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Episode 108 - Our Beers of Spring 2023
105 Plays2 years ago
This week we sample some beers we have dubbed "Spring Beers of 2023".
Beers on this episode:
Off Color Brewing - Beer For Baseball
Bell's Brewery - Oberon
Old Irving Brewing - Oni
Midwest Coast Brewing - Hanging Curve
Begyle Brewing - Free Bird
Pipework's Brewing - Dawn of the Shed
To get tickets for Chicago On Tap 2023:
e.givesmart.com/events/uUN/
Also, if you send an email to info@themaltinghour.com you can request a promo code to save $15 on your ticket to the event.
Theme music provided by Myke Kelli (@mykekelli)
Break and outro music provided by @FluidMinds
Check out all our episodes at www.themaltinghour.com
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Transcript
00:00:01
Speaker
Sorry Tobias, we had to spill your story there. I'm pretty sure it was him. If it's not, sorry Tobias. Still a good story though.
Episode Intro: Spring Beers Spectacular
00:00:09
Speaker
This week we drink beers that scream spring to us. This is episode 108 of The Malting Hour.
00:00:16
Speaker
What's the haps on the hops? Guy ease that speech This the moat now where we talk about our drink And tell you what we think every other week And if we get drunk, well we might slur our speech Gotten to get a cab, the friends who wish you had Join us for a drink, join us for a laugh Time is never wasted, wait you're getting wasted The moat and I will hear people, people taking places People, people taking places People, people taking places
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome to the Molting Hour. I am one of your hosts, Tony Gull, Joindahl, and coming off the heels of our spring cleaning episode, what better thing to do than get more beer? It's our spring beer episode. Talk about more spring stuff. Spring stuff. And you know, clear out the cellar or like me buy old beer and you know, then buy more
00:01:06
Speaker
beer to drink.
Why is Spring a Beer Lover's Delight?
00:01:09
Speaker
You know, living in Chicago, and I think a lot of people in the Midwest would agree that spring is probably one of the greatest times of the year.
00:01:18
Speaker
only because it's so freaking cold and it's like dreary. It doesn't, it didn't used to normally bother me so much, but for some reason, like this year, I am ready for winter to be done. I mean, it's officially spring, but I am ready for warmer weather and being outside and drinking beers that aren't just, you know, heavy stouts and shit like that. I gotta unplug the fridge, sorry. Okay.
00:02:03
Speaker
I hate that there's two of them back there that I'm like... Well, I feel like in Zencaster, it doesn't really pick it up. No, but I started hearing it a little bit on here and I'm like, that's gonna bother me. Like if I'm listening to it now, so... All right, well, I put a minute 45 to make a little edit. So I'm gonna jump in here. Random, what about you? Would you agree with that?
Transitioning to Spring Brews
00:02:27
Speaker
We're drinking so many like...
00:02:29
Speaker
Not so many, but there's a lot of like heavy beers and stuff like that. Uh, that when springtime rolls around, you know, it's kind of, kind of nice. Yeah. Like winter, I mean, traditionally for me has been like the, the stouts and the, the bigger beers. Um, and, and we've even said like, I can do those year round, but they're just so much more welcoming in the cold weather. Uh, and then I look forward to kind of new, like refreshing light things.
00:02:56
Speaker
And then it's funny because it's the cycle where like you progressively get hoppier through the summer and then it's like A barrel age something and then it's like down the slope we go Exactly. Excuse me
00:03:13
Speaker
Yeah, so we decided that we would do springtime beers, beers that we enjoy when the weather gets a little bit warmer. Brandon and I have no idea what we're drinking. We're in separate places, again, just because it's easier. Brandon, why don't we start with you? Sure. What are you drinking first? Because I felt it was appropriate for today, I grabbed Off Color's Beer for Ball Games.
00:03:40
Speaker
Hey, it's opening day as we're recording this. Yep. And I haven't had it. And I hope your local team won unless it was against a Chicago team. What do you think of it? I like it. It's very reminiscent of an old style.
00:03:57
Speaker
I think I've had it before. Old-style or MGD. It's got that old-school logger feel to it. And it's categorized as a Kremel. But I have had this, I believe. It definitely rings like ballgame sitting there, drinking a beer. Yeah.
00:04:14
Speaker
If they don't, if like if if that Wrigley or it's always Comiskey to me, don't if they don't serve this, they should like somebody should serve this. I wonder because Comiskey, Sox Park, guaranteed rate, U.S. cell. They do have that craft beer cave. And I would hope that they have this beer there. I mean, they have so many other
00:04:40
Speaker
great options. I know hot butchers there and revolutions there, I believe. Yeah, revolution has their own like like little tap room. Oh, nice. Last time I went. Yeah.
Chicago Beer Scene & Baseball
00:04:50
Speaker
Yeah, it's a missed opportunity by local Chicago baseball teams if they're not drinking that because you're right. It is a cream out, but it does. It is very reminiscent of like being at a ballpark like those types of beer, like your standard go to beers. And I really like that about
00:05:07
Speaker
craft breweries who lean into that whole thing of like making a just
00:05:13
Speaker
well-balanced drinkable lager that will appeal to everybody. Because as we said, sometimes you go to a brewery or a craft beer bar, and there was a time where it was all like IPAs. And someone who maybe doesn't drink craft beer would be turned off by that. But having an option like this is fantastic. And even craft beer drinkers like it. There's tons of times when you just want to have a beer that tastes like beer.
00:05:38
Speaker
Yeah, like I said, it's a good reminiscent throwback, too. And it's not even a throwback because those beers still exist. But drinking those beers, originally, the only thing I can think of, these are probably a little bit cleaner. They're not mass-produced. They're made in smaller batches, obviously. But it's super, super good.
Early Beer Memories
00:06:00
Speaker
Great head on it. When I poured it, it was super foamy. That died down pretty quickly. But it reminded me of
00:06:08
Speaker
you know, grabbing an M.G.D. when I was a kid, you know, stealing it out, stealing it from my dad's boat and then getting home and pouring it in my room because it was, you know, it wasn't totally cold because these were in the fridge for about three or four hours. But like, wasn't totally cold, but it wasn't totally warm. It was just like, right. And they're nice heads built on it. It was the same thing. I was like, man, I'm going to flashback. I'm like, man, I remember when I was 12 and I got wasted. I never did that when I was 12.
