Doctor's orders: blood orange in your beer. more ›

Soon-to-open Solemn Oath Brewery teamed up with Rock Bottom's Lombard brewpub to create Solemn Oats, a 10.5 percent ABV behemoth of an American barleywine. Our only question: Can we have it for breakfast? more ›

As part of your pre-apocalypse preparations, do yourself a favor and grab a few bombers of End of Days, the second offering from Pipeworks, Chicago's newest production brewery. more ›

Our beer of the week coats your palate like a shag carpet--in a good way. Not like your uncle Bill's 1963 basement rec room shag carpet. Like a shag carpet of chocolatey, malty goodness. more ›

Have you abandoned Goose Island since its sale to A-B InBev last March? Good. More for us. Old Town Yard is our beer of the week - and one hell of a Helles. more ›

Unlike other Asian exports, light and forgettable, Taiwan Beer has a pure, clean taste, with a quick, fluffy head and a crisp flavor that compliments spicy foods. more ›

It's October (ok, almost) so it's time to drink an Oktoberfest beer. more ›

This beer is so popular it has its own damn festival. more ›

We've been on a fruit beer kick, as of late. Here's one with some peach. more ›

Last year at Craft Beer Week, we were introduced to the concept behind 5Rabbit Brewery. This year, we got to taste their beer. more ›

Shiner's Ruby Redbird is a grapefruit/ginger brew that calls itself "The Perfect Summer Beer." I'm not quite ready to go that far, but I am glad I accidentally fell into a six-pack of it. more ›

Map Room is decently represented this week, but I feel like in the past year or so, the drinking community has let the Godfather of Chicago beer bars slide off the map a little bit. Let's change that, shall we? more ›

Beckett's, at the intersection of Belmont, Ashland and Lincoln recently relaunched itself with a focus on craft beers and gourmet burgers, which as concepts go puts them on the bleeding edge of mid-2008. Despite that, we stopped in for a bite and a few brews earlier this week and was pleasantly surprised by the number of local beers on the menu. more ›

One would think that today of all days would be the perfect time to dip into a Fuller's ESB or an Old Speckled Hen.* In fact, as you read this your humble author is very likely feeling the effects of some celebratory morning mimosas and a couple glasses of rum punch, not to mention the sherry trifle and the watercress finger sandwiches. (Royals should get married every Friday.) more ›

The pool of Chicago-based breweries just got a little deeper. Finch's Beer Company dove into the market in a big way this week, with their Cut Throat Pale Ale hitting draft lists everywhere from Map Room to the Maple Tree Inn. I shuffled down to Brownstone for a pint of the new not-terribly-pale ale, a bar which despite its catering to the upwardly mobile big-man-on-campus clientele and vibe, has a pretty respectable selection of craft beers. more ›

Between the glut of macrobrew discussion this week, today's Cubs home opener and it being the 1st of April, it's like the world drew a Venn Diagram of our beer mentality and put Old Style right at the center . Despite our well established South Side baseball bias, we've long believed that hollering "OLD STYLE HERE" at Wrigley could be the three finest words one can shout in Chicago. Yes, we're just as susceptible to the lure of America's Biggest Beer Garden once a season or so, and we figured today was as good a day as any to cheer the return of baseball with a classic "local" beer. more ›

Half Acre couldn't have picked a better time to release Ambrosia unto the world, since weather for the last couple days in Chicago have been sweet, sweet bliss and a gift from the deity of your choice. On the Half Acre blog, head Acre-er Gabriel Magliaro writes, "Spring - this is for you." As such, it makes perfect sense to dive into this new release as we get ready to welcome the season, and good weather was a great reason to walk to the brewery and grab a bomber for just shy of $8. more ›

We have been informed that within days, people all across the country will be engaging in activity that's irresponsible, dangerous, and potentially damaging to certain internal organs. Our research tells us that it's some sort of observation of, and celebration for, an ancient Christian Bishop named "Patrick" who is specifically linked with Ireland. How this relates to cheap off-color beer and mid-morning alcohol induced vomiting*, we'll never know, but we do know this: This year, you can do better. more ›

