Our ongoing series on the essential craft beers that everyone ought to know.    Dark ales are usually intimidating for those new to the world of craft beers. Too many people have been raised with the notion that beers should merely be a pale yellow, crisp, and almost flavorless beverage. When I ask my lager-drinking friends if... Read more →

This review, in Skaggsian sonnet, as inspired by Frankie Petrarca (and John Lennon):   Sonnet 20: Here’s another place you can go, where everything flows   Lest we talk about beers that are brewed with the wheat, My temp’rament changes from pleasant to grim. ‘Lo, it’s bland! It’s insipid! It’s socks from... Read more →

Where do we go from here?   How about four point one kilometers northwest of the Mousetrap? It’s walkable and certainly bikeable, especially on a slightly humid yet gorgeous Chicago evening, although you will have to cross under the Kennedy… You made it! Aren’t you glad you biked/walked and don’t have to deal with... Read more →

Where do we go from here?   The words are coming out all weird! Where are you now, integrity, when I need you? Well, Dear Reader, perhaps I just had the bends and I was really sinking that low. So. Let us depart the barrel-aged imperial stout/corprocratic times of the recent past. Let’s walk or bike approximately six hundred... Read more →

Here’s the ninth and last barrel-aged imperial stout review for 2018.   Similar to the actual malt beverage, the story behind GOOSE ISLAND Bourbon County (Brand) Stout is complex, convoluted, and kinda crazy. Therefore, this review will be presented in three separate parts, which you, Dear Reader, will most likely find listed in... Read more →