00:06:35
Speaker
I'm pretty sure that one of the first beers, maybe we've talked about this before, but one of the first beers that I ever had with my cousin Kevin and my buddy John was like a warm M.G.D. from the basement at my cousin's house. And I think we're like seventh or eighth grade. And we all split, like the three of us split it. We were like, yeah, drinking a beer. And what a terrible like introduction to beer, like a warm M.G.D. I still, I have a vivid memory of when you lived over on Talcott and we were
00:07:05
Speaker
I think Newport was with us and we were literally discussing how we were going to get a case of rolling rock. And I don't know if it ended up being your sister or if we were that hard up for it. We drove to the south side and had Andy sister buy it for us. But I remember like there was we had rolling rock that night.
00:07:25
Speaker
Man, I have to check in with my sister because that does, there was a period, oh man, I want to have Rolling Rock again. There's a period I do remember of like in high school where Rolling Rock was the beer to drink and I don't know why. Maybe because it was like, it's funny because it's a green bottle so I'm sure it's like pretty skunked but I just remember that being the beer that I drink the most probably as a teenager.
00:07:48
Speaker
Yeah, there was. I mean, I didn't drink a whole lot, but I do remember that being the beer of choice. Yeah, there was that. I remember in grammar school, I had a friend. There was I don't think this beer is made anymore. And I don't know how long it was around for. But I think it was called Red Wolf. And he was obsessed with wolves and was like, do what I get when I'm 21. That's going to be my beard like Red Wolf. And then like, you know, got into high school and I'm like, what the hell happened to that Red Wolf beer? Like.
00:08:15
Speaker
Apparently it still is made. I'm doing my best Clark right now It is a anhyzer bush
00:08:24
Speaker
product and it was added November 19th 2002 and last rated on October 6th 2022 on
Spotlight on Off Color Brewing
00:08:33
Speaker
a beer advocate. So really it's it's somewhere. I don't know where but it's somewhere. Also there's an ad for Kentucky Fried Chicken's Double Down Sandwich. So now I'm hungry. I've never had that. Now there am I. It seems interesting. Yeah I don't know like I value my heart.
00:08:51
Speaker
you know, enough to work. I don't know if I can do that to it, which is also the same reason I don't get into like the burgers with like the doughnuts as the bun like I know. But I mean, I'm like, in theory, it sounds like it would be great. Yeah. Oh, it sounds fantastic. I feel like that's like a one and done. That's like me with fried Oreos. I think in my entire life I've had. Oh, excuse me. The burp just crept up to fried Oreos. And I work festivals in the summer where I'm like,
00:09:26
Speaker
and I remember one time, like the people I was working with, they gave us like a whole bunch of random food and then there was like, just like, you know, like those little paper fry holders, containers, that was just filled with like 10 fried Oreos, and that was the first time I had it, and I had one I said,
00:09:46
Speaker
That was so delicious, I never have to have another one again. You know, like, same thing with anything else that's like deep fried as far as like a Snickers or any other. I've never had a deep fried Snickers, but things like that, I'm like, I can have it once, and I don't think I ever have to have that again. Yeah, I've never done the deep fried Snickers, and I think, and I don't know if I've gotten a deep fried Oreo anywhere else except for Vegas. There used to be a spot in old Vegas on Fremont Street,
00:10:13
Speaker
like they tore all of that down and like put it's all commercialized and like crap now, I mean, it's still fine, but they like the you know, the last like, you know, strip club that was like, they're forever. RIP Glitter Gulch was like gone.
00:10:30
Speaker
And then like, I forget the name of the casino, but it was right on the corner there. But they had like the first time I went in there, I think I had to have been with Matt Cichon and he was like, dude, you got to get the fried Oreos. And I was like, OK. And it was like a dollar for like five of them. And I was like, cool. And they served footballs of beer or mixed drinks. And it was like five dollars or ten dollars or something. Maybe it was ten dollars to get the.
00:10:56
Speaker
the football and then get it filled with whatever you want. And then it was $5 for refills. Oh my God. Cause I remember to, uh, Tobias from rabbit brewing, he was there. Shout out. And he was drinking, uh, whatever he had mixed with one 51. Oh my God. Yeah. We got back to like, we got going hard. We got back to Matt's car. Like all I remember is I have this vivid memory of Tobias just like sitting in the corner of the parking lot, like throwing up.
00:11:27
Speaker
Sorry Tobias, we had to spill your story there. I'm pretty sure it was him. If it's not, sorry Tobias. Still a good story though. Hey, I was gonna say, real quick, is there a, if not, I've pulled it up, but is there a description of beer for ballgames from Offcolor on the can? Just so people know. Not really. Literally, it's got the description and then it says, hey dad, wanna have a beer?
00:11:55
Speaker
Well, I've got it pulled up here. It's the tasting notes. It says, well, most of our beers for stuff, which by the way, we've talked about a lot of the beers for different types of things on the podcast. And I still really want to do like just a big like beers for episode. You know what? We need to do that this year.
00:12:11
Speaker
We're gonna do that this year. We gotta do a beers for whatever food with that food Like yeah, or just order a smorgasbord of food. I mean, there's also activities, you know Like there's there's food activities things like that so we can run a marathon because there's beer for marathon There's beers for basket or beer for hoops. Anyways, I'm gonna read this right here beer for ball games tasting notes
00:12:32
Speaker
While most of our beers for stuff are inspired by things that are not beer, we could not imagine quaffing anything but a light bodied but flavorful brew. Uh, what is that?
