Goose Island Beer Co.
Stop #3 of Roadtrip
Chicago, IL
If you get a chance to go to Chicago, take it! It's a really fun, clean, down-to-earth city with a shit ton to do. If you go, you need to (a) try a deep-dish pizza, (b) eat a Chicago style hot dog and (c) go to Goose Island (which is conveniently right next to Wrigley's Field. We visited the brewery on a Sunday night so it wasn't as hoppin' as I thought it would be, but the brewery is huge and has a large beer selection, some of which you can only experience in Chicago. These are the three that stood out to us:
Fluer: ***
"A Belgian style pale ale blended with hibiscus and kombucha tea."
It had some sour notes and an interesting funky taste that really worked. You could really taste the hibiscus, or flower, character which gave the Belgian beer a really different taste than I would expect from a normal Belgian.
Pere Jacques: ***
Belgian Style Abbey Ale. "Brewed with loads of malt and Belgian yeast, Pere Jacques is a wonderfully fruity, malty ale."
Has almost a bourbon taste at the beginning. Very rich taste.
Krystal Witt: ****
Limited (brewed once); Witbier
Really light and tasty. Little sour taste to it but because it was light it had definite drinkability. Delicious!
(Goose Island side note: They've been bought out by Budweiser, bummer. We'll see in the future how this effects their beer.)
______________________________________________________________
If you're really going to go to Chicago though, what I hear is that you need to indulge in their cheaper, session beers: Old Style & Hamm's. Sometimes cheap beer is the way to go.
Oh, and Jason was assaulted on the streets of Chicago as well. As we were walking to Goose Island a young gentleman shouted out to Jason:
"Hey man, if I wasn't fucking her (girl standing next to him), I'd fuck you so hard in the butthole."
I'm guessing gay pride parade day was a good time to visit the windy city.
That Belgian/kombucha blend must be trendy - I had a differnt one a couple weeks ago, but I forget the name. Wasn't a huge fan.
ReplyDeleteAlso, "Old Style" isn't the real Old Style, or so the town drunk at the barred-window bar in my old Chicago suburb told me. It was bought by someone, and now the original recipe is produced by the City Brewery in La Crosse, WI, and called La Crosse. I think they produce a bunch of old Cincinnati lagers, too.
It's definitely a trend in beer right now, I can't remember where else I've had the Belgian/tea blend but I've definitely been seeing it around... along with Black IPAs. Oh, Dogfish Head does a Chai Tea beer called Sah'tea which is pretty good if you get a chance to try it.
ReplyDeleteYeah we didn't really know much about those Old Style lagers but we did drink a ton of them hahaha. According to Hewitt (our Chicago host), it's the bees knees of Chicago after a game.