| Guys Drinking Beer  Atwater says:
“A huge Imperial Stout based on our best seller. Thick, Black as Tar and Brewed with 6 different malts and Barley flakes and Magnum Hops. The rest is a secret.”
Atwater VJ Black
Russian Imperial Stout, 11% ABV Sayeth the Guys: RYAN: I have had an up and down relationship with the inspiration for this beer, Atwater’s Vanilla Java Porter. I was thoroughly disappointed at my first introduction to the VJP – which summarily exploded when I opened the bottle spewing beer everywhere. But my second go-round was much less dramatic and much tastier. “The taste is similar to scooping up the last bit of vanilla ice cream from the bottom of your bowl.”
Needless to say I was jazzed to sample an imperial version of the porter in big, bold stout form. Continue reading Review: Atwater VJ Black 2011 
KARL: I was out at Barn & Company recently, looking for some quality barbecue and some good beers. (It should be noted that they’re just steps from Lincoln Avenue, the Best Drinking Street in Chicago as named by us.) I found a place that serves some spectacular baby back ribs and has some respectable taps but is definitely focused on the masses of DePaul students that are their closest nearby beer-drinking consumers. At the bottom of the menu, I found this tiny little amusing heads-up. For what it’s worth, I took this photo just days before the Calagiowning that took place on BeerAdvocate, so don’t let this imply that there’s any sort of anti-DFH bias here in Chicago. Rather, that unit cost on 60 Minute has gotta be pretty darn high to merit this little disclaimer. Either way, I found it funny. Cheers to the individual that ordered up the five bottles of Dogfish that made their accountant cry uncle. 
Founders says:
“When you dance with the Devil the Devil don’t change. You do. Massive in complexity, the huge malt character balances the insane amount of alphas used to create it. At an incredible 112 IBU’s it’s dry-hopped with a combination of ten hop varieties. This one can age with the best of them.”
Founders Devil Dancer
Imperial IPA, 12% ABV Sayeth the Guys: (Editors Note) We here it Guys Drinking Beer occasionally like to push the envelope of beer cellaring. Double IPA’s aren’t traditionally good candidates for the cellar. They are brewed to be puckeringly hoppy and, thus, designed to be enjoyed that way. But we thought it would be a fun experiment to see what happens to an overly hopped, high alcohol content IPA when it sits in the cellar for a year or more. Below are the tasting notes for Founders Devil Dancer after one year and two years in the cellar. 1 YEAR
Andrew: As you undoubtedly saw in our Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree IPA side-by-side we like to take a somewhat unconventional approach by cellaring beers that aren’t typically cellared. In this installment we put the 2009 Founder’s Devil Dancer up with the 2010 Founder’s Devil Dancer. After what we experienced in the Double Crooked Tree IPA, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect here. The 2010 proved to have a huge, thick and foamy head that stuck around for awhile before leaving beautiful lacing on the glass. It poured a beautiful clear amber with an all-out barrage of citrus and hops in the nose. Continue reading Adventures In CellarSitting Review: Founders Devil Dancer 2009
We received word late yesterday that Anheuser-Busch InBev has formally responded to the Illinois Secretary of State’s inquiry in to the brewing giant’s wholly owned subsidiary, Wholesaler Equity Development Corporation – or WEDCO. WEDCO currently owns a 30% stake in the Chicago area and downstate distributor City Beverage. The state is now reviewing A-B InBev’s response and will issue an opinion in a matter of days. If you are just joining us on this issue here’s a recap. It came out during a hearing before the Illinois Liquor Control Commission last month that WEDCO was not registered to do business in the state of Illinois. Normally that wouldn’t be a big deal because WEDCO does not have outright ownership of a company – in this case a beer distributor. But, according to Illinois Liquor Control Commission spokesperson Sue Hofer, things are a bit different when you are talking about liquor. “The Liquor Control Act requires all owners and officers of a licensed corporation to qualify in the same way that the licensee corporation qualifies,” said Hofer. If the Secretary of State’s Office finds WEDCO operated in Illinois without being registered, Anheuser-Busch InBev will face a number of fees, fines and late payments – with interest. 
Sprecher says: “This traditional ale was originally brewed in England for the British troops stationed in India. Double dry-hopped,it has intense hop flavors and aromas delicately balanced with a potent, yet delicious, malty sweetness. “
Sprecher IPA2
Double IPA, 8.4% ABV Sayeth the Guys: Editors Note: This review and several of the ones that follow it are part of a stockpile of tasting notes that have been siting in our notebooks for months that we just haven’t had time to get to. Sure, some of these reviews may not be as timely as we had originally hoped but they are still – somewhat – deserving of a spot in the annals of GDB. RYAN: My exposure to Sprecher beer has been rather minimal over the last few years. It’s not for lack of availability but more for my strange obsession with having my beer fridge all neat and tidy. You see, Sprecher bottles most of their beers in short, fat 16 oz bottles as opposed to your standard 12 oz longneck. Leave it to me to find fault in a brewery that gives me more beer in a bottle, but I had a hell of time creating space for them in my fridge. They were wider than most of my bottles so they took up more space – thus less variety. Like I said, it’s a strange obsession. But, a few months ago I ran across three Sprecher limited release and premium reserve beers and thought it was high time I put my differences with the bottle size aside and give them a shot. Continue reading Review: Sprecher IPA2  Short’s says:
Imperial Oatmeal Stout with cocoa and molasses. It possesses rare flavor combination’s which can overload even the most experienced beer connoisseur.
Short’s Mystery Stout
Imperial Stout, 10.8% ABV
Sayeth the Guys: (EDITORS NOTE: This beer was puchased in January of 2010 and first reviewed in April of 2010. Two bottles were set aside for the cellar, one of which was sampled in November of 2010 and the other in October of 2011. Below are the initial tasting notes followed by 9 month and 19 month tasting notes.) Continue reading From The Cellar: Short’s Mystery Stout 2010 Page 1 of 5112345...102030...»Last » | |
Atwater says:
