Chicago Beer

Chicago is a long way from San Francisco, a four-hour flight in fact. It's not just the distance but the culture that made a trip to Chicago seem like visiting a different country. This is a city built on Irish, Polish, and German immigrants, surrounded by the cold, continental extremities of states like Wisconsin and Minnesota. Food is hearty and substantial. This is certainly not wine country; although grapes are grown on the other side of the lake in Michigan, the climate is not suited at all to vine growing. Nor is wine central to drinking culture. I remember serving customers here in Napa and asking them if they drank much wine at home. "We're from Wisconsin," was their direct, pointed answer.

Beer is the drink of choice, much of it inexpensive lager. Back in the nineteenth century, Frederick Miller and Pabst and Emil Schandein, all German immigrants, established breweries in the Chicago area; the companies now make the ubiquitous and much drunk Miller Lite and Pabst Blue Ribbon (although the latter is now made in LA). Beers like these are found in bars all around the city, and there is an unquestioning attitude to food and drink that's different from the Bay Area in California.

It's seventeen years since I visited Chicago, the first time I'd been to a US city. My welcoming experience then was a bowling alley where I was served Budweiser in a bottle the shape of a bowling pin. How was I going to last in this country? I asked myself. But I quickly and thankfully learnt that the city and surrounding states are home to a fantastic craft beer scene, which goes from strength to strength, based around great bars and vibrant, young drinkers. I finally revisited Chicago over Memorial Day weekend, where I got to taste several beers from a number of breweries. 

Pipeworks

Although I didn't get to visit the brewery itself, the beers from Pipeworks were the stand-out of my trip. As with many craft breweries in the States, their labels are bright, vivid cartoons which require powerful beers to match. Ninja vs Unicorn is a famous local beer, even though Pipeworks only opened in 2012. It's a Double IPA which I drank from a pint-sized can (quite common in Chicago) at a great pool-hall/games room/bar called Emporium. The beer was wonderful: pungent, fruity, hoppy, and intense, yet very drinkable. Even better though was their Emerald Grouper, the label of which features a grumpy looking fish. This is an Imperial IPA, coming in at 9.5% ABV, and which has been brewed with honey. I'm always suspicious of beer made with honey, as it can be too rich and sweet. Despite this - and despite the alcohol - this was an incredibly balanced, hoppy, textured beer which I drank and enjoyed greatly with tomato soup at a Polish restaurant called Podhalanka which can only be described as very Polish.

Half Acre

Established in 2008, Half Acre have a brewpub decorated with some amazing, quirky artwork and which serves good food. The menu is based around burritos, but in true wino style we chose a couple of small plates featuring burrata cheese and salmon rillette. Their most famous beer is Daisy Cutter, a light, dry, biscuity Pale Ale. I also tried Tuna, an Extra Pale Ale; I've no idea why the beer is called that, but it was fuller and more tropical than Daisy Cutter. Both, it must be said, went extremely well with the cheese and the salmon.

Revolution

Rather like Rogue in Oregon, Revolution's labels have an interwar Soviet constructivist aesthetic which feeds into beers called Anti-Hero and Fist City. They have a brewery as well as a pub, busy with eager drinkers on a Saturday afternoon. Revolution make perhaps the easiest drinking beers of the breweries I visited: Anti-Hero is a citrusy IPA, Galaxy Hero is a seasonal, more hoppy Double IPA, and there's also a refreshing approachable hibiscus-infused beer called Rosa that works well in the summertime.

Three Floyds

Based in neighbouring Indiana since the mid-1990s, Three Floyds are one of the founding fathers of the local - and for that matter national - trend for small, sought-after breweries. Unable to visit, I was excited to find some of their bottles in a small shop near Humboldt Park. They too make intense IPAs complete with eye-catching labels and high alcohol but Deesko stood out as a little different: a white beer that had tart citrus aromas and a smoky intensity.

It's the nature of the craft beer scene that much of the best beer is only available locally. So if you're in the Chicago area check out these breweries, they certainly are a welcome alternative to Miller Lite.

