Saturday morning we took off. The three of us piled into my Honda Civic, which was probably a little too small for three people to be comfortable, and headed for Chicago. Before we got there, we made a pit stop at Three Floyds' Brewpub in Munster, Indiana. One of the premier craft breweries in the country, the brewpub couldn't be situated in a stranger place. It is in the middle of what can only be described as a business park with lots of other warehouse type buildings surrounding it. You are greeted by the Alpha King/Calumet Queen statue at the entrance to the parking lot and immediately you forget about its awkward positioning. You know that you are in for something special. We went in and grabbed a table, although the place was quite full as FFF only does one brewery tour a week, and it is on Saturday at 3 p.m. We arrived at 2:45. We decided to pass on the tour, as we have seen our fair share of breweries, and we were here to do only one thing...drink.
The wife ordered a Kasteel Rouge to start (she skipped the extreme stuff as she was nursing a fairly severe cold), her friend went for a Dreadnaught (good taste!) and I got the Apocalypse Cow. It is an Imperial IPA brewed with Lactose. My initial plan was to have a couple different beers, but once I tasted the AC, I knew that it would be the only beer I drank during our lunch. Incredibly balanced, the lactose added some sweetness and little body that took the edge off of the hops. The citrus of the hops was almost juicy. Absolutely fantastic. For lunch, I ordered the pulled pork sandwich served on a pretzel bun. While it was good, the BBQ sauce reminded me more of Buffalo sauce, as opposed to traditional BBQ sauce. Just a little disappointing. Their fries that they serve with the chipotle aioli, on the other hand, are fantastic. The real star of the lunch was the wife's White pizza. Olive oil based sauce, roasted garlic, feta cheese, kalamata olives, rosemary and basil on a thin, perfectly crispy crust. Her friend and I stopped eating our own lunch at one point and helped her finish the pizza, it was so good.
Full and a more than a little happy, we pressed on to the big city. We hit downtown around 5 o'clock, right as the winter lights festival was in full swing. After an hour of circling within a few blocks of our hotel, but not being able to actually get there due to closed streets, we finally arrived at the Hotel Cass. Once we threw our stuff into the room, we realized that we needed more beverages. So, we headed to Rush street. We walked up and down Rush looking for a good place for a drink. We stopped at a place called MPXX @ The Whiskey, overpaid for three short poured drinks, and headed on. I'm sorry, I still to this day can't understand a bar that has 30 wines by the glass, over 200 different liquors to choose from, and the best beer I can get is Fat tire on draft?!? (FYI, for those who haven't had it, it's not all its cracked up to be.)
Anyway, we decided to go to the Rock Bottom brewery for dinner. For those of you who've never heard of the Rock Bottom, it is a chain brewery, but arguably one of the best of the chains. Also, Chicago's brewery is pretty much considered to be the best RB in the country. We settled in and ordered the drinks. A Chicago Gold (APA) for the wife and a Rye IPA for myself. Her friend moved on to Bourbon and ginger, so for all intents and purposes, she was dead to me at this point. I get my RIPA, and something is off. A sour quality immediately tells me that their lines are dirty. Either that or the beer is infected. But, dirty lines is the more obvious choice. So, I flag down the waitress and explain the problem and she tells me that that sour flavor is from the Rye. Not wanting to make a scene by decreeing to the entire bar that our waitress didn't know what she was talking about, I politely asked for the Terminal Imperial Stout instead. And boy was I glad I did. That is one mighty fine brew. This is evidenced by its multiple medals at both the World Beer Cup and the Great American Beer festival. Rich, jet black and loaded with dark chocolate and licorice notes. This was gonna be a one beer night. I had a test to take after all. After dinner, we decided to pack it in for the night.
I woke up early Sunday morning and headed up north to Lincoln Park, to the Siebel Institute, to take my test. I walked out of there at 3 o'clock happy and feeling like the weight of the world was off of my shoulders. And, more importantly, I was ready to drink. While the girls were shopping, I decided to check out the Clark Street Ale House. I have wanted to go here my last two trips to Chicago, but have never made it before. Well, I didn't make it this time either. Even though the door said they opened at 5 o'clock, and it was 5:15, the door was locked and all of the lights were off. Too bad. I hear they have three cask beers on at all times. Oh well, maybe next time.
Feeling a little defeated, I grabbed the girls and we headed back up north to go to the Piece Brewery for dinner.
We walked in and I was greeted by Surly Furious on draft. If any of you have never had this beer, you should make it your life's work to try it. It is simply divine. An American IPA that blows Two Hearted and Alpha King out of the water. On draft it is even better. At this point in the evening, things start to get a little fuzzy. I had 2 Furious very quickly and the alcohol combined with my state of utter relaxation and I was as mellow as I have ever been. As a result, I can't remember a lot of details about the beers I had the rest of the night. but, I do remember names. At Piece, I had their Dysfunctionale (6% IPA) and a glass of their Camel Toe (8% IIPA).
After Piece, we headed to The Map Room. One of the premier beer destinations in this country, it didn't disappoint. Here, I had a bomber of Flossmoor Stations IPA (A Belgian-ish IPA) and a 750ml bottle of Lost Abbey Devotion (A Belgian-style Fresh Hop Pale Ale). After that we headed home, drunk and very giddy.
The next day we had to depart. Man, I love Chicago. I have never failed to have a fantastic time, each time I go. Hopefully it won't be too long before we get to go back. Oh, and before we left town, we hit Sam's Fine Wines near Grant Park. I picked up bombers of Port Brewing's Hop 15, Shark Attack and Santa's Little Helper, and a 750 of Lost Abbey's Judgement Day. Two days, countless beers, and every single one something I have never had before. That is a beer geek-tastic weekend. Cheers all.
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