ABV Chicago Monthly Sampler: May 2024
At the end of each month, we like to highlight twelve drinks we found personally interesting, delicious, or exciting from (mostly) local sources with the hopes of passing on our recommendations to those that are interested in reading arbitrary reviews. Some of these were reviewed on the podcast, some were for Patreon-only Low ABVs, and some are just things we bought because we love beer. Here are our highlights from the month of May 2024.
Craig’s Mixed Six
Orange Vanilla Cream Oberon | Wheat beer | Bell’s Brewery | Kalamazoo, MI | 5.8% ABV
While attending Beer on the Wall’s Main Street Beer Fest I noticed this beer on at one of the stations. Thanks to the option of 5 ounce pours I decided to take a chance on it. I’m glad I did. The orange and vanilla notes were there but not overpowering, while the Oberon base played nice with those adjuncts. It reminded me of a less intense (and less sweet) version of Hop Butcher’s Double Blazed Orange Milkshake. Leave it to Bell’s to do this take on their classic Oberon and knock it out of the park. I immediately looked for cans of this only to find out it was keg only. I would buy an Oberon variety pack if this was included in it.
Barrel-aged Wee Heavy | Barrel-aged Wee Heavy | Buckledown Brewing | Lyons, IL | 10.5% ABV – listen
Even after all these years the wee heavy/scotch ale style rarely comes out, barrel-aged or otherwise. So this had to go on a show once we got it. Typically a little sweet and smoky, Buckledown’s 10th anniversary take on the style adds a fair amount of nuttiness and fruit. The mouthfeel is full and the booze is well-hidden. Everything together amounts to something of an Old Fashioned cocktail, with cherries and a little citrus joining in the fun. When a brewery attempts a beer take on a cocktail it usually falls flat and doesn’t hold up. When a brewery unintentionally does it, it makes it that much better – it feels like you’ve discovered something. Buckledown did everything right with this BA Wee Heavy.
Wilderness of History | Double Barrel-aged Barleywine | Half Acre Beer Company | Chicago, IL | 16.8% ABV – listen
Not noted for their barleywines, Half Acre decided to release a Double Barrel Barleywine in extremely limited quantities. Featuring aromas of molasses, dark fruits, baking spices, and bourbon, Wilderness of History trends more towards those classic barleywines of old. While still strong and a little boozy, it finishes smooth with big molasses, raisins and oak notes. It thankfully is not too sweet but it does fall into that sipper range. The oak rounds the beer off and the booze warms your inside ever so gradually. This is one of Half Acre’s better non-adjuncted barrel-aged beers (along with Orin) and deserves all the praise that it gets. Definitely one to try and trade for.
Regeneration Station | Golden Ale | Hop Butcher for the World | Chicago, IL | 4.5% ABV – listen
Yeah it’s a little gimmicky using water from the Schiller Woods magic pump that people believe has magic properties. Of course it’s a gimmick that I had to try. Lightly hopped with Wakatu and giving off some cracker and grain aromas, Regeneration Station follows those aromas to the tongue. A lovely sharp and crisp cracker note is supported by some light grass notes and a nice pale malt flavor. It’s light and flavorful making it an easy drinker and one that you could kill a four pack of. The grass notes from the Wakatu add a little bit of character to an otherwise standard golden ale. Hop Butcher once again continues their kill streak of non-IPA beers. Make more please!
The Illusion of Finality | Rye saison with Michigan cherries, chamomile, black pepper, and honey | Keeping Together | Chicago, IL | 8.4% ABV – listen (Patreon exclusive)
The best beers usually make you feel something beyond the beer itself. Keeping Together beers invoke those feelings with regularity and The Illusion of Finality is no exception. Big, tart cherries on both the nose and palate but it doesn’t ride out on a big tart cherry bomb. The chamomile adds some depth and complexity while the cherry cinnamon character comes out in the beer as well. It made me feel like the ending of summer – not my favorite feeling as a teacher but one that definitely brings about certain emotions. Everything else about Finality is typical Keeping Together – pillowy soft mouthfeel, restrained finish, enjoyable beer experience. Hopefully we’ll be able to have another Keeping Together beer for our 500th Low ABV!
HefeWeizen | Hefeweizen | Live Oak Brewing Company | Austin, TX | 5.3% ABV – listen
Live Oak’s HefeWeizen is viewed as the standard hefeweizen in the US for a reason. Big banana notes – as a hefeweizen should – but it’s not just all banana. A big bready note joins the banana and forms a lovely banana bread aroma and flavor on the beer. It’s got a full mouthfeel but remains light and enjoyable. Most other hefeweizens we’ve had lean into the banana and have a bubblegum backing and not the bread. It was absolutely essential to have this on the show as I actually got to taste the nuance of this beer (as opposed to a festival). I swear Live Oak has dropped off some things in Chicago from time to time (I might be wrong) but if this does ever hit the city, grab it.
