendocino Red Tail Ale, people. This amber ale, brewed with Caramel and Pale malts along with Cascade and Cluster hops, was up for the challenge. more ›

If you're looking for a beer to stimulate your appetite, saisons make a wonderful aperitif. The tartness imparted from Brettanomyce yeast prepares an eater for anything from barbecue to a multiple-course tasting menu. If sour is the new hoppy, then consumers should focus on diversity. more ›

Looking toward Belgium yet again for inspiration this week. A few months back our predecessor as food and drink editor went to the Publican and Twittered about the best beer she ever had. Erin Twittered a lot about that beer, it sounded like the highlight of her dinner. more ›

Goose Island brewmaster Greg Hall has been telling anyone who will listen that "sour is the new hoppy." It's unsurprising to find Goose Island at the vanguard of what's becoming a shift in American craft brewing. Breweries like Goose Island, Dogfish Head and Jolly Pumpkin are shifting from boldly hopped ales to experimental fermentation, brewing with fruit, and aging for long periods of time in whisky or wine casks. The template now is not how thick a beer can be, but how tart can you make it. India Pale ales and Extra Strong Bitters are taking a back seat to lambics, saisons, krieks and brett yeasts. more ›

Obviously the high point of our week (besides clocking out for the weekend in an hour) was the Hot Chocolate anniversary beer dinner. One of the participating breweries at the dinner was Kansas City's Boulevard Brewing Company, currently unavailable in the market. That might change in upcoming months. more ›

There's always a beer tasting around town, and if you don't think so, you just aren't looking hard enough. Tonight's tasting, from 6-8 p.m. at Binny's South Loop (1132 S. Jefferson St., 312-768-4400), will focus on strong ales and barleywines. This is definitely not for session beer lovers. more ›

Normally, we would eschew Scottish ales in favor of their harder-hitting Scotch or Orkney cousins, like Skullsplitter. But we've been on a session beer jag lately. Not good for the liver, very good for tasting notes. more ›

Wanting to enjoy the thaw a bit, we attended Sheffield's "Beer School" festival Saturday afternoon. It was the second time in a year we braved the cold to visit Sheffield's; for the second time in a year it was also worth it. Under the direction of Phil Kuhl, the Lakeview tavern's special beer events have begun to rival Map Room's beer school for breadth and scope. When we briefly spoke with Sheffield's owner Ric Hess, he seemed to agree. more ›

Sabering a bottle of champagne gives you such a rush the first time you do it. So we had to try it with a bottle of beer. more ›

A long time ago in a Chicagoist far, far away, we compiled a list of 12 favorite Christmas beers. Included on that list at #2 was Anchor's Christmas Ale. Fans of this yearly offering know that no two vintages are alike. From the spices to the label, there's always something to differentiate one year from another. more ›

Who wants an ice-cold cocktail when temps are this bone-chilling? Not us. And certainly not your party guests, should you be throwing a holiday party over the next few weeks. Place a warm mug full of something high-octane in their frost-bitten hands as soon as their coats have come off and they'll be toasty in no time. more ›

2008 has been a banner year for Flossmoor Station Brewing Company. The rollout of their bottled beer line was well-received, with beer lovers snatching up the Pullman Brown, IPA and Station Master Wheat Ale as quickly as the brewery can bottle them. This week's selection is a joint effort between Flossmoor Station brewmaster Mat Van Wyk and two other gifted/twisted brewmasters. more ›

Goose Island's been working a lot with rye malt recently. Their Juliet ale, brewed with rye, marionberries and aged for six months in Robert Kraig cabernet casks, has been a popular selection among those Chicagoist staffers who've tasted it (Jacy and myself). This week, we're featuring another rye-based Goose Island offering that's been flying off shelves. more ›

We're gonna focus December's "BotW" selections on new(ish) winter selections, including the new Goose Island "Mild Winter" ale and Lost Abbey's "Gift of the Magi" in the next two weeks. today, however, we're tuning our attention to back to Magic Hat Brewing Company. more ›

We're on record stating Unibroue to be the best brewery in North America, for their amazing recreations of Belgian-style ales. There are a few other breweries of note that pray to the Belgian shrine. One of them is Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY. Oh, God, oh, God the poetic we could wax about their Hennepin, Three Philosophers or Rare Vos brews! Then we went through previous posts and realized that we've never featured an Ommegang beer. more ›

With apologies to Susan Sarandon in "Bull Durham," "This is the damnedest year. The Cubs and Sox are both in first place and Bell's is back in Chicago." Yes, it is and all is right with the world for now. more ›

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We often find Colorado breweries lacking when it comes to finding intense hoppy flavor in their beers. They certainly don't stack up to Midwestern breweries in that category. If anything we find beers from the Rocky Mountain State to be too sweet. more ›

A problem we have with Skylark — a good one to have, mind you — is that we've managed to work our way through their entire draft beer menu, save for the most recent additions. Last week while enjoying the grilled tuna sandwich (the address for Skylark is in the "One Great Sandwich" post that went up yesterday) we were equally blissed on the beer we were drinking. more ›

In the eternal battle of Ninjas v. Pirates, the dark-horse winner is always Vikings.* They've got huge ships, their funerals are awesome, they love mead and ravage Scotswomen. What's not to like? And, perhaps in recognition of the accomplishments of Vikings through the ages (cough*discoveringAmerica*cough), the Geneva-based Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley are re-assembling an ancient Viking vessel replica that debuted at the World's Columbian Exposition. more ›

Leading into next week's "Reader's Choice" selections, we figured we'd stick local. You'll remember that last month Flossmoor Station Brewpub launched a bottled beer program. One of the three selections they bottled also happens to be a longtime favorite of ours whenever we take the Metra Electric down that way. more ›