00:12:45
Speaker
Oh man, watching, not watching, the font, I gotta get glasses. Watching nine innings from the bleacher section. This American style female features a light malt character with flavors of cornflake cereal. A light hopperoma contributes to nuanced floral pepper and grapefruit rind notes. Bread notes from the yeast left in the beer rounds out the mouthfeel. There's a secret techniques thing. I'll read that too. Might as well. As one of the first styles of beer actually conceived in the United States in the mid 1800s,
00:13:14
Speaker
Our Creme Ale is designed to make America's pastime proud by using only American produced malt and corn with classic American hops, cascade, and Wilamette or walamette. We even use the best American water. Sorry, Fiji. That's right, that's Chicago water, baby. And it's a session beer because it is only 4.2%, 18 IBUs. They use two-row flaked barley, caramel malt, textured malt, flaked corn, nugget, walamette, cascade, and hey, dad, want to have a beer? Available baseball season.
00:13:43
Speaker
So yeah, as far as beers for, this is another great beer for beer. They do beer for, like I said, beer for hoops, beer for golf, beer for marathons, beer for bowling. Is there a beer for lounging?
00:14:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's the only beer for I didn't like. And we can talk about that another time if we ever get the beer for lounging. But I was not too keen on it. It was supposed to be a pale ale. And I don't think I like the E strain that this is. But maybe, I don't know, it was a batch I didn't really get into. But Brandon, how many baseballs?
00:14:20
Speaker
Out of 5 or 10, because we changed the scale. It's either 5 out of 5 or 10. I'm staying with 5. I'm going 4. I'm staying with 5, too. Yeah. 4 baseballs. I like that. Yeah. Nice. I think, you know, I don't have it in front of me. 3, 7, 5, 4. You didn't check into this when you had it. I didn't. No. I remember having this. I just looked. But that being said, what are you drinking? It's very rare that I don't check in a beer. I didn't check in beer for family gatherings either, because that malt liquor one was very good. I decided, and maybe you have this, but I decided to start with this, because I feel like,
00:14:51
Speaker
This beer to me is the sign of spring and summer right around the corner.
Is Bell's Oberon the Quintessential Spring Beer?
00:14:59
Speaker
And as of this recording 10 days ago, there was a day dedicated to it like every year I went with.
00:15:07
Speaker
Bells Oberon, baby. I almost grabbed that. It was the first beer that I grooved. It's my first beer. It's the first beer that I grabbed from Beer on the Wall. When I saw it, I was like, oh man, that screams.
00:15:26
Speaker
warm weather to me and wheat ales to me as much as IPAs those were the first two styles that I fell in love with even with like especially with brewing too like a wheat ale is so not easy but it's a forgiving style that it's easy to stick to and it's just it's great and I don't know
00:15:46
Speaker
Many craft beer drinkers, friends of mine, or friends of yours, friends of ours who haven't had Oberon, let alone enjoy it. And I feel like it might have been, other than Hawker's Shore, I feel like Bell's Oberon was the first, when I was at a bar, the first real craft beer that I ever had. But I love it.
00:16:08
Speaker
Yeah, I know I like as far as wheat beers go, I think Blue Moon strikes out as being like one of the first and I don't know if. Oh, you might be right. The Blue Moon might be. And I don't know when Blue Moon was, you know, taken over by Coors, but I remember a very good beer. Yeah. And I remember back then, though, it was
00:16:29
Speaker
It wasn't, it wasn't common. So having it at some place, I was like, how cool they have blue moon, like when you're, you know, and that was kind of like a big thing in, I think in Chicago because, you know, craft beer was growing, but before it like took off the way it was every, every place had, you know, old style Miller light and GD Bud Light on tap. And then like their different offering was.
00:16:54
Speaker
Blue moon, like that was something new and like, you know, people were like, Hey, throw an orange in there. That's cool. Like I liked it, you know. Yeah. I, that was the thing I liked about, um, hawker shore was that you threw a lemon in it, you know? Yeah. Oh yeah. That too. I'm actually looking up when blue moon was acquired. Hecker shore. I drank a lot of.
00:17:17
Speaker
Especially living sure growing up in Lincoln Square. It was walking down. We had the Chicago Bra house. We had the Hootenbar. They had all of that stuff. It was Hackershore and Julius Echter and all the all the like heavy hitting German beers. This is crazy. OK, called Bentleyside Belgian White. The beer was created by Kiefer, a brewer of Sandlot Brewing at Coors Field in Denver. So technically,
00:17:46
Speaker
It's always been like a Miller Coors project. It launched in 1995 and originally brewed in Golden, Colorado.
00:17:57
Speaker
It's still a fantastic beer, but that's not what we're talking about. Sorry, I sidetracked here. Yeah, Bell's Oberon is easily a, I put it up there with Sierra Nevada's paleo. Like it's kind of a, not kind of, it's very much a staple of what
00:18:17
Speaker
like when craft beer started growing like the brands like flagship beers I don't know if Oberon is a flagship beer so don't quote me on that because I don't have Clark to back me up on this and make me sound smart but Oberon and and Sierra Nevada's pale ale those are like two like
00:18:35
Speaker
big staples of craft beer when craft beer was starting to become readily available in stores and in bars. And it just became those beers that I would just put to like, oh, this is craft beer. This is what I'm going to drink because I don't want to drink all the other stuff. This is something different. And I think maybe I have an Oberon once a year.
00:19:00
Speaker
I think there's some random times where I buy it, but every time I have it, I'm always like, oh, I got to remember to buy Oberon. But you know me, always got to try something new. Got to remember that there are staple beers like this that are still delicious. I'm going to read the beer info here. Oberon is a wheat ale that embodies everything we love about summer or spring. They don't have that. I added that. Brewed with just wheat malt, hops, water, and our signature house ale yeast, Oberon has a bright orange color and citrusy smooth and oh,
00:19:29
Speaker
and is citrusy, smooth, and refreshing. It is seasonal. It's their wheat series. Available in March. Well, this is 2022. Available in March to September while supplies last. It's 5.8. Well, 5.8 ABV. Shelf life is six months. Water, barley, wheat, hops, house, alleys. They don't tell me what that's all about, unfortunately. Yeah, but there you go.
00:19:52
Speaker
It's interesting that they pinned it as a summer beer when Oberhande is in, like, March. Yeah, it was March 20th this year. Like, the day before spring. And it's available, like, starting in spring. I'm not knocking it. It's a fantastic beer. Yeah, yeah. But it's definitely. That's a funny description. And it's definitely easy to ease into in the summer. And it's a seasonal. So I don't think that would be, I don't think that would qualify as a flagship beer.