Oregon Beer

My trip to Oregon was initially about wine, but segued into a beer journey. That isn't too surprising: Oregon is one of the great states for craft beer, and visitors travel from across the US for the beer alone. The beer scene is extraordinary; spread around the state, it's concentrated in the major city of Portland and the smaller, remote, and very beautiful town of Bend. Beer here is treated with a fanatical fervour, its quality debated heatedly in bars and breweries.

ninkasi, eugene

I'd only tried one beer from Ninkasi before, Total Domination, a widely-available IPA I had found a little too sweetly aggressive. Nevertheless, while in Eugene I wanted to visit the ten-year-old brewery to see what else they had to offer. I'm glad I did. They have a small, intimate, and very friendly tasting bar, with ten beers on tap. Visiting a brewery or its tasting room offers the opportunity to taste beers that aren't distributed, and here I was able to taste two newly released beers. Their winter ale was brown, malty, and nutty, perfect for the rainy weather. The Megalodom was something else. Based on Total Domination (which the barmaid admitted was her least favourite of Ninkasi's beers), it's a whopping 10% ABV and dangerously drinkable. Such a beer encapsulates the trend of West Coast IPAs: extremely well made, highly alcoholic, fruity and hoppy, big but balanced, and not for the faint-hearted.

grain station brew works, mcminnville

Portlandia is a TV comedy which lampoons the touchy-feely habits of those who live in Portland. The first episode features a couple who won't order the chicken in a restaurant until they've visited the farm where the chicken was raised to establish that it was treated properly. I experienced a similar moment in McMinnville, a small town in the heart of Willamette Valley and Pinot Noir country. "Are your fries gluten free?" I heard a young girl behind me ask. The waiter responded, "All of our ingredients are gluten free, but I can't guarantee there isn't gluten in the environment." Thus ensued a half-hour debate, interspersed with the waiter going back and forth from the kitchen to check the gluten status of each product on the menu. "The fries are briefly cooked in sunflower oil, but we can't determine if that results in some gluten in the fries."

This was at Grain Station Brew Works, a brewpub located in an old timber barn and which I stopped off at for lunch to avoid the pouring rain. I had two beers: the Bet the Farm IPA, which was excellent, malty, fruity, and not too hoppy. I then ordered the RyePA, a request which prompted the waiter to ask me if I was sure I wanted it. The Oregonians can be a little too concerned with the customers' happiness, as it was a good, spicy rye IPA.

cascade, portland

A drinker from Florida sat next to me at the bar declared that he was "in heaven." He couldn't believe that a brewery was devoted to making so many sours. These are Belgian-inspired beers that small breweries like Cascade have taken to extremes, merging wine-making techniques with beer-making practices. Cascade have been doing this for so long that they can almost exclusively focus on aged beers. I tried two vintages of their Sang Rouge, a red ale aged in old oak barrels of different sizes. Ageing beer in wine and whisky casks is becoming common across the country, but doing it well is very difficult. The 2013 was fruity, sour, and still a little closed; the 2009 was tannic and leathery, with aromas of dried fruits and mushrooms, and as close to wine as beer will, for better or worse, ever get. Cascade are probably the best producers of sour beers in the States and their beers, although expensive, are well worth seeking out.

deschutes, bend

I drink a lot of Deschutes, mainly their Fresh Squeezed IPA, a green, hoppy, herbaceous summer beer that's now their best seller - overtaking Mirror Pond Pale Ale, another very drinkable beer. They're based in Bend, a town that's next to spectacular forests and far from anywhere. They started in 1988, beginning a trend that's led to Bend becoming one of the most beer-centric towns I've ever visited, with at least fifteen breweries in a town of 80,000 people. The Deschutes bar/restaurant was heaving when I visited, yet the two barmen were able to serve beer tourists like me while entertaining locals. The Bachelors' Bitter was as good an English-style beer as I've tried in the US (the other contender is Blue Bell Bitter by Magnolia in San Francisco).

boneyard, bend

This is quite a different operation, located in a reconstituted garage full of old car and garage parts (hence the name boneyard). It's down to earth, with full-on tattoo-style artwork, and still very low-key. The beers aren't bottled, and the tasting room only pours them by the 28ml (1oz) serving - though you can have as many as you like for $1 a pour. The IPAs are as magnificent and as full-on as the artwork. The RPM IPA is their best-known beer, distributed throughout Oregon, but Incredible Pulp was perhaps the best of those I tried: briefly infused in blood oranges, it's subtle, balanced, yet orange and intense. Boneyard encapsulate the Oregon - and by extension West Coast - beer scene: no frills but an intense concentration on quality and innovation.

