Stockholm's Brewpub - LoRazz Weiss

Located in the heart of Geneva, IL, Stockholm's handcrafted beers are brewed to full flavor with a smooth finish. Stockholm's has been voted Best Brewery in Kane County by the readers of Kane County Chronicle every year since 2004.

Stockholm's serves not only their specialty brews, but a full menu as well. They serve burgers, salads, sandwiches, fish, classic and Italian dishes all made to order. The reason I chose to review this brewery is not only because of the beer, but because the owners teach microbrewing classes! Stockholm's Beer Tasting for the Connoisseur teaches you every thing you need to know to make your own brews in three sessions. 

• Session one: overview of beer styles, ingredients, brewing styles, and techniques used in different countries.
• Session two: lighter pilsners, lagers, and wheat beers.
• Session three: darker lagers, ales, porters, and stouts. 

If you are interested or want to sign up you can visit the website here!

Stockholm's has nine different unique beers to choose from. All of their beers begin with a blend of barley and select hops. They do not filter their brews after the brewing process, which allows them to  create the smooth and full flavor in each sip. 

1. Blend of Silk: "Silky, light, sweet and refreshing, one third of our Downtown Honey Brown, two thirds of our LoRazz Weiss blended at the tap for your pleasure."
2.  LoRazz Weiss: "Raspberries are added to provide a refreshing tart flavor with the creaminess of a white wheat ale."
3. Mike's Blend: "Combines 1/3 of our Third Street Ale with 2/3 of our State Street Pilsner. This
   accentuates the inherent flavors in our ale with the crisp finish of our pilsner."
4. Aegir's Ale: "Carefully selected hops are blended to brew this full flavored English pale ale.
5. SWB: If you like a British bitter ale, try this blend of our Doc's Porter and Aegir's Ale."
6. State St. Pilsner: "A full-flavored beer in the German tradition, well rounded with a crisp finish. Enjoy the delicate flavors."
7. Doc's Porter: "Just what the doctor ordered. A multigrain brew of four barleys, wheat and oats that delivers a rich robust flavor."
8. Downtown Honey Brown: "Our brown ale with a touch of honey added for a slightly sweeter finish."
9. Third Street Ale: "A brown ale brewed in the Belgian style, a blend of malts imparts a balanced yet complex flavor with a light hop finish."

My Experience: Take a guess at which one I reviewed... Surprise it was LoRazz Weiss! This was right up my alley, a refreshing and fruity ale. The beer poured a pale orange color and had a very strong scent of raspberries and citrus. The beer itself was not as sweet as I would like, a little more tart. This could have been because I was expecting a very sweet beer based on the smell. LoRazz had a malty, raspberry, and hoppy flavor, yet they still worked together very nicely. This was a good beer that I would have again if given the chance, but not worth the price. Overall, berry refreshing. 

Another Customer's Experience: Had this one on tap in Geneva, Illinois. Pale orange, slightly translucent pour, with a thick white head. Raspberries in the nose briefly, along with some citrus. A bit sweeter than the other Weiss but this is pretty good.

Give Stockholm's Brewpub a try, they have a beer for every taste and let me know your opinion so I can add it to my customer reviews! 

Half Acre Beer Co. -- Daisy Cutter Pale Ale

Half Acre Beer Co. is located on Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. In April 2010, Half Acre became the first brewery in Chicago to can beer. They chose the 16 oz. can, "a pint of freedom" as they call it.

In 2006 Half Acre was created in a spare bedroom. They had no brewery and no intention to build one, the beer was created with assistance of a contract brewer in Wisconsin. The owners set out to find a brewery of their own and stumbled upon a building for lease in a lively neighborhood of Chicago. Over the next couple years Half Acre began to grow its existence. They built a store where they could brew and sell beers to go and learned what it meant to be brewery owners in a complex industry. Today they own their own brewery which houses their store, selling beer and merchandise to the public, and also added a tap room where they can host the people who want to cheers their beers. Half Acre claims to continue to enjoy themselves as much as possible and encourage the interesting experiences the ride has to offer.

Half Acre has four different categories of beer:

1. Perennials - "16 oz. tall boy, One pint of freedom."
• Daisy Cutter Pale Ale: "A west coast Pale Ale chock-full of dank, aromatic hops. This one's a screamer, hoard it. 5.2% ABV."
• Gossamer Golden Ale: "A drinker. This Golden Ale is a quality travel companion that aims to please with subtlety and aroma pop. 4.2% ABV."
• Over Ale: "This brown beer is a hybrid concoction brewed with malt heft and all around backbone. A style-less wonder. 6% ABV."
2. Seasonal Beers - "These beers come and go with the seasons, grab them while you see them."
3. Collaboration Beers - "Brewed with colleagues..."
4. One-Off Brews - "One and done, unless we brew it again."