00:20:19
Speaker
Correct. Like two-hearted definitely has to be flagship. Oh yeah, you're right. I didn't even think of that. And then they have like Kalamazoo Stout and their Porter. Like those are their year rounds. Like I feel like those have been around forever. So whether they consider them flagships or not, those are their year rounds and I would definitely consider them.
00:20:41
Speaker
What's super cool is that towards the end of the year, or at least they've done it maybe the last two years, they changed the packaging as the sun is setting, which was super cool. I remember seeing that, yeah, where it was like the sun was setting, because summer is almost over. I'm looking at what was on tap this year for Oberon Day, and they had pineapple, jalapeno Oberon, peach Oberon, blood orange, creamsicle, watermelon, chipotle, fruit punch, and raspberry hibiscus over it.
00:21:11
Speaker
Those all sound very fun. A wheat beer is easy, not easy, but it's a nice blank palette or a blank slate to add stuff like that, especially fruit, too. So, you know what? We're talking about doing some French pressing. I wish we had a Randall to do some of that, but I'm sure we can mess around with some of that. I knew I had a Randall.
00:21:34
Speaker
He ran he actually ran Chicago brew bus for a while and then he had bucket list brewing And I poured with him at a fest somewhere I want to say in Schaumburg possibly And he brought a Randall with him we hooked it up to the jockey box and he told me this he had a weed ale and we Randalled pineapple and jalapeno through this weed ale and
00:21:57
Speaker
And it was fantastic. It blew our mind, but it was fantastic. The funny and or disgusting part of it was we had a dump bucket there and we, at one point we finally just dumped the, the Randall out into the dump bucket where everyone else had been throwing their beers. Some drunk guy came by and he said, go pineapple. And he took pineapple out of it and eat it.
00:22:16
Speaker
That's disgusting. So every time, every time I see Kevin, it's like, he's like, dude, remember the guy who ate the pineapple out of the fucking dump bucket? I'm like, yeah, that was gross. Like everyone just stopped and was like, like all of the other breweries were like, what the fuck just happened? And this guy's like, whoa, big ass piece of pineapple.
00:22:38
Speaker
It's funny right before you started that story and you said oh someone I I knew and I thought it was somebody else So I like me like a cringy noise. I don't know who this person is. So nobody take that as I know But yeah, I I gotta say that like by the way that is disgusting Oberon still like it it's an it's an easy drinking beer. It's a good beer also to
00:23:03
Speaker
bring to any party or going to someone's house for dinner or something, it's an approachable beer for a lot of people. A wheat ale just kind of does that. A wheat ale is a nice way to have some craft beer, and Bell's does it very properly.
00:23:21
Speaker
So if you were ranking this beer, how many bells would you give it? Oh, bells. I thought you're going to sons bells. You know, man, it's and this is like I'm rating this just based on the beer, not like of all time for a wheat ale and for how good it is, man. That's like a four point five four seven five. Like it's just a delicious beer like.
00:23:41
Speaker
I'm not rating that against other beers that I rate so high that I'm just so specific like overall as a beer this is so amazing but for what this beer is as a as a weed ale and and for how long it's been around and
00:23:52
Speaker
just what it is, I mean, that's almost a perfect beer, you know? So I'm gonna go 4.75, you know, 4.75 to a 4.8. Ooh. We'll do that for Bell's Over on Weave. I mean, it's so good. I'm glad I started with that beer, because I got some other ones that might destroy my palate. Not destroy it, but adjust it to a certain way.
00:24:16
Speaker
All right, Brandon, you want to start this second beer as well? Do you mind? Yeah, that's fine. What do you got, buddy? I decided to go with a local favorite, a beer that we enjoy. Oh, boy. A beer.
00:24:30
Speaker
that we just found out its name will have to be changed. Oh no! Oh man, I'm so jealous that you have that right now. I went with Old Irving Brewings, Oney!
Local Favorites: Old Irving Brewing's Oni
00:24:40
Speaker
As you guys know, that is one of my favorite beers. Period. But one of my favorite beers from Old Irving. And you guys, just so you know, we are not sponsored by Old Irving. We really do just love their beers and they are great people.
00:24:54
Speaker
So, I went with this too because- Talk about it. Talk about Naughty Man, because I love that beard. I love that it's a lager. I love that there's that good hop bite there, but it's got the body of a lager. It's not- Sorry, I was gonna say, it's not like, the hoppiness of it is not like super bitter. It's like the smallest hop bite you can get.
00:25:14
Speaker
Yeah. But at the same time, it's not like super heavy. Like if you're drinking like, you know, a good, like traditional style lager, very light in body. The looks like they use. Yeah. It's Amarillo and Citra plays really, really nicely on here. Can artwork is, is fantastic. Super cool. Probably shout out to Tim for that. I think he probably did that. Um, and unfortunately they, they, they got to see synthesis. They have to change, have to change the name.
00:25:43
Speaker
Um, I've never had this in a can. Really? Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. Never, never in a can. Uh, I think every time I've gone there and they've had it on tap, I've, I've had it. Um, cause it's just so good.
00:26:00
Speaker
It really is. It is one of my favorite beers in Chicago, like 100%. I wish, I've said like a lot, I wish that Oni was just available year-round. It is, I mean, for the most part. They brew it every now and then, then it goes away for a little bit, and then it comes back. I wish it was brewed as much as Beezer is brewed, which Beezer is fantastic, but I would, Oni would be for sure my go-to beer all the time in Chicago.
