Hot Takes, Quick Tastes: Green Line, Summit Saga, Todd the Axe Man, Band of Bohemia, Pollyanna’s Lexical Gap

In Beer Reviews by Karl

Because we respect your time too much to waste it on 1000+ word reviews of single beers, here’s a quick cross-section of what we’ve been drinking and digging lately.

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Not every beer needs a deep dive. Trust us, we can get pretty detailed when it comes to drinking beer — see pretty much everything we published in the first few years of this site — but we also recognize that there are A) a lot of beers out there and B) you don’t have a ton of time in your day.

So here, without further blithering on our part, are some quick snapshots of beers we’re enjoying in the world today. The internet would call these Hot Takes, or something like that. Anyways. Drink at your own risk.


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Goose Island’s Green Line:

You may have seen us mention this on Instagram, but at $5.99, it’s a really damn good pale ale for the money. 312 Urban Pale was a whisper of a beer compared to Green Line (which you may remember, the news of its nationwide release we broke here), with zip for malt character and a quick flash of hop bitterness. Green Line, which we have been a fan of for years, comes correct with big rich chewy wheat-bready malts and a proper balance of bright, just-right-bitter hops that’s fairly easy drinking — I wouldn’t reach for this when it’s 90 degrees outside, certainly — but still immediately recognizable as a beer.

The aggressive price makes me wonder if a battle is brewing — for the casual consumer, if you are looking for one of those hip new fancy craft beers you’ve heard about and you see Daisy Cutter for $9.99 on the shelf, and Green Line just inches away for $4 cheaper, what do you think they’re likely going to pick? Sure, we know that Daisy Cutter is the better beer…but for a $4 price difference, “pretty good” just might win the day more often than not.

Surly’s Todd the Axe Man:

We received a couple cans of this beer in the mail with a note telling us that Todd the Axe Man was back, but we could have likely discerned that by the mad rush of hopheads flocking to any Surly-friendly bar in town looking for this massively, brutally bitter IPA. Even while people dial back their hop bills and tell us that the IBU arms race is over, no one must have told Surly — this is one thrash-metal jam of a beer. It comes on quick and rough (I’d say abrasive, but well, you know), blasts you quick like a Reign in Blood-era Kerry King solo and ends hard and fast — there’s next to no tail here.

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Typographically, if a regular IPA looks like this: maltmalthophopHOPhoppppppmalttttttt

Then TtAM looks like this: hopHOPHOPHOPHOPHOPh

That might be the weirdest beer review I’ve ever written. Does that make sense? Who cares, it’s late. Is this beer really good? Yeah. Is it $16 a four-pack good? Only you can answer that. Find one on draft first, and if you can’t live without it in your fridge, then buy ruthlessly and without remorse. (Our TtAM was received gratis, as mentioned above.)

Summit Saga:

Hey, had any beers from Summit lately? No? Could you even name a Summit beer if I held a gun to your head and gave you 3 weeks to think of one? Maybe?

Look, Summit doesn’t get a lot of discussion ’round these parts because for the most part, they make pretty middle of the road beers, that are pretty decent, but never really that exciting. And you know what? Sometimes that’s exactly what you need. 

I was sitting at The Green Lady recently and I just wanted an IPA. A plain old don’t-think-about-it-too-much IPA. Not a brett IPA, not a DIPA or an IIPA or a Triple IPA or a Black IPA or even an Extra Pale f’ing Ale. Just gimme a goddamn IPA. Saga fit the bill exactly. It’s a good beer. It’s a better than average beer. It’s an enjoyable beer. You should have one, if you’re not too busy ordering the weirdest thing on draft to impress your friends and tick it on Untappd.

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Band of Bohemia’s Persimmon Honey Biscuit:

On a recent afternoon, I sidled up to the bar before the pre-dinner Metra-passenger rush crowded the new Hottest Bar In Chicago. (I don’t remember exactly who called it that, but it was probably Eater or Chicago Magazine or both.) Previously I had tried a short pour of the basmati rice/maitake mushroom beer while talking to brewmaster Michael Carroll for this piece, which was interestingly muddy and slightly umami-savory, but until this moment that you see above, I hadn’t had a chance to try anything else.

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As you can see from the above photo, I had a nice pour of all of their beers laid out in front of me, along with a menu that made me feel like I was perusing a scroll in Middle Earth. Apple Tarragon was fine but not terribly herb-y, Orange Chicory Rye was quite good, Roasted Beet Thyme was…interesting, and the Culinary noble was a slow pitch right down the middle.

The Persimmon Honey Biscuit, though…

It may not be a coincidence that the newest beer was the one I liked the most. That the first new recipe produced since opening day was the best. That as a brewer gets to know his system and his team and his kitchen, can make a food-friendly beer that stands on its own as not just a weird beer, but a good beer, a really good beer, shouldn’t be surprising. But this one was the clear winner if you’re looking for that sort of thing. Sweet, jammy, creamy but not sticky or cloying, rich and doughy and yes, biscuity — it’s just damn good.

As for the food? I dunno – I haven’t dug into it yet. It’s certainly not pretzels with beer cheese and chicken wings. Seriously, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the place. Between coffee, cocktails, the wine program and the fine-dining-y menu, it’s seriously the least beer-focused brewery I’ve ever been to. Is it because they’re trying to do too much, or because they’re just really fucking good at a lot of different things? I’m leaning the latter, but it’s still early yet.

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Pollyanna’s Lexical Gap

I had a chance to crack into one of these on half-priced can night at my local Roots Pizza on Lawrence. Paying less than $7 for a 16oz. beer in the City That Works feels like robbery but I sure was glad for the chance to give this one a go. Juicy, fruity, cloudy, happy, good stuff. If I could find it on store shelves, I’d hand over money for it. Someday hopefully that’ll happen.

BONUS CHEAP BOURBON REVIEWS:

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We were just in Louisville a few weeks ago and picked up some of the finest cheap bourbon you could imagine getting from the bottom shelf of a place called the “Liquor Barn.” Should you ever be in a similar situation (and hopefully you will, Louisville is good times), you may look at the picture to the right and think, hey, those labels look promising, let’s grab some of those. J.W. Dant is fine and strong, Ancient Age is better and also strong, and Kentucky Tavern tasted strangely of bananas, which wasn’t great.

Spend accordingly.

This has been Hot Takes, Quick Tastes. As always, if a beer is received gratis, we will disclose at all times. If you’ve got a beer you’d like us to try, we probably won’t accept it (we ignore most “hey want some free beer” emails because we’re happy to buy our own), but you can try to email us. Bonus points if you can name the brewery flight in the lead photo.

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About the Author

Karl

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Karl has written about food, travel and beer for Chicago Magazine, Thrillist, Time Out Chicago, AskMen and more. His book, Beer Lovers Chicago, is now available via Amazon and other booksellers. If you're buying, he's likely having a porter or a pale ale.

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