The beer I chose to review today was one of the Perennials, Daisy Cutter Pale Ale. 

My experience: As it was described before, it is a Pale Ale with lots of hops. Daisy Cutter is a golden honey color which matches the smell perfectly. It has a ver aromatic and distinguished smell, very grassy, floral, and some pine and grapefruit. This was a good thing, though it made it more sweet rather than tart like most beers with this much hops. The taste matched the smell exactly, very refreshing and floral even drank from the can. 

Another reviewer's opinion: Appearance - Deep gold with a large fluffy white head. Smell - Fresh, juicy grapefruit hops. Grassy with pine resin and floral hops. Slight hint of caramel. Taste - A blast of citrus and pungent piney hops. A mild earthy hop bitterness builds up but is balanced by sweet caramel malt. Finishes with light citrus and bready malt that tends to linger. Smooth and crisp with a light-medium body. Dry finish, good carbonation.This is a phenomenal pale ale. Dangerously drinkable. Huge hop flavor, nice balance.

If you have been keeping up with my blog, you may have come to realize I really enjoy the light, summery beers. Let me know what your favorite kind of brew is!

St. Patrick's Day 2013

Today I wanted to do something a little different. This upcoming Sunday, March, 17, is St. Paddy's Day, one of the most infamous beer-drinking days of the year. Let me tell you a secret, the Irish do not celebrate St. Patrick's Day the way we Americans do. It is known as a holy day over in the old country and a way to rake in money from touristy Americans. But on to the blog post, today I will be, as you can guess, writing a post about the best drinking places on St. Patrick's Day in Chicago.


Cork and Kerry
This bar is in the south side of Chicago with a wide variety of brews for your choosing. Why wouldn't you want to celebrate St. Patrick's Day at a bar named after the two biggest counties in Ireland? They also serve Irish pub food with a twist such as Irish egg rolls, corn beef, cabbage, and Irish cheddar.
CorkandKerryChicago.com give a list of their beers to get you in the spirit!
Some famous Irish beers served:

• Guinness
• Smithwicks
• Harp

Other beers they offer on tap include, Blue Moon, Crispin, Bass, Leinenkugels (seasonal), Sam Adams (seasonal), Bud Light, and home to Chicago - Goose Island!

 The Curragh
The Curragh opened their doors originally in Schamburg of June 1999, and with great success moved to Edison Park of Chicago in 2006. The Curragh is widely known for their annual St. Patrick's Day festival, bringing customers in from all over the area. For St. Patrick's Day the Curragh holds live music featuring bands that have the traditional Irish sound starting at noon until 1:30 am! They also will be serving green beer all day for just $2!
The Curragh serves all traditional Irish foods such as shepherd's pie, Guinness fish and chips, corned beef and cabbage, and bangers and mash.
Now for the beer, the Curragh serves many different kinds of traditional Irish beers as well as famous domestic American beers such as Bud light, Miller light, and Coors light.
Irish beers that the Curragh serves on tap are:

• Guinness
• Harp
• Smithwicks
• Murphys

A classic Irish drink that the Curragh will serve you is a Guinness & Black (one of my favorites), it is Guinness on draft with black current flavoring mixed in. It satisfies your sweet tooth and beer tooth.
Stop by the Curragh for traditional food and drink and a memorable (or not) St. Patrick's Day.


Timothy O'Toole's Pub
 For over twenty years, Timothy O'Toole's has been known as one of the best places to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Chicago. The celebration begins March 14 till the 17 with as much green beer and Irish food that you would like!

• March 14th kicks off the holiday, O'Toole's opens at 10 am and serves green beer all day and Irish specialties until 3 am. 
• March 15 enjoy more green beer but also, Joe the Leprechaun will be making appearances. 
• Saturday, March 16, enjoy $5 20oz Jumbo Green Beers, $6 Joe the Leprechaun, body paint, beads, and Chicago Bag Pipers on Saturday and Sunday. They are even open till 4 am! 
• Expect the best for Sunday, with all four days combined into one.

For the beer, O'Toole's has a menu full of Guinness specialty drinks called the Guinness Black List featuring, Fat Molly (Guinness and Fat Tire), Chicago Irish (Guinness and 312), and the classic Black and Tan (Guinness and Smithwicks).
O'Toole's serves Guinness, Harp, Smithwicks, tons of domestic beers on tap such as, Coors and Miller lite. They also serve Goose Island, Sam Adams, Two Brothers, and many many more.





Consider spending your St. Patrick's Day 2013 in Ireland with some green beer...and a little more classy beer. Be sure to see the river being dyed green if you get the chance! Let me know your plans for St. Patrick's Day how it went!