00:26:28
Speaker
No offense to any other breweries, but that is like my jam. I just love it. It's so good. It smells amazing too. You know, so it looks like they've changed this to now be year round. What? Yeah. So I, last time I got, when I got that keg of beezer, I remember, or no, not the beezer before that, I got Della, I believe was the first one, first keg that I got from them. And I looked at their beer schedule and Oni was on there for just like,
00:26:58
Speaker
June, July, August, and I think half of September. And now it's year round. It's on there. Oh my god. Matthew, we're going to have to talk because I didn't know that. So I think I mentioned this on the last episode. Please bring that to
00:27:13
Speaker
Chicago on tap And I have an empty keg from you guys that I need to return possibly I was gonna say man, maybe that's the one you go with maybe only is the next one if that's the case I Might come by and fill up a crowd not a crawler, but the 32 howler howler Yeah, 32 ounce howler if that's okay just to bring home just so I have some you know on tap and
00:27:38
Speaker
You can be better. I end up with that keg of Bourbon County. We'll see. Boom. Let's not talk about that yet. That's a secret surprise. It's not. We're going to do some French press beers. Yeah, so Oni was definitely a logger that, again, we can get over how many times I've said it. I just like loggers now. But it was a logger that's different.
00:28:02
Speaker
It definitely opened my eyes to realizing there are different styles of loggers out there that everybody would like, and this is one of them. It's one of the few dark loggers that I love. It's not even super dark. No, no, it's not a dark logger. I was saying it's not a dark logger that I love, because I love dark loggers.
00:28:22
Speaker
It looks like, I mean, it's yellow, it's straw colored, you know? God, it's so delicious. I'm jealous that you got that. I was wondering if you were gonna grab it too. I don't remember seeing it at beer on the wall. I saw some other, there might be an older being beer actually in my lineup. But yeah, I don't remember seeing only at beer on the wall. But I definitely wanna get some next week.
00:28:51
Speaker
so how many Japanese demons would you give this that's terrible how many Japanese mass demon man how many
00:29:03
Speaker
What do we do? How many onis would you give this? It's funny I've never checked this in Oh interesting. Yeah, I would have figured I would have done that but I'm definitely about four and a half. Oh
00:29:27
Speaker
Yeah, does it show what I gave this? Sorry, I know you just put your phone down. Four and a half, apparently. Yeah, four and a half. There's no reason why that shouldn't be a five for me, to be honest. It's just so good. I feel like I talked more about the beer than you did.
00:29:44
Speaker
Yeah, I'm like four and a half, maybe four point six on this because this. When I want a lager and I want a little bit more, this is 100 percent what I would go to because it's got the body, it's got the feel. But it's just the aroma. Yeah. I love the aroma. And it's got that slight hop bite to it that it's just phenomenal. That also wouldn't be off putting to anybody who just drinks lagers all the time. Like if you didn't tell anybody it's a dry hop lager.
00:30:14
Speaker
and just gave it to them, they're like, oh yeah, might be a little bitter, but I think anybody can drink that. That's definitely another... Yeah, you can get past that. It's not a bad bitter. No, no, no. It's a fantastic example of a spring beer. I'm going local as well with mine.
00:30:31
Speaker
This is one I've not had, and I saw it and I said, you know what, this also kind of goes with the style of springtime, warmer weather, so why not go with Midwest Coast, what is it called? Hanging Curve Blonde Ale. Midwest Coast is here in Chicago.
Midwest Coast Brewing's Blonde Ale
00:30:48
Speaker
Never had it. So I decided to get that because a blonde ale is, again, like so far like four beers that we've gone through.
00:30:57
Speaker
They're approachable beers. They're easy-drinking beers. They're not too high ABV. They're not too hoppy. But they all have their own taste profiles. I mean, they're different styles of ales. We've got a blonde ale. We've got a cream ale. We've got a lager and a weed ale. So we're covering real nice, warm weather beers, beers that you could drink maybe in the yard while having a fire on a warm spring day. Mowing your lawn.
00:31:26
Speaker
Ah, yes, exactly. So Hanging Curve from Midwest Coast Brewing here in Chicago. The description is perfect for warm weather hangs at the ballpark. This blonde ale is belt high and waiting to be crushed. That sounds appropriate. It really is. I don't know if you can see. I know my lighting down here is terrible. It kind of looks like the same color as Oni. Yeah, a little bit. Nice straw color. It's a nice head on it.
00:31:55
Speaker
I don't know what it's hop with, it's not as strong like hop aroma. I love blonde ales as well. Have you had this before? No, this is my first time. Going in for another sip. Much like, I think, I don't know, I don't know what to compare this to. There's a nice bitterness to it that fades quickly and then you get like this
00:32:20
Speaker
Kind of bready, not like yeasty bready, but like grainy-ness to it. But also it's not super sweet. It's easy to drink, it's light. Nice body to it, medium to light body. Smells...
00:32:34
Speaker
It smells like beer, and that's not an insult. It smells like beer. I love how that's used as a descriptor, but you also have to put in the disclaimer of like, that's not an insult. Yeah, it's not, because I don't want people to think like, I mean, sometimes the smell of beer could be not great. It's alcohol pudding. What did you fucking expect?
00:33:01
Speaker
It's fantastic, man. I think you would love this. I think you would really like it, especially with the last two that you grabbed. This is right up there. This is just a great, fantastic beer. There's a handful of Midwest Coast beers that I've had, and you've had some, because you made it to Dan, hip-hop's birthday earlier this year. Do you remember what you had at Midwest Coast? I believe I checked in.
00:33:27
Speaker
I know I've had their, I think I've had their brown ale, and I really like their brown ale, because they also use, I think, an English yeast. I think I had their brown ale, too. I think there was something else you had. I don't remember what it is. I'm trying to look. We need you. We need you to be on the pulse. This is my first time navigating through the web. Yeah, the web version of Untap. So the only thing I did check into is vertical canine.
00:33:55
Speaker
The the Imperial double IPA. Oh you went you went big that day Well, it's a rainy day and something need to get a crawler of something to go. Oh, yeah, that's right. You did get something I don't and I feel like we did that in an episode or a Pumpkin beer was it? We got their pumpkin beer. Yeah, maybe yeah or an Oktoberfest. Oh, yep. I think was the Oktoberfest Oktoberfest listeners. Let us know
00:34:26
Speaker
What did we drink? Yeah, again, another really solid beer from them. I still need to go and check them out. I'm so happy that there's another solid, again, another solid Chicago brewery just available to us making beers like this. And this is the perfect, like you said, lawnmower beer. Or as it gets warmer outside, just to hang out and kick back and have this. I don't know if it's year round. I don't know if it's seasonal. But Blondale is the way to go, man. This is delicious. Agreed.
