Is this the place in the White Provisions building (Howell Mill & 14th)? Near Abattoir and underneath the furniture store?

I've been there once about a year ago and have wanted to go back. Pretty cool place, but it gets really packed at night on weekends, naturally.

Yes, Ormsby's. First few months were awesome when it was relatively unknown but now, you're right, weekend nights are ridiculous. Still, if you're looking for some good selections of beer on the Westside it's really the only option outside of 5 Seasons (which, outside of their Milk Stout, I find to be mediocre). I've been in there on a Saturday night around 9pm and there already be a 3 hour wait to play Bocce and people 3 deep at the bar downstairs. If I were of a means to do so, I'd open a similar joint over there somewhere. There is clearly a market for it.

Yeah. Weirdly enough, Octane doesn't seem to get too crowded on weekend nights right now, and they keep a pretty decent beer selection on tap.

Agree that 5 Seasons - at least 5 Seasons West - is pretty mediocre overall. It's pretty inconsistent. I've had the same beer on separate nights, and it somehow went from pretty good to almost undrinkable.

They're already owned by Widmer or whatever they're called, grouped with Widmer and Kona and 2 others. -shrug-

It is entirely possible for Anheuser to provide them with money, leave them the hell alone, and pocket the profits. Not just possible, but smart, actually. Unless GI has some serious internal structural problems and or inefficiencies that AB can/should come in and sort out, and I doubt they do, then why mess with a good thing, especially when the default position among GI's customers is going to be "AB bought them? Oh YUCK their beer is gonna taste like shit now!" They are best left alone.

It also sounds like the brewers and original staff are going to stay in charge of operations and the actual brewing process.

I don't necessarily see it as a bad thing. If it allows me to find it in stores around here all the better.

Of course it's all speculation right now and we could see Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Goose Island Ford next year.

-puke burp-

A-B is Belgian now anyway

And miller is South African.

The Craft Brewers Alliance only had a 40% share before this merger, thus Goose Island was still calling most of the shots. I think most craft brewers and beer drinkers around these parts are concerned due to the fact that the Redhook and Widmer Brothers products became inferior products after InBev gained a minority share of The Craft Brewers Alliance. I thought Goose Island made a good decision when they got a distribution deal with Anheusser-Busch, but I don't necessarily think it is wise of them to sell out 100% of the company to Anheuser-Busch, after Budweiser acquires the 42% share that the Craft Brewers Alliance currently owns.
Greg Hall is stepping down as the brewmaster according to their Wiki page, so that means Budweiser will be bringing in one of their soulless, tech savy chemist to market the Goose Island craft beers for the masses.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose_Island_Brewery

The Map Room, Bucktown, Chicago (excellent choice by PopTodd)





Beer Selection at the Map Room that night:



"I don't really know a whole lot about beer, you know, but I do love St Bernardus Abbot 12" says Todd as he sips his.
"Todd as long as you know what Abbot 12 is (much less love it), you don't have to apologize to anybody. That is some fine, fine stuff."

(My first choice @ Map Room)
Capital Brewery - Wild Rice Doppelbock



Holy shit this was great. Rice has the ability to really mix up the flavor of a beer in an odd way. On its own, it makes Bud Light. But mixed with other good malts, it leaves a clean, almost sharp sake-like flavor. This tasted like nothing else, and was really good. Alcohol flavor was fairly strong, but it finished incredibly cleanly. It would go well with food for that reason. A-

Well thanks. Now I'm gonna go hang myself in the supply closet.

Glad I went twice, when I did. Speaking of...

The second visit to Goose Island (ie, "Killing 4 hours before I hit the airport")

The Snead - American style robust porter, 6.9% ABV

Possibly the best thing I had here, of all 7 or 8. I guess I really do have a hard-on for Porters, because they just seem to embody everything I like about beer. Big malt with lots of roast to it, decent hops, just-right alcohol content hovering around 7% for a lot of them, and yet a cleaner experience than a big gnarly stout... almost like a session beer. ALLLLmost. Fuck this was great. A


Caber Toss - Scotch style wee heavy, 7% ABV

Blech. Flat, boring, almost sweet, no hops to speak of... no. Me to the waitress:
"You know that 2 month old 2 liter of pepsi in the back of the fridge? You really want to make a mixed drink, but you know it's gonna be flat and awful, but you drink it anyway?"
(her) "Yeah I know exactly what you're talking about. This is my go-to when girls come in who don't really like beer and they don't know what to order. It's so .. unoffensive."
"EXACTLY."
D+

Quick pitstop for some muscles and beer bread, which were excellent...


Back to business.
Lake Effect - American strong ale, 9% ABV

Yessir. This was excellent, and again tasted very little like anything else they make. The brewpub is a nice tour de force of what these can do (could do... fuckballs I hope they keep the quality this good somehow.) This is big, sharp, clean, interesting, lightly bready, with a nice hop kick (but not too much.) It's very pleasant, and once you get past the booze flavor (a few sips) it can really sneak up on you. This went WAY too fast for a 9%'er. Great stuff. A-

Patronage - American style IPA, 6.5%

A nice step up from "regular 6 pack" IPA's. Think 90 Minute IPA. Nothing you can't easily picture, just a good IPA between 6 packs and 22oz "Holy Shit" 10% offerings. No alarms, no surprises. B+

and finally, just plain ol' Recents:

Pretty Things - Hoppy Triple

These guys make neat stuff, in western Mass in the Berkshires. And I saw them available in Chicago, so they must have bigger distribution than I would've guessed. It's always well-made, and they sometimes wind up occupying interesting, unique little plots in Flavor Country. Anywho, drinking this one Saturday was another great example of my inexplicable ability to be surprised by things that are clearly and accurately labeled.