When faced with a situation where solidarity is required, some sign petitions. Some protest in public squares. Some camp out in statehouses. I prefer to drink beer. Revolution Brewing's power-to-the-people motif seemed like a reasonable way to let my liver bear some of the weight of the social unrest going on in the country and around the world. Also, I hadn't been there yet even though they've been open for just over a year now (a shameful admission for a self-described beer dork). So, two birds, one stone. more ›

The Black IPA is the hip, happening new thing when it comes to brewing styles, Massachussetts' Clown Shoes Brewery is the "new kid in town" of Chicago beer distribution and I'm the new guy (sorta) when it comes to Beers of the Week. Thusly, I thought we'd be best served by spending some of our weekend with "Hoppy Feet," the new black IPA from Clown Shoes. more ›

We learned a couple of things from Tuesday night's ill-fated "Screw the Blizzard" tweetup. First, Timberlands are only good for one hard winter, then need to be tossed. Second, The Beer Bistro makes a damn fine bowl of chili and buffalo chicken pizza. Third, they have specialty beers brewed for the bar from Brooklyn Brewery. more ›

Last night was Chicagoist staff get-together night at Resi's Bierstube (2034 W. Irving Park Rd.), one of our favorite German bars in the city. Resi's has a great selection of pilsners, weizens, alts, and other lagers. By the time Kevin joined us fresh from the mayoral debate, most of the men at the table were drinking BBK (short for "Bayerische Brauerei Kaiserslautern") Pilsner.BBK Pilsner is in our top five list of favorite pilsners because of its clean flavor and fuller body than the dry pilsner styles of northern Germany. It's golden straw color and hazy appearance are also true to the style. more ›

The first time Three Floyds and Dogfish Head collaborated to create "Popskull" was a bit underwhelming. There was so much to like about an "Old School, German Brown Ale with Palo Santo Wood and Botanicals" on paper that didn't translate to the actual product, even after aging. But then NIck Floyd and Sam Calagione aren't afraid to fail, which is what makes them two of the more respected brewery owners in the country. more ›

A few of us met up at Maria's Community Liquors in the wunnerful Bridgeport area last night for a beer or two. It's been a few months since Ed Marszewski unleashed his family's rehabbed lounge and package store on an unsuspecting Bridgeport and business is a-booming. Part of that is a commitment to good craft beers. Maria's is walking the walk with their beer program and it seems as though they've got a lot of nice selections from Founders Brewing in stock. One of the tap selections that you must try is Founders' "Double Trouble." This is an Imperial India Pale that isn't too bitter for new converts to the style. It's also a great winter beer. more ›

Kicking off 2011 in style here with our first look at Port Brewing out of California. That's incorrect; we've featured Port's Lost Abbey series a few times. But never an actual Port selection. Here's one worth the search. more ›

We here at Chicagoist had our monthly staff meetup at Quencher's last night, which may account for some of the staff's slow movements today. Kids. more ›

Cold outside and here we are reviewing a summer seasonal again. But this one's worth it. more ›

From our initial efforts adding Leinie Red to chili to today, we've always cooked with beer, and our meetings with "Homebrew Chef" Sean Paxton at the Great American Beer Festival only helped to intensify that interest. Over the Thanksgiving holiday we decided to clear out a significant portion of our beer library. Bye-bye went the final bottle of 2010 Dark Lord, a bottle of 2009 Flossmoor Station Wooden Hell, last week's Rogue Double Mocha Porter "BotW" selection, and a fine bottle of Southern Tier Jah-Va Imperial Coffee Stout. more ›

As we mentioned earlier today, we've been tearing into a significant amount of our beer library the past couple of days to make room for some new additions (like the Goose Island BCS Rare) and found a lot of stouts, heavy ales and porters ready for the drinking. Example, last night we broke out a 2010 Dark Lord and a 2009 Flossmoor Station Wooden Hell for an evening meetup with friends. more ›