00:34:56
Speaker
If I had to rate this out of five coasts, there's four. Out of five coasts, if there was another coast that we didn't know for the style,
00:35:12
Speaker
and this particular beer for being a spring beer. This is another like 4.5, 4.75. This is delicious. Like this is an easy drinking beer and I would love to have this. If I had this and Oberon in my fridge and some Oni, oh man. Now we're getting crazy. Now it's a party.
00:35:29
Speaker
And beer for ballgame? Oh my gosh. No, it's crazy. It's crazy summertime, springtime here at my house. All right, let's take a quick break. We'll come back and maybe have another beer or two. I don't know. We'll see. I've got two half beers now just sitting in front of me. We'll be right back.
00:35:51
Speaker
Meals on Wheels Chicago presents Chicago on Tap, Thursday, April 27th at Theater on the Lake, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Join us for a night of beer and bites from over 20 of Chicago's top breweries and restaurants and help raise crucial funds to feed our neighbors in need. You'll get to try 60-plus of the local brews and sample delicious food all while supporting a good cause. This is an event you won't want to miss. To get your tickets, go to mealsonwheelschicago.org, click on Events, and look for Chicago on Tap.
00:36:19
Speaker
And if you'd like to save $15 on your ticket with a promo code, be sure to email us at info at themaltinghour.com and put Chicago on tap in the subject and we'll send you the promo code. Cheers and hope to see you there. And we're back!
00:36:37
Speaker
Welcome back, everybody. Hope you enjoyed that little break. Hope you got to pee or something. Not if you're driving, though. If you're driving, don't be welcome. Do most of you guys just skip through the break? When there's commercials, there's in my podcast. I just hit the... Actually, you know what? There might not have been music on this one.
00:36:55
Speaker
There was an ad on this one. And it was an ad for Meals on Wheels Mere on Chicago on Tap. You better not have skipped through that. I swear to God. Yeah, just to remind everybody, Chicago on Tap, not on Tap, Chicago on Tap, April 27th, Theater on the Lake, member to email us, yep. Info at... Info at the Maldonado.
00:37:19
Speaker
What is going on on this episode info at the multi hour comm just put like meals on wheels or beer on tap Something like that and we'll give you a little promotional code to save you 15 bucks And again, if you don't end up saving the 15 bucks, it's totally worth it It's gonna be awesome. If you listen the last episode, you know a handful of the breweries that are gonna be there It's gonna be so much fun. I know Brandon and I are both looking forward to it Apparently everybody from older Irving is looking forward forward to it. So that's cool. Yeah So I think it'll be a fun time
00:37:50
Speaker
Yeah, it's crazy how quickly this month has wrapped up and we're... It's insane. As of this episode, we are in April now. We're recording this two days before April begins. So Tony, what did you two start with your beer? Oh, yeah. All right. I stayed local for this one. I grabbed this because I think I knew that this was a beer that was happening.
00:38:15
Speaker
But apparently, I didn't. I didn't know it actually existed. And when I saw it, I'm like, I got to get this because there is a newer venue here in Chicago. It's called the Salt Shed, which is taken over the old Morton Salt Building, where there's concerts, I think, have been happening since last year. And I am going to, like,
00:38:37
Speaker
four or five shows. Wait, one, two, three, four. I'm going to four shows this year at Salt Shed. Haven't been there. My wife's been there. Laura's been there and she said it's awesome. She was outside.
Pipeworks Brewing & Salt Shed Collaboration
00:38:48
Speaker
I've had some other friends go there. I didn't know that this was a collaboration because it's called Dawn of the Shed.
00:38:54
Speaker
Pipeworks Brewing. Pipeworks did a collaboration with Salt Shed, and I'll read this to you. Dawn of the Shed is American Pale Ale with Galaxy and Motowika Hops. It's 5.3% ABV. With Spring right around the corner, we've teamed up with our pals at the Salt Shed to bring you Dawn of the Shed. This is incredibly well-balanced, easy-drinking American Pale Ale that brings on amplified notes of tropical lime, peach, and ripe guava.
00:39:16
Speaker
So this is right up my alley. You know me, I love pale ales. We love pale ales. Pale ale is one of the best styles ever created. Pipeworks did it. It's a collaboration with Salt Shed. So I had to get this. And right off the bat, when I crack it open, it's got a nice citrusy kind of, it's a very fruity smell, but it's like there's a hoppy bitterness to it that's really nice in the aroma. And upon my first sip,
00:39:48
Speaker
It's a damn good, easy drinking beer. Those notes of tropical, little bit of peach. I still know what guava tastes like, so I can't really hit on that. But there's a light bitterness to it. Guava's good. It's on the tip of my, what's that? Guava's good.
00:40:03
Speaker
I should try it. There's a nice light bitterness to it. It doesn't say what the IBUs are here on Untapped. And I couldn't find it on their website. But it's a nice light bitterness that I feel like is another approachable beer. And again, pale ale is a style that just, to me, it's an all the time style. But it does scream like, hey, it's spring or summer. This is a beer that you want to have.
00:40:32
Speaker
So it's nice, and I hope that it's a beer that is available at Salt Shed. Like I said, I've got four concerts there this year. Brandon, one of those concerts, I wanted to ask you, what's that? It's a picture of that beer at the Salt Shed. Oh, fantastic. So I can get it there out of the four times that I go there. Brandon, there's one show that I wanted to ask you to come to. Which one's that?
00:40:55
Speaker
You can get tickets tomorrow if you want. I didn't think about it when I got my ticket on Wednesday. Run the jewels. Run the jewels. Yeah. If you want to go. I'm going on the Thursday. There's only $50 for the ticket. So my note about the salt shed beer. What's the actual dawn of the shed? Dawn of the shed. Garrett from Pikebergs posted about it on Facebook back in mid-February.
00:41:19
Speaker
that they were asked to do this collaboration pretty last minute. Wow. And they had a couple of weeks to basically get this brewed, like come up with the rest we get it brewed and have it ready for like the opening weeks of, you know, the indoor space at the salt shed. Sounds like my brew days. Yeah. And they did it. And they nailed it. Sounds like they knocked it out. So yeah, it's really good, man. You would like it. It's got a nice fruity flavor to it.
