Aug. 03--What it is: A wheat beer with the addition of ginger root, lime zest and cracked black peppercorns from small Empirical Brewery, which opened last year in the Ravenswood neighborhood. Each batch of the beer is steeped with 50 pounds of fresh, grated ginger and the lime zest of hundreds of limes. Empirical has bottled only two beers during its short life -- Gamma-Ray and Infinity IPA -- but the Gamma-Ray shows this is a brewery worth keeping an eye on. (I can't recommend this beer without acknowledging that Gamma-Ray has one of the least attractive beer labels I've seen in a while. Good beer, Empirical ... keep working on those labels.)
In the bottle: A medium-hued golden, Gamma-Ray asserts its ginger flavor quite aggressively, both in the nose and on the tongue. If you don't like ginger, this is not the beer for you. But let's be clear: This is no ginger beer. It's a wheat beer with an explosion of bitter, peppery ginger that's followed by bright notes of orange and citrus. The elements merge to create an ideal late summer beer that's refreshing and easy to drink, yet complex in flavor and deeply satisfying.
Alcohol: 5.8 percent
Drink it with: This beer is versatile; it would do well alongside any rich or spicy meal, whether Italian, Mexican or Thai.
Find it: Gamma-Ray Ginger Wheat is available through August (and likely into September) in four-packs of 12-ounce bottles at fine beer stores and on draft at JP Burke's Patio and Tap (2913 N. Lincoln Ave.) and Shoeless Joe's Ale House and Grille (10290 W. Higgins Road, Rosemont). Empirical is building a taproom at its brewery near Foster and Ravenswood avenues that should be open in the fall.
More information: www.empiricalbrewery.com
jbnoel@tribune.com
