02/17/2019

I'm contributing some beer that is being raffled off together with some handmade bratwurst from Bruce Tammen, as prizes for a fundraising event benefiting the Chicago Chorale.  The event, Suds in the City, will be at Lagunitas on Tuesday February 19th at 5:30 pm.  All the info here. Here are the labels for the beers:

01/27/2019

A hardy cadre of beer judges and brewers took a beer tasting and evaluation exam that I administered this past Saturday morning.  It turned out to be a wild, wintry morning, but ten registrants braved the cold and snow to make their way to Lo-Rez Brewing in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood to take the test. The Beer Judging Examination is the second of three tests for the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), an international, volunteer-driven organization that educates and credentials

01/18/2019

Last weekend, two beers that Hugh and I brewed - one of the biggest beers we brew and one of the smallest - won medals at the 2019 Chicago Winterbrew competition.  In the strong ales category, our Heavy Lifting American Barleywine won a bronze medal.  This is the first time we brewed this beer.  It is strong (11% abv) and malty, but with a firm and bracing bitterness from a half pound of hops, leading to an estimated 61 IBUs.  The hops featured are Citra, Amarillo and Centennial, and they give