00:41:47
Speaker
I keep burping, I apologize. There's a little haze to it. It's like another, like, orangish, gold, straw-like color. It's really tasty. It's easy drinking. This is a perfect, like, concert beer. Yeah. Really is. I love it. That's cool. If I had to rate this,
00:42:09
Speaker
I was gonna say that but because pipeworks always uses unicorns or unicorns There's more unicorns than ninjas when it comes to pipeworks I Will write this on unicorn horns even though I mean there are some there are I don't know if you can see this Brandon There are unicorns on the label right there. Yeah, can you tell yeah, that's kind of blurry out of unicorn horns out of five
00:42:38
Speaker
man for the style. I feel like it leans a little bit more. No, shit.
00:42:46
Speaker
This is a four, four, four, four, five, four, five, four, five unicorn horns on this. I love it, man. Dawn of the Shed, fantastic, and I can't wait to go to the salt shed. Also, for those who don't know, Goose Island Clyborn is going away, the original brewery, RIP, the taproom. But they are moving next door to the salt shed, so that should be kind of fun. It'd be nice to see what they do. My thought is that they'll probably do
00:43:15
Speaker
some concerts there with them, sponsored by Goose Island, but who knows? I don't know. I do know that they serve a lot of local beer, and it seems like everybody who's coming to town, they're going to the salt shed. Brandon, what's your next beer for spring?
Begyle's Freebird Pale Ale
00:43:29
Speaker
I also went with a local brewery, and I am drinking Beguiles.
00:43:39
Speaker
Oh nice, it was funny as you're looking down. I'm like is he looking up on his phone? No Freebirds of Blondale, right or is it an IPA? It says American pale ale. Ah Look at that. We both ended on a pale ale. How nice. Have you had free bird before? I swear I have just haven't checked it in but I know yeah free if I'm not you haven't checked it in either apparently I
00:44:04
Speaker
If I'm not mistaken, and any avid listeners, was this one of the beers on the decades of pale ales? I feel like it was.
00:44:16
Speaker
I'm almost positive. Are we at least talked about it? I got to look back. I got to look at this right now. I'm looking it up. Our website's pretty great, but I have no idea. I know how to look.
00:44:37
Speaker
So unless we spelt it wrong, I searched beguile on our website, which is my source of information. The only beguile beer we've officially drank on the show was Dicey Riley. What? Yeah. Come on. I'm almost positive.
00:44:54
Speaker
I could be wrong, but I'm almost positive. I'm not, see, I'm clicking on, my internet is running, oh, of course it goes to the wrong episode. My internet's running a little slow right now, so I can't really look at it, but I do enjoy that beer brand. What are you thinking about this beer right now? Tell us something about it. I love it. It's the perfect embodiment of what I would want.
00:45:13
Speaker
embodiment of what I would want a pale ale to be super clean um like even if you can see it like that golden color it's just like perfectly clear like crystal clear right that's super clear um the hot bitterness is just light and slightly fruity slightly bitter um it's not a dry beer it's got some juiciness to it uh and it's super easy drinking man like um
00:45:41
Speaker
Really light on the palate and I like I'm drinking this one faster than I drink the oni Although I had a 16 ounce of oni. So that's But it's super smooth like an idiot it's super super smooth I like it. I'm so I look back at our episode
00:46:00
Speaker
And the only thing that we have are the funny things that Kevin wrote about the decades. I'm almost positive we had this. I could be wrong. I could be wrong. But I do remember. Either of us checked it in then.
00:46:15
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's not unheard of. But I have had Freebird before. It's a fantastic pale ale. It's very, very good. And I feel like it's a great example of what a pale ale can and should be. And again, we've talked about pale ale before. That was the beer style we did with Howard Street. Sarcasm starts at 10 AM.
00:46:40
Speaker
And same thing with this, with the dawn of the salt shed. That style, to me, screams spring and summer. You can have a pale ale all the time, but once you get through the winter and the cold months and you want to have a beer that still has something to it that's not necessarily like a lager or a weed ale or a cream ale or a blonde ale, pale ale is the way to go. Because I feel like that's how you're getting to the end of spring into summer.
00:47:09
Speaker
Then we're just talking about the decades of parallel thing. I was like, we're gonna have Kevin on again. It's been a while. It has. He's been on twice. Oh, Aggie, how's it going? He's been on twice. And it would be nice to have him back on because it'd be fun to do. Since he's been on, his relationship with craft beer has grown. One of the styles that he's grown to love. Girls.
00:47:38
Speaker
It's barley wine. He loves barley wines. Was it something that I had? Did I have something that I brought over that was barley wine that we wanted to share with him? There was something I had when I stopped by when you two were hanging out and I came in and hung out with you guys. Oh yeah. Forgot what I brought. Possibly. I am actually safe and I would like you to be a part of it as well. If not, I know you have like maybe two of them.
00:48:04
Speaker
the Goose Island two-year-old, Old Fitzgerald barley wine. I have that, that is one of the Brevard counties from last year that I still have. I'm saving that for him to share as well because that was one of my favorites as well. But yeah, I, how many, so going back to Freebird, how many birds would you give this?
00:48:28
Speaker
Uh, I'm sitting about 3.75 for four birds. Is there anything about it that you don't like? Not really. No. Um, which like, I dunno, I feel like I'm maybe I'm not being as generous. Like, so I think I'm leaning closer to the four. How about this? So just base it off of what you expect from a pale ale. You know what? Yeah. Four.
00:48:56
Speaker
I wasn't trying to put I wasn't no no no no I get it too and I'm like I have to put myself in that mindset when I'm rating things because it's very hard you know it gets harder like especially during episodes when you've had so many different beers when you have a hard time rating beers when we go when I go back like two days later and check him in to untapped I feel like I need to like not rate them because I don't remember what I said
00:49:20
Speaker
Yeah. And that's why, well, especially like during Stump Fest, that's why I put that sheet up so I could just quickly just drop in numbers and not even like think about it. And then that's what I used when I went back and checked in stuff. Oh, smart.