Colorado Drinking

Last weekend saw me celebrate my fortieth birthday and, coincidentally, attend a wedding in Golden, Colorado, a small, very American town outside Denver. My wife and I of course had to explore the burgeoning drinks scene, focusing mainly on Boulder, a well-to-do town at the foot of the Rockies and just under an hour's drive from Denver airport. With Colorado having around 250 breweries, both big (including Coor's) and small, the state is best known for its craft brewing scene. There are also 80 distilleries - up from nine a decade ago - and, perhaps most surprisingly, 150 wineries, meaning that any visitor to Colorado will not go thirsty.

beer

Straight from the airport, we drove to the Prost brewery just outside downtown Denver. As the name suggests (prost means cheers in German), the beers follow German styles and we were lucky enough to arrive in the middle of the brewpub's Oktoberfest, with staff dressed in Lederhosen. There are plenty of choices of regular beers on tap, but we chose a Märzen straight from the keg and served in one-litre steins. This is a beer traditionally made in March (which is what Märzen means in German) with plenty of hops so that it could be served in October after the hot summer months when it was difficult to make good beer. The beer was excellent, malty and lightly hoppy, refreshing and very drinkable at under 6% ABV (✪✪✪✪✪). Even better, the one-litre stein was just $5 - a marked contrast to California where less than half a litre of an IPA is $7. The pub doesn't serve food, but just as we were finishing our first stein a food truck pulled up, serving weighty sandwiches - a different food truck is outside the pub daily.

In the evening, after the wedding we stopped off for a cheeky beer near our AirBnB in downtown Golden. Mountain Toad is a young brewery (again served daily with a food truck), with a vibrant atmosphere. We were a little tipsy by this stage, so I have no idea what the beer we drank was called - but it was very good!

spirits

On Sunday morning, we drove half an hour to Boulder to visit J&L Distilling, which has been going for three and a half years, producing 600 cases a year of vodka, gin, and a liqueur. This was quite an experience. Owner and distiller Seth Johnson is something of a mad scientist, having trained and worked as a physicist before turning his distilling hobby into a career. He's built his own column still, with wires all over the place connecting the still to his computer which can send him text messages when he's not there. This shows his dedication to detail, which runs through every aspect of his business. Unusually, the vodka is made from molasses, which he has shipped from Louisiana, as he feels that they give a creamier, weightier mouthfeel. He also puts the vodka through a high level of rectification to take away the characteristic bite that vodka has. The result is one of the best vodkas I've tried; reminiscent of a rhum agricole, the SNO vodka ($32; ✪✪✪✪✪✪) has a subtle green, underripe banana nose, and that creaminess on the palate balances the alcohol. Johnson also makes a gin with a number of botanicals, placed in separate, layered trays at the bottom of the still, to create an intensely flavoured but very nuanced spirit (also called SNO; $36; ✪✪✪✪✪). FYR ($35; ✪✪✪✪) is a liqueur also based on the vodka, made with a range of herbs and spices, dominated by cinnamon. It's sweet, rich (at 50% ABV), with cinnamon, cloves, and herbal aromas. It's certainly a winter drink, well suited to Colorado's cold, snowy winters.

We also visited another Boulder distillery, Vapor, which is a larger operation. They've been going for ten years (they used to be called Roundhouse but changed the name for legal reasons), building their reputation on gin. They make two gins from about ten botanicals - Rhok ($35-45; ✪✪✪✪) is an unaged gin, a little too sweet for me with not enough juniper, while Ginskey ($50-70; ✪✪✪✪) is a barrel-aged gin which as the name suggests tastes like a whiskey. They've recently expanded to whiskey-making, and are even going to make a single-malt whisky from a huge copper still they've bought from Scotland (it took three and a half years to make, showing the investment that's going into this distillery). Their new Bourbon is good, though a little hot and obvious (✪✪✪).

Both distilleries have tasting rooms where guests can sample the spirits and also drink cocktails, which I think is a great idea. At J&L, we tasted their most popular cocktail, based on the gin infused with beets for a month and it was delicious and tasty. Even better was the take on a mojito, made with the vodka instead of a rum (a natural substitution given the vodka's made from molasses) and basil instead of mint. This was wonderfully refreshing and the basil integrated with the vodka very well. At Vapor, we tried the gin mint gimlet, which was very nice and beautifully presented.

wine

We didn't go to Colorado intending to taste wine, but on the recommendation of Seth at J&L we visited Settembre, a winery also based in Boulder. Colorado's climate makes grape growing difficult, with snowstorms often arriving just as the vines are budding. But the high altitude does lead to a naturally long growing season, which means that there is some potential for the state's wines. The main AVA is Western Slopes, which is 1,700m high, leading to cool nights and good air circulation.

