Institutional Weirdness: Chicago, Illinois

One of the great joys I have in my travels is seeking out obscure breweries in the hinterlands of this country. This isn't one of them. This is about as big as they get.
Goose Island is a Chicago institution. President Obama had a bottle during the 'beer summit' during the Henry Louis Gates debacle and of the 312 with Prime Minister Gordon Brown in exchange for a bottle of Wytchcraft during the USA v. UK game in the 2010 World Cup. Having tried both beers, I believe the President was gypped.  The location I wandered into sits in the shadow of Wrigley Stadium, and a signed picture of Connan O'Brian sits above the bar.
For friends that live in the Pacific Northwest, Goose Island is the Midwest equivalent of a Widmere Bros or a Pyramid.  That's kind of the level we are talking about.  Their 312 and the Green Line ale is available at almost every bar in Chicago and at a few places beyond.

Inspiration Stout: Seemed to be a good choice for a first beer considering the driving snow and frigid temperature of a Midwest winter.  This was a pretty standard stout, it had a coffee, chocolate aroma with just a hint of liquorice.  The flavor profile was pretty much the same with some slightly spicy hop flavors.  Full bodied and enjoyable beer, especially this time of year. The description provided by the brewery also claimed pineapple and grapefruit in the aroma, but I didn't pick that up at all.

Mild Winter: A lighter winter seasonal beer.  This one is pretty readily available throughout the Midwest during this time of year.  It has a sweet caramel aroma and color.  The flavor has some pear or raisin and some cinnamon spiciness.  Not hugely complex, but a nice medium bodied beer for the winter months.

Double B: Goose Island does a couple of things well.  First they have a good selection of nice, drinkable session beers that are more geared toward mass consumption.  Most of these can be found at the local supermarket.  Second, they have a selection of more complex and unique beers that are a little bit harder to find.  This is one of those.
Goose Island likes to play with different flavor combinations.  Their food menu is a good example of this, they have an array of strange pairings including a pear, brie burger that is absolutely fantastic.
The aroma has a lot of tropical fruit, passion fruit and some floral characters.  The Belgian yeast really comes out in the flavor adding lots of banana, pineapple and some berry off the top.  The floral flavors from the hops almost make me think of rose water.  I think this was my favorite beer from sheer complexity alone.

Fleur: This is a Belgian style ale that is blended with hibiscus and tea. As the name suggests, this one has a lot of floral qualities in the aroma, I was thinking lavender.  There was also some light berry aroma in there as well.  This was a sweeter beer that finishes just a little tart.  I picked up some sour cherry and some cider flavors along with the berry and lavender.

That's all for this post.  I'm off to Tacoma, Washington next.  Cheers!

On the outskirts of Chicago

Greetings from Chicago... Sort of. I'm working somewhere in the endless suburbs surrounding the city. I'm also traveling with a friend of mine. His name is Jeff and, as you will see, he has a way with words.
Together we explored Emmett's Tavern and Brewery located in Palintine Illinois. The place has a nice atmosphere with the feel of an old East Coast or English Pub. They have a nice selection of house beers. I started with the Victory Pale Ale and Jeff had a pint of their seasonal wheat.

Victory Pale Ale:
I thought this was pretty good, but too many hops for a pale. I'm convinced it was hitting IBUs that are usually reserved for IPAs. It tasted good with the spicy chicken wings I was eating at the time as the bitter hops helped to cool the fire. It had some slight malt off the top before mooing to cascade hops and it finished dry and the bitterness really lingered.

Jeff Says: Nothing. He took a sip, his face truly erupted into an impressive array of muscular spasms, then he slowly, but firmly, pushed the beer back to me.

Seasonal Wheat:
I didn't think I would like this one as much as I did. The aroma was all tropical fruit and bananas, flavors that I find can be really overpowering. This was not the case, the tropical fruit flavor was balanced with some pear and malt character and finished clean and slightly dry. This one easily made my #2 spot for this brewery and is the perfect beer for a warm summer evening.
Jeff Says: Just a damn good beer.


Double Barrel Stout:
I moves to this beef next and it easily was the best beer. It had a smokey and black liquorice aroma with a lot of chocolate and roasted malt flavors with bitter bite at the very end. I could easily drink this all night.

Jeff Says: It tastes like beer filtered through an old tire tube. (He wasn't as impressed as me)

Centennial Amber Ale:
This one had a nose of citrus hops with a hint of cherry. It had some malt and light fruit sweetness that was followed with pine and herbal hops. It finished surprisingly clean and didn't linger hardly at all.
Jeff Says:It tastes like beer poured down a pine plank, man.
Munich Lager:
Jeff finally stopped nursing his wheat beer long enough to try another. This one had s subtle sweetness of corn and light fruit. It is surprisingly smooth and finishes sweet making for a very drinkable beer.
Jeff Says: Smells like Captain Crunch.

I'm actually writing this on the road passing through Wisconsin on my way to my next destination, Minneapolis. I'll report from there.
Cheers!