00:49:32
Speaker
I went back to that to verify names of beers and what I had, because I had written down some of them, but I didn't remember all of them. Yeah, I think pale ale is a good way or a good beer to represent spring. I mean, to you and I, we obviously have similar tastes in what we thought a spring beer would be.
00:49:57
Speaker
What I didn't do, there's two beers left that I have. I had a, gosh, cushy blueberry, I think it's what it is, from old Irving, that I haven't had yet, because it's got blackberry and blueberry in it. And then the other beer, oh, I don't have it up. I thought I did. It's a sketchbook dunklebock. And I feel like that's, I'm surprised neither one of us did a mybock for this episode. I grabbed one.
00:50:25
Speaker
Ah, nice. Yeah, I figured like a Bach beer is also a nice like springtime beer because you're coming out of the winter into spring, but you still have like here in Chicago as we're recording this, tomorrow it's going to be like 63 with thunderstorms. And then Saturday we have a wintery mix of snow and rain. It's going to be like 40 degrees.
00:50:50
Speaker
And then all next week is going to be in the 60s. By the time this episode comes out, it's like Sunday is supposed to be in the 60s. That's where we're debating. So we're we're we're pressing on to spring. But Saturday, it's a good day to have a box. It's rainy. It's cold. So the reason I didn't do so, I actually got I went old school. I got a younger my.
00:51:13
Speaker
Oh man. That would have been awesome. Yeah, but it was like seven and a half percent. Also, not great for a Thursday night. I feel like there's never...
00:51:28
Speaker
I don't know what I've said in past episodes. But springtime is a really fun time to explore lighter options. That's why I got the cushy blueberry, because I felt like a sour blueberry. When we do dry January, two years in a row, I did a sour beer during dry January to drink in February, because I felt like that was a nice transition from having big heavy stouts and winter warmers
00:51:57
Speaker
all these other like winter cold weather beers then to have like a nice tart sour refreshing session beer and these spring beers are great because it's kind of the same idea you can kind of bounce around from like four to five even five and a half percent I don't think we went above that
00:52:18
Speaker
with the beers that we drank tonight. And then if you want to get into those box, you'd probably get a little closer, like 6% or 7%, like you said. So it still runs the gamut. But it's nice to have those options. And it's, especially in the Midwest or here in Chicago, it's so nice to have a little taste of sunshine waiting for actual warm weather to come and be around us. It's fantastic.
00:52:43
Speaker
Yeah, so like I was purposeful when I did not choose the Maybach just because I'd done all the lighter beers. I'm like, I don't want to end on a higher beer like.
00:52:53
Speaker
Yeah, which is why I thought maybe I'd go with the sour beer, because I thought that would be a nice way to end it. But with the pale ale, I had to. I had to do it because pale is great. Good call by both of us. Yeah. It's a good way to end it.
Looking Ahead: Future Episodes & Collaborations
00:53:06
Speaker
Hey, man. You got anything else you want to say about spring beers or anything else going on? Just looking forward to spring. Looking forward to summer, actually. Yeah.
00:53:14
Speaker
and us doing some more, we got some more fun stuff kind of in the works that we're trying to pan out and plan out. And I'm excited about, yeah, the episodes and stuff that we might be pumping out soon, so. Yeah, there's a lot, I know it's been a lot of, I was gonna say, a lot of boring stuff, it's not boring, a lot of stuff of just us talking and we've had some fun things, but we do have some things coming down the pipeline
00:53:45
Speaker
with some breweries. Some exciting guests. Yeah, some fun stuff coming up. So we appreciate you guys still listening. Again, I'm going to throw it out there for the Meals on Wheels here in Chicago. Chicago on tap, April 27, 6 PM, right? Yep. Get your tickets. I mean, why don't I have it in front of me? Hold on. I'm going to pull it up, because Laura had said it so well. Oh, man.
00:54:13
Speaker
I am going to have it. I swear, I swear, I swear I'm going to pull it up right now. Meals only in Chicago. Beer on tap. I mean, if anybody goes to our website and like our landing page on our website is the shy on tap logo, just click on that. There you go. It'll take you right to the ordering page.
00:54:27
Speaker
Yes. And that's all you need to do. It's from 6 PM to 10 PM. A bunch of breweries, a bunch of restaurants. It's going to be so much fun. And that money, it's fundraising money. There's raffles. You can get some cool stuff. And it's going to be a lot of fun. You guys should come and hang out with us. And we might, I don't know, Brandon, we have talked about that. Are we going to have some stuff to give to people? I don't know.
00:54:51
Speaker
I mean, I've got some stickers lying around. We can go up to sea. We should probably figure that out. We've got time to order, so we'll be good. You guys got time to order right now. Get your tickets. And also, if you want a discount, send an email with Meals on Wheels or something. I know we said, oh, which a crazy crap last week. But also, just include something that's about Meals on Wheels or Chicago on tap.
00:55:16
Speaker
in the email and we will send you the promo code. You can save 15 bucks. It's gonna be awesome. Totally worth it. It's a Thursday night. It's gonna be so much fun. Downtown Chicago. Can't wait to see you there. Go drink these beers that we just drank. I've got like, I got a lot of beer behind me that I'm either gonna dump or drink. I don't know. Good luck. Brandon. Thank you. Brandon, I love you, man. Love you too, bud. And we'll see you guys next week. Bye.
00:55:46
Speaker
This has been The Malting Hour. Be sure to follow us on all social media by searching The Malting Hour and at themaltinghour.com. You can also follow us individually on social media. Brandon can be found on Instagram as bmdub81, on Twitter, bdub81, and on Untapped as bdubdrinksbeer. Tony can be found on Instagram and Untapped under Ace of Hope Chicago. On Twitter, The Ace of Hope Chicago. Clark can be found as Clarkowski on all three.
00:56:14
Speaker
Dan can be found on Instagram as hip underscore underscore hops and hip hops on YouTube. Be sure to subscribe, like and rate the show on your preferred podcast listening platform. Until next time, cheers from all of us at The Malting Hour.