sweet wines still dominate young wine-making states

Settembre is a winery founded ten years ago by former electrical engineer and UC Davis-trained Blake Eliasson, and with small production he is determined to make the most out of Colorado's vineyards. What I particularly liked about the wines we tasted was their age - the wines from the winery's first vintage, 2009, were drinking particularly well. Chardonnay, Riesling, Sangiovese, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon are all made, with a rosé from Cabernet Franc too. The Cabernet Sauvignons we tasted from the 2011 and 2012 vintages were far too green and underripe, suggesting that those cool nights make it difficult to get Cabernet fully ripe. The other wines were uniformly excellent though. The 2011 Chardonnay ($27; ✪✪✪✪✪) had tropical fruits, cinnamon, and a very refreshing acidity given the wine was five years old. The 2011 Sangiovese ($30; ✪✪✪✪) was also still very alive, with smoke, red fruits, spices, and firm tannins, although the 15% ABV was noticeable (the 2010 Sangiovese, which we didn't taste, is 16%!). Also noteworthy was the 2010 Reserve Syrah ($50; ✪✪✪✪), which was juicy, fruity, and spicy, with a balanced, tannic structure.

All the wines were marked with high acidity, making the whites refreshing and the reds ageworthy. Those reds also had firm, gripping tannins - keeping those tannins in check in a climate with such diurnal variation seems to be one of the big challenges for Colorado winemakers.

We were only in the area for two days, yet managed to pack a lot in. I definitely want to return; Denver and its environs are relaxed, easy-going places and, as one would expect from an area where so much drink is being made, there are some great restaurants and up-scale bars (we had Sunday brunch at The Kitchen in Boulder). The drinks scene is young and vibrant and going in very interesting directions - watch the Colorado space.

Pliny the Younger

It's 9:30 in the morning and I'm at the back of a queue that snakes around the block. A couple in front of me have flown in from Ohio, two gentlemen who join the queue a few seconds later have made the three-hour drive from Modesto. The person at the front arrived at 2; a woman far in front of me is still lying in her sleeping bag. It's 9:30am, and we're queuing to get into a pub that doesn't open until 11:00.

the beer geeks line up

why the hell am I here?

Every February, Americans make the pilgrimage from all around the country to Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa to get a taste of Pliny the Younger. This is a beer that has taken on mythical status among beer geeks; brewed once a year by the US's leading craft brewery, it's released for a two-week period only, available solely in kegs. It's distributed to a few select bars, who sell out almost immediately. A few weeks ago, I was in an excellent bar called Lucky 13 in Alameda outside San Francisco. The barmaid described how last year they opened one of their two allocated kegs early on a Monday evening. Despite limiting each customer to one glass, the keg was finished within 36 minutes.

Pliny the Younger is a "Triple IPA," a style of beer which the brewery themselves say is very difficult to make, hence the limited production. Given the outstanding quality of Russian River's other beers, I had to have a taste of this almost unattainable beer.

"this is when I begin to question my better judgement"

Such is the demand for Pliny the Younger, I was prepared to have to wait a little while before I could my hands on a glass of the beer. I had no idea just how long I would have to wait, however.

At 10:30, we move forward about a hundred metres - but only because the people at the front have packed up their chairs in readiness to enter the pub. At 11, when the pub opens, we move forward another hundred metres till we can even see the entrance in the dim distance. Then, standstill. By 12:30, we have probably moved another 20 metres. A representative comes round to tell us that there will be another three to four hour wait, but any "parties of one" can make their way forward. It is at this point I first contemplate ditching my two friends I've come with; instead, another lone gentleman rather shamefacedly walks past the waiting would-be drinkers.

Every so often, we move a few paces forward, everyone packing up their chairs and then reopening them a paving stone further on. At some point, Aly the Traveling Marimba Busker appears. I have seen her outside Russian River before, usually playing to an audience of no one, but today she has a captive crowd. She has an impressive repertoire of classic hits converted to the joys of the marimba, half-singing along as she plays. Most memorable is her rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody," which like the song itself strays a dangerous line between comedy and genius. She plays all afternoon.

Between 2 and 3, things get moving - drinkers are limited to a three-hour stay, as well as three half pints of Pliny. By 3:30, we are stood next to the outdoor terrace, dryly watching other drinkers drain their small glasses of Pliny, unembarrassed by our salivating gaze. The marimba chimes as we watch drinks being served. It is another hour before we are allowed in: a full seven hours after we started queuing.

what did it taste like?

