For four days the Sheraton Hotel and Towers downtown was overrun by a burly, bearded, tattooed mass of humanity. They had one other thing in common: they all had a deep love of beer. The annual Craft Brewers Conference and biennial World Beer Cup shone a spotlight on Chicago just as the local craft beer scene is growing by leaps and bounds. Breweries from 90 countries entered a record 3,330 beers in the World Beer Cup, in 90 style categories. Many of those beers, as well as rare vintages, were available for sampling at the conference and throughout the city. more ›

The results from the biennial World Beer Cup (held this year in classy San Diego) are up. Goose Island represented yet again, earning silver medals for "#12" (English-style summer ale) and Matilda (Belgian- and French-style ale). more ›

When the weather turns, we tend to switch up our beer choices. Colder weather typically calls for heartier brews: monster ales, porters, and stouts. Now we love a good stout as much as anyone, but as someone with not a drop of Irish to be found in our genealogy, we like to explore the darkest of beers. Often, the sweet flavor and clingy, slightly sour finish in stouts comes from the addition of lactic acid... more ›

When one thinks of Japanese beer, the first to come to mind are Sapporo or Asahi. A Japanese brewery that we think deserves mention is the Kiuchi Brewery, which started out in 1823 brewing sake. They still do make fine sakes, but in recent years they've branched out into spirits distillation, beer, and have plans for making wines. Kiuchi started the beer aspect of their business, Hitachino Nest, in 1996. The beers are notable for... more ›

This week we turn our attention — and our beer-hunting skills — to the neighborhood Nelson Algren lovingly wrote of. Well, not that particular Wicker Park. That one's been gone for years. We don't presume to know what Algren would have thought of modern-day Wicker Park, but we're sure he would have dug around to find its seedy underbelly, somewhere between the designer handbags and strollers. Would he have written of the ambivalent detente between... more ›

There's a longstanding quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin that states, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Although Chicagoist's belief in a higher power is suspect, we agree with the rest of Big Ben's wisdom. Beer - and other malt beverages - is also a much discussed subject among the Chicagoist staff. One staffer is obsessed with the alcoholic energy drink known as "Sparks"; just can't get enough of... 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 ›