Beers

For this year’s event the League converged on Lexington, Kentucky. We were excited to; try another hand at the Kentucky Common, bringing some trendy American hop character in a traditional malt bill.

It’s a tasty amber hued, light brown beer with a light, nutty, toasty caramel sweetness. A lot lighter in flavor than it appears.

With Barley, Rye, Oats: Late hopped with Centennial, then delicately smacked over the head with big Galaxy dry hop.

Our “108 Year Storm”, our Cub’s victory lager brewed the next day after the Win, is one of the best higher alcohol beers we’ve ever brewed. 15% corn helps lighten the whole, bottom fermented lager, with a hefty dose of Citra and Centennial late additions.

We take a version of Chicago Common Brick and ferment it with Weizen yeast. Dampfbier was the common beer of the Bavarian woods. Basically, this will be the strange German cousin of the laborer favorite, Kentucky Common.

A tasty experiment in a newish malt out of Germany, this beer uses “RedX” for most of the grist bill. Great maltiness and complexity in a very small beer, with only 4% ABV. Almost like a session version of an American style Oktoberfest.

The Alley is where all the cool things happen, the informal parallel to the street out front. This all barley premium Pilsner is not just about deliveries and pickups, it’s about reimagining a service lane into something new and delicious.

The local people are the keepers of a region’s linguistics, taking rivers, merchants, roads and shaping the vocabulary to their own ends. Southsiders have a preclusion to change the plurality of things; they’ve taken a small stretch of Southland expressway turned freeway and made it their own.

A copper hued Abbey Dubbel with tons of malt complexity.

Inspired from those long summer baseball seasons filled with a rain delay here and there. Forget the downtime. Hope it’s not a rainout. As long as you have a nice smooth cream ale by your side, your day just got a whole lot better. Cheers to the next rain delay.

The rolly polly Lord who pushed the boundaries of middle aged society and only executed justice to those who mocked his presence. In honor of his lore we present a saison true to his life’s callings.

Our Bread and Circuses contribution to American Mild Month is a restrained fest beer brewed to slake the thirst of the May Day Dodgeball Ralliers. The May Day Mild is a big flavorful beer repressed by a quenchable decree, wielding a quintessential American brewing ingredient: corn. Will it overcome style and fuel a revolution?

A mayor’s make-it-happen decree turned legacy, the ubiquitous Black Fence weaves among the neighborhoods of Chicago. You see them everywhere wrapping parks and parking lots, and they come in every color you can think of… as long as it’s black. Here’s our hoppy tribute to the urban legend of the Chicago Style Black Fence.

For this year’s event the League converged on Bowling Green, Ohio. We built on last year by brewing another kind of Common utilizing Corn, one of Wood County’s bigger agricultural products.  It’s a tasty amber, light brown beer with good complexity… but a lot lighter in flavor than it appears.

2015 Holiday Lager. Ginger, star anise, vanilla, cardamom, and cinnamon back a porter base. Fermenting with a Lager yeast strain gives a superb clean finish to a complex beer.

In our Smash Series, we limit ourselves to one kind of fermentable, one type of hop, and one pitch of yeast.

We brewed this one because a friend wanted to really get what Cluster hops lend to a beer. The answer is in there! The Pilsner malt is no slouch either.

Raw Ale is a very old method of producing beer, mostly found in Baltic and Northern countryside brewing traditions. It’s not boiled, and it’s not soured, but it is indeed a unique beer.

This second recipe is another American contribution to the method. It mashes in with plenty of malty complexity, then fermented with a common American ale strain, followed by a dry hop of an old American hop cultivar. Oh, and of course we skip the boil.

You have to try this. You won’t find anything like it.

As part of our Sister City Series, we pay tribute to the City of Chicago’s international family. This beer has a wonderful German character in an easy drinking lager, perfect for a hot day. Rice and corn give a lightened body, while central European hops and yeast highlight the backbone of German brewing tradition spreading across the world.

The first in our Smash Series, we limit ourselves to one kind of fermentable, one type of hop, and one pitch of yeast.

A wonderful session brown ale of average strength but not missing out on nuanced British complexity. First introduced at RED JAC.

Served on Nitro Draft

An amber-brown wheat ale, coming in moderately strong, and spiced with cardamom. Warm, fluffy, and cool all at the same time.

For this year’s event the League converged on Bowling Green, Kentucky. To celebrate we brewed a historical recipe native to nearby Louisville. That city’s water was a bit more alkaline, so brewers adjusted with some added dark malts. The result? A tasty amber brown cream ale that’s a crowd pleaser.