It's very bitter with a long hoppy dry finish. There's a real depth to the beer, with tropical fruits of pineapple and mango and a tart grapefruit backbone. The hops provide aromas of pine nuts and bitter almonds. The alcoholic sweetness (it's 10.25%) gives it a caramel maltiness that takes away from the beer's dry bitterness and also rounds out the body and structure. At the end, there are subtle and surprising spices of cumin and curry.

so happy, close to delirium

was it worth the wait?

Absolutely not: nothing is worth waiting seven hours for. The beer is extremely good - complex, balanced (despite the high alcohol), and refreshing - but it's impossible to justify the extremes people will go to in order to taste this beer. I don't regret the experience, but I doubt I'll be queuing up all day again next year.

There's little question Russian River Brewing make the best beers in the US, but they do need to rethink their game. They refuse to expand production beyond their annual 3,000 barrels, a commitment to quality over quantity I admire. They also refuse to move to larger premises more able to accommodate the nationwide legion of fans. Like the brewery, Pliny the Younger has become a victim of its success and Russian River need to do something about it: if you're going to release a beer just once a year to such high demand, you need to come up with a way of providing it that doesn't involve people sleeping on the streets.

Lagunitas

Such is the widespread success of the American craft beer scene, it's easy to forget just how new a phenomenon it is. Many of the established craft brewers started with a homebrewing kit in the garage; Sierra Nevada's Ken Grossman did just that less than forty years ago. Likewise Tony Magee, founder of Lagunitas. A failed print media sales rep, Magee moved to California from Chicago in the early 1990s, unemployed, in his early 30s, and wondering what to do with his life. To keep him occupied, a family member gave him a 5 gallon (19 litres) homebrewing kit for Christmas. After just ten batches of intermittent success, Magee was so enthused by the project he bought a new, and much larger, kit able to produce 200 gallons (750 litres), and set up his own brewery.

Magee's original bottling machine

Hearing the stories of Magee's first attempts to brew is heartening for anyone thinking of starting their own business, whether a brewery or anything else. He was forced to find a space to brew his beer after a batch boiled over and destroyed the kitchen stove two days before Thanksgiving. Having moved to the back of a hardware store in the small town of Lagunitas on the California coast, Magee suffered another huge and embarrassing setback. Not realising the pipes led to an anti-septic tank, Magee washed leftover sediment down the sink. The dormant yeasts in the sediment reacted with the waste in the tank to ferment, creating carbon dioxide. With no release valve, the carbon dioxide built up in the tank until the pressure caused the tank to explode, flooding the town with fermenting shit. As our guide at the Lagunitas brewery joked, this is still the recipe for Bud Lite.

Despite these inauspicious beginnings, Lagunitas is now one of the most successful craft breweries in the US. They have just opened a new brewery in Chicago, which will bring total production capacity to 1.4m barrels a year. The brewery is staying true to its roots though, maintaining its smaller facilities in Petaluma where they've been since 1999 (having moved from an even smaller base across the road). There's a relaxed, very friendly vibe at the brewery, which offers free tours and has a tap room to sample their range of beers - as with most US craft breweries, the number of styles of beer made is extraordinary.

the beers

Pils (6%)

A pale straw colour; a yeasty, bready nose with citrus fruits. Crisp and refreshing, with a dry finish.

Fusion 24 Couch Trippin' (5.7%)

Perhaps my favourite of the beers I tasted. An amber brown colour; sweet chocolate and caramel aromas, with malt and black tea. Not too hoppy, with a nice peppercorn spiciness on the mouth.

New Dogtown Pale Ale (6.1%)

The first beer that Lagunitas bottled. A classic Pale Ale, with grapefruit and pine nut aromas and a dry, hoppy finish.

IPA (6.2%)

The archetypal California IPA, first brewed in 1995. Widely available in supermarkets and bars, this is one of my go-to beers. It's hoppier, maltier, and spicier than the Dogtown, refreshing with a spicy and slightly sweet finish.

Brown Sugga (10%)

A beer that came about by accident, when Magee wrote down the wrong recipe; brown sugar had to be added afterwards to start fermentation. An amber colour; sweet caramel, toffee, and molasses aromas on the nose, with a hoppy, malty, nutty mouth. A good combination of hops and sweetness.

the eclectically decorated and furnished tasting room

This is just a small selection of the beers Lagunitas make; there are plenty of seasonal beers on rotation - strong and sweet at this time of year - and the brewery is experimenting with barrel ageing. As long as the facilities in Chicago don't make Lagunitas lose touch with its laidback origins, it will remain one of my favourite, most versatile breweries.