(Sip One) "...wow, it's like a triple, but with a lot more hops!" (Reads bottle label again, more closely this time, hangs head in shame, looks around and thanks god nobody was paying attention as usual)

If the idea of taking a triple and loading a goodly amount more hops into it sounds good to you, you won't be disappointed. It's a good triple on its own, for americans, and the hops aren't overkill. They just turned that knob up from 3 to 6. B+

G Schneider & Sohn - Aventinus

BBQ season is back, bitches. The place up the street from me is grilling out on the sidewalk every saturday, and I biked up and grabbed us some grub this inaugural weekend while the baby napped at home. The other attraction (like there needs to be another attraction) is that they stock tons of good imports and locals, and there are plenty of them already cold. So I get a ticket for the BBQ outside, bring it in, grab something from the coolers, then pay all at once and drink the beer with the pork. This week's selection was a dark wheat doppelbock. It showcases all the Germans know about this style, which is a shitload. It's subtle and sweet but still with a dry finish, with appropriate hops and a good booze kick, but like most things german it shows such goddamn noble restraint. Everything is in balance in a way that few american breweries manage to match. Subtle, full, and delicious. A-


Allagash - Curieux

Courtesy of Shiv for my birthday. Finally called it into duty last night. This is a big, clean, sharp dubbel (?) by taste, a strong belgian blonde, but with a wonderful oak complement. If you like this year's oak aging trend, this is another strongly recommended find. Only nit to pick is the one I always have with them... this tasted like a perfect $11 bottle, yet it cost $19. But you know what makes it taste even better? When someone else pays for it. A-

hah.

That Aventinus IS good stuff; surprising for me, given the style, but when it's done that well, I'm impressed.

FYI, wild rice is not actually a rice. It's actually more of a weed. Might explain the difference in this beer and Bud Light. At least that's what the Indian dude on the travel channel told me the other night.

I had just a sip of this. If I weren't such a lighweight and didn't have to drive home, I would have ordered one for myself because it was really, really great. As it was, the one 12-oz. (14-oz.?) pour of Abt 12 was enough to give me a nice little buzz as it was. I will pick up a 6er if that one, though. Really great stuff.

The Goose Island dude should have just twittered a pic of himself on a yacht with a beer glass the size of a keg and a T-Shirt that says "This chick is only with me because of the Anheuser Busch Money!"

It's like a band that sells out, only now he doesn't actually have to produce a shitty record with their producer and mixer of choice - he just gets to tell people "I started this whole, uh, craft beer thing. Used to own Goose Island. Another Brewers Cup winner served in a 24K Gold goblet? SUUURRREEE."

His plans:



source

So it sucks balls that he won't be brewing, but good on him for getting behind local / slow food.

Well, I mean, maybe that's what I'd do if I were freed from the shackles of this workaday world.

I read that the head brewer from Deschutes Brewery is taking over from Greg Hall at GI. Are their beers any good?

Really?
That's awesome. The Abyss, an Imperial Russian Stout aged in Bourbon Barrels, rates as one of the top beers on the planet according to Beer Advocate. They have a really awesome brew pub in Portland that opened in 2008, that many of my home brew club friends rave about on a regular basis.

Poured that Tyranena barrel-aged Scotch ale just now.
It's an interesting pour; comes out of the bottle almost like there is no carbonation, whatsoever, and then -- WHOOSH -- a perfect little head forms, seemingly from out of nowhere. But then, it disappears within just a minute or so. Bye bye.
Drinking it and, it is an undercarbonated ale; there's not much in the way of sparkle or whatever you want to call it without using the term "carbonation" again.
There is a lot of flavor, to be sure, but it could use a little bit more in the way of hoppiness, or something else floral to clean it up a bit. As it is, it's drinking more like a scotch than an ale. Very heavy, and almost syrupy in consistency.

Not much in the way of aroma, but lots of maple and vanilla in the initial hit when I take a sip. And, yes, I can definitely taste the oak that it was aged in, coming in close behind. There is something lingering toward the back and sides of my tongue, that's hanging out there for a long, long time after each swig. Lucky, I think that I like it.

I know that I said that it drinks more like a scotch, but I need to qualify that with the fact that there is no real heavy alcohol flavor; it's not hard to drink like some higher-alcohol brews can be. Although I have yet to see how the flavor changes as it gets closer to room temp.

Overall, a very well-done beer, that could stand a few more bubbles.
A solid: A-

Deschutes has some really good beers but this guy Porter is a grade-A douche. Greg Hall stepping away and this guy coming in bothers me way more than InBev taking over the free world.

They're a good brewery, they have a few good tricks and (from what I remember) several solid B+ / A- beers. I guess what makes me like them, and a lot of similar Wisconsin / Michigan / Chicago breweries is that these guys all manage to stuff "special beer" qualities into sixpacks at a decent price. A lot of people can make expensive one-off brews in large bottles, and that's great. But to make a sixpack with decent distribution, a decent price, and hell the prospect of buying by the case load, all with beer that's as good or better than some other breweries' big expensive beer offerings, that's something I respect the hell out of. See also: Bell's 2 Hearted, Long Trail Double Bag, Victory Golden Monkey.