Ryan’s Mixed Six
Le Jus Clear | Clear Hazy IPA | Alarmist Brewing | Chicago, IL | 6% ABV – listen
Alarmist beers are for serious-minded grown-up beer drinkers who can only describe beers in the types of terms nestled within dusty tomes of criticism and theory, forever reminding us that beer will never transcend beyond its peasant-borne roots, the elixir of the common folk doomed to swill and spill while wailing at the injustices of their own intoxicated creation. But every once in a while those erudite scholars at Alarmist allow themselves to have a little “fun,” and this monocle-dropper of an IPA is more of an artistic thesis, a meta-text of hazy/non-hazy that serves to disrupt the foundation of craft beer itself, threatening to topple the entire industry with the power of its statement. When I read “Clear Hazy IPA” on its label, I was moved to tears, weeping at both the beauty of its ingenuity and the hopeless destruction of the schema within which I had once been able to fit my understanding of beer itself. It’s a precious reminder of our own mortality. Plus this one doesn’t have lactose in it and smells way more like weed, which is cool as hell.
Paint the Town Dunkel | Munich-Style Dunkel Lager | Art History Brewing & Revolution Brewing | Geneva, IL & Chicago, IL | 5.8% ABV – listen (Patreon only)
Revolution picks some pretty great collaboration partners, and the folks at Art History (led by local brewing legend Greg Browne) have been producing a well-rounded lineup of delicious beers with a heavy focus on lagers for just about four years now. Some of their Czech and German-inspired lagers have been amongst the best examples of the styles available in Chicagoland, in our opinion. This Dunkel builds on a classic base that features notes of honey wheat bread, molasses, and chestnut before a noticeable floral and grassy hop bite comes in to ride off with the dry finish. It’s a slightly hoppier take on the Dunkel, but it works so well that it’ll stick in your mind a while.
Monadnock | American-Style Porter | Hop Butcher for the World | Chicago, IL | 6% ABV – listen
Time and again Hop Butcher proves that they are nimble enough to step out of their comfort zone and deliver stylistic perfection, and this porter might be one of their most-impressive offerings yet. All the coffee roast and unsweetened cocoa nib bite you’d want from a porter is there without any dominant hop note or overly sticky mouthfeel. This is right in that zone of soft yet perfectly-attenuated, leaving just a hint of roast bitterness on the dry finish. Rebrew this one the next time the temperatures drop below 50, and the lovers of porters (or historical Chicago buildings) will come running.
Somewhere by the Beach | Caribbean-Style Lager | Mikerphone Brewing & Roaring Table Brewing | Elk Grove Village, IL & Lake Zurich, IL | 5% ABV
Built like a perfect sandcastle – constructed simply and delicately but filled with intricate detail and craft – this collaboration lager utilizes tropical and fruity hop flavors to add some summer flair to a completely crushable lager. Roaring Table has been playing with California-style pilsners and other unique twists on highly drinkable lagers, so matching with the flavor masters at Mikerphone results in this piece of patio-drinking perfection. Half-liter tap pours and fully-finished four pack sessions is the expectation here.
Barrel-Aged Peace Treaty | Imperial Stout aged in Old Elk & Wild Turkey barrels w/ organic cocoa nibs, Madagascar vanilla beans, and peanut butter | Old Irving Brewing & Forbidden Root Columbus | Chicago, IL & Columbus, OH | 14% ABV – listen
There’s really no magic formula to impress me in the pastry stout realm: just throw peanut butter and chocolate into it, and there’s a 90% chance I’ll love it. That’s not to say there’s no masterful hand on this one from the meetup of Wolverine and Buckeye brewers because it impresses in its full embrace of those flavors while honoring the influence of the Old Elk and Wild Turkey barrels. The oaky vanillins, pepper spice, and buttery caramel notes help keep the dessert sweetness from taking over, and the base stout itself isn’t overwhelmed either. It’s a decadent sipper for sure, and it’s one that rewards more over time as it warms.
Psychedelic Cat Grass | Triple Dry-Hopped IPA | Short’s Brewing Company | Elk Rapids, MI | 7.6% ABV – listen (Patreon only)
I know I’m a few months late on this beer that was once some 24-hour package-and-release beer, but this can held up with all of its nostalgia-inducing bitterness still intact. Immediately the aroma is triple dry-hopped skunky bong rips, candied pineapple, honey malt, and mixed berry Skittles. The bitterness is intense up front, and the lingering finish reminds me of drinking a Humalupalicious at a bar in Grand Rapids in 2010. Some fruit and malt sweetness along the middle fills out the flavor. If you’re looking for some old school IBU nostalgia, this beer might scratch you in the exact right place.
