May 31--Not long ago, Chicago Craft Beer Week was a time to celebrate an industry that drinkers support all year long. Now it's a time to catch up on the breweries we've missed.
The Chicago area has become home to so many breweries -- about 80, with particular proliferation in the suburbs -- that being a completist is nearly impossible. That made this year's Chicago Craft Beer Week, which wrapped up Sunday, an ideal time to fill in the gaps.
At the events I attended this year, I did my best to sip beer from mostly local breweries I haven't tried before. I explored them at random, gravitating to names that sounded familiar, but whose beer was a mystery to me. Here's what I found, in alphabetical order:
Alter Brewing Co.
All I knew of Alter is what I'd heard around town: A couple of guys with money and a home brewer have set up shop in Downers Grove and envision extremely swift growth. While such ambition sounds a bit unrealistic in a world where the U.S. has more breweries than at any point in its history, I'll say this for Alter: the two beers I tried were dialed in. Neither was a jaw-dropper, but both were clean and well-executed. Alterior Motive, a fresh and fruity IPA, drank lightly and refreshingly, as did Hull Lotta Love, a Belgian-style IPA that boasted notes of fresh melon.
Verdict: We'll see about that growth. As for these beers, I say well-done. www.alterbrewing.com
Flesk Brewing
A split verdict here. Haus Helles, a helles lager, is one of the house beers at The Radler restaurant in Logan Square, and it's pitch perfect: grainy sweetness and a lightly bitter finish that makes it refreshing on a hot day, an ideal post-work beer or a worthy accompaniment to many meals. With an odd bit of unwelcome tartness, however, Running Man Milk Stout didn't work for me, even if the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie of the same name is an underrated gem of American cinema.
Verdict: Batting .500 works in baseball, and it's enough to keep me open minded about Flesk -- especially its lagers. www.fleskbrewing.com
Hop Butcher for the World
I've seen Hop Butcher cans on shelves but never made the move with any of them toward the cash register. I will now. Your Wish Is Granted Double IPA had an almost candy-sweet lush juiciness that belied its 8 percent alcohol, and The World's Colombian Coffee Exposition imperial coffee stout drank similarly easily and decadently. Until recently, these guys were called South Loop Brewing.
Verdict: More please. www.hopbutcher.com
Imperial Oak Brewing
An interesting array from this Willow Springs brewery. A very solid hop-forward sour beer (an early contender for the style of the summer), a respectable IPA and a so-so Maibock were followed by the real winner: a cocoa-cherry Dunkelweizen. Amid flavors of chocolate, cherry and banana, there was a lot going on in that beer, and it was all delicious.
Verdict: Ambitious and well executed enough that I hope to find myself in Willow Springs before long. www.imperialoakbrewing.com
Metal Monkey Brewing
Sadly, the name Metal Monkey appears to refer to a monkey that likes heavy metal music, not a monkey made of metal. And while I give this Romeoville brewery credit for embracing its monkey motif all the way down to a beer called Fonkey Mucker, that chocolate peanut butter Russian imperial stout just didn't tie together like the best ambitious stouts do. The Simian Wheat (a hibiscus wheat ale) was also just OK.
Verdict: They've only been open a few months, and it can take a while to get dialed in. I look forward to checking back on these guys. www.metalmonkeybrewing.com
Oak Park Brewing Co.
I tried three beers from this Oak Park brewpub -- Mary Hoppins APA (which wins the award for best-worst hop pun of Chicago Craft Beer Week), a kolsch and a rye IPA -- and they were all fine. Not memorable. Not bad. It was easy to imagine any of the three as serviceable alongside brewpub fare, especially that kolsch.
Verdict: I wouldn't make a dedicated trip, but in a hunger and thirst emergency in Oak Park, I'd swing by. www.oakparkbeer.com
Ram Restaurant and Brewery
With the proliferation of quality beer coming from small, local breweries with winning personalities, it's easy to overlook a place like the Ram chain, which was founded in Washington state in 1971 and claims three locations in the Chicago suburbs. But overlook no more, especially the Schaumburg location, which knocked me flat with its Juicy double IPA -- it was the cloudy, thick-bodied New England style that's an industry sensation at the moment -- and Gimme Samoa, an imperial stout featuring coconut, cocoa nibs and cinnamon that was the most delicious thing I tasted during Craft Beer Week. Tart Blanche, an apricot sour made at the Wheeling location, was also a winner.
Bottom line: Move over, Ikea. There's a new and better reason to visit Schaumburg. www.theram.com
Sketchbook Brewing Co.
This Evanston brewery impressed me twice over: first with a version of its Bud's Corvus, an Irish dry stout that got an addition of Chinese long peppers (subtle and delicious, like great cooking) and Orange Door IPA (which quite effectively evokes fresh oranges). That stout was especially impressive. Solid IPAs are everywhere. Well-executed, multilayered, low-alcohol stouts? Not so much.
Bottom line: Sketchbook's taproom opened six weeks ago. I need to visit. www.sketchbookbrewing.com
Did you encounter memorable hits or misses at Chicago Craft Beer Week? Please chime in, either in the comments section, or email me your thoughts and suggestions.
jbnoel@tribpub.com
