At the time of our visit to Half Acre's new Lincoln Square brewery in April we said of the limited edition Baume' Rye Stout: more ›

The last time a critical gaze was cast upon Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales was way back in 2007, when Bam Biere was designated a "Reader's Choice" selection. One of the great American-made saisons, Bam Biere was ahead of the curve, helping herald the current sea change in American craft brewing from mouth-puckering hop bombs to Belgian-inspired balance and sour ales. Another favorite Jolly Pumpkin selection is "Luciernaga." This summer seasonal release is the Dexter, Michigan-based brewery's take on a Grand Cru Pale Ale. Brewed with Grains of Paradise and Coriander, no extra hopping is necessary to give "the firefly" a spicy kick on the finish. more ›

After a full day in trade show hell, we needed a beer to the point that we might have accepted a Budweiser if it was presented to us. Lucky for us we moseyed past the Food and Wine of Australia booth before it came to that. more ›

This week's "BotW" selection is one of those "day late, dollar short" deals. It was available briefly right around WhiskyFest at Guthrie's, Delilah's, Map Room (actually, Map Room may have some left), Long Room, Underbar and Weegee's. It also tied in to WhiskyFest in that the malt used in brewing was whisky malt. more ›

This week we look east to Burlington, Vermont. Vermont is home to Ben & Jerry's (yeah!), Phish (ugh!) and the Magic Hat Brewing Company. We've been fans of Magic Hat for quite a while, owing to their inventive brews and off-beat sense of humor, both reminiscent of Three Floyds. more ›

This week's selection was a suggestion from an old friend we ran into at a party a couple weeks back. The time was closing in on midnight and most everyone else had left for the evening. We would interrupt the conversation to say our goodbyes, then return to the important discussion of beer. Our friend looked at us and said, "If you like IPAs like you say, you've got to try 'Racer 5' and let... more ›

This year's edition of the Great American Beer Festival is in the books, and Illinois breweries racked up an impressive 16 medals. Both Pabst (their corporate headquarters are in suburban Woodridge, so they qualified as an Illinois beer company) and Goose Island took home four medals each. Pabst earned respective gold and silver medals for Lone Star and Old Style (American-style cream ale or lager), and repeated the feat for Old Milwaukee Light and PBR... more ›

No witty introduction this week. Our fault for trying to impress the new staffers with barleywine ale and Dalmore. Thank God for French-pressed coffee. The buffet is now open. A Good German to the End: The closing of Delicatessen Meyer should have been a story we weighed in on earlier in the week and not relegated to the Buffet. To that end, Chicagoist extends a sincere mea culpa. Anyhoo, for those who haven't heard, the... more ›

It's been nearly six months since Bell's Beer founder Larry Bell pulled his product from the Illinois market in a dispute with distributors over the Beer Industry Fair Dealing Act of 1982. Readers will remember that that specific law, enacted at the time to protect distributors from the loss of a giant beer account on the level of Anheuser-Busch or Miller should they decide to move to greener pastures, doesn't give mid-level craft breweries like... more ›

When cabin fever sets in, we take good news any place we can get it. Still, we had to read this bit of news twice when we received it. A press release sent to Chicagoist and other outlets yesterday from the Brooklyn Brewery announced that they've reached an agreement with distributor River North, allowing the Williamsburg-based craft brewer to sell its flagship lager, Brooklyn Brown Ale, and Brooklyn East India Pale Ale in the Chicago... more ›

Most of us are familiar with the St. Paul-based Summit Brewing Company through either their Extra Pale Ale or their Hefe Weizen, the latter of which sells so well that Summit brews it for the Chicago market year-round. Chicago is the only market that Summit makes this concession. more ›

Greg Hall, Brewmaster, Goose Island Beer Company more ›

Last week in Seattle, brewmasters from around the world gathered together to have their frothy malts, potent elixirs, and hop-laden potions judged in the 2006 World Beer Cup. We found while reviewing the winners list that: more ›

When Chicagoist went out to check out Chef Carol Wallack's new restaurant, sola (3868 N. Lincoln Ave.), this week we had high hopes. Luckily, we were not disappointed. The cuisine at sola is contemporary American, but because of Chef Wallack's background, there's a lot of Hawaiian and Asian flair. Chicagoist started off with the lobster and shitake potstickers (no-brainer!) and a carmelized onion tartlet (gruyere, sweet Maui onions, and apple) that we thought was intruging and ended up being really "wow"ed by. Delish. We also tried the hot and sour soup. Best. Hot & Sour. Ever. For entrees we stuck with seafood, which is the majority of the menu, but there is a NY Strip for those who need to get their meat on. Chicagoist got the ono and miso black cod - Nobu's famous. Both were cooked perfectly, flavorful with sides and sauces that complimented, but didn't overwhelm these tender fish. Oh, also, the waiter didn't need to twist our arm very hard to get us to try the parmesan truffle french fries. Holy smokes, pommes frites used to be our favorite fried pototo, but not any more. more ›

Coming off what amounts to a four-day weekend is hell. Sure, we at Chicagoist enjoy the time off as much as anybody but when we came back to work yesterday we were simply unmotivated, thinking about all the wonderful grilling and drinking we did over the holiday. That's why we're thrilled to know July is both National Hot Dog Month and American Beer Month. Knowing this Chicagoist is having a hard time keeping its inner Homer Simpson in check. (Mmmmm... beer). more ›