Of course we all love summer, but there’s nothing quite like these first days of autumn in Chicago. Crisp evenings and leaves on the ground mean it’s time to swap out citrus for spices and start pouring these malt-forward favorites. So bust out your flannel, watch too many horror movies, and start putting together that epic Halloween costume. Here are our fall beer picks to keep you warm this season. Read More
Throughout the 80’s and 90’s, then Goose Island Brewmaster Greg Hall would regularly travel to renowned European beer cities like Munich, Brussels, and London for inspiration on how to bring great beer to the United States. Fast-forward to today and Hall says he doesn’t need to go that far to find great cider—in fact, according to Hall, Virtue Cider’s Fennville, Michigan farm gets about the same amount of rainfall as “those fancy European apple growing regions.” Because of this, Western Michigan is somewhat of an apple growing haven and Virtue Cider takes pride in its home there. Known for creating a variety of complex and dry ciders, Virtue recently released their first cider in 12 oz. bottle format, Michigan Brut, and we were able to sit down with Greg to chat about the latest release.
Pitchfork Music Festival came and went, certainly living up to the hype. We drank, we rocked, we people watched, and we took some pictures along the way. Watch our video recap and see pictures from the festival below. Read More
Attention, Chicago: summer is here.
Outdoor dining, concerts and movies in the park, THE BEACH, I mean come on, what’s not to love about summer in the city? Whether you just finished a nice bike ride along the lake or find yourself hanging out on a rooftop patio, here are some summer beers to accompany you along the way.
We celebrate craft beer in Chicago every day but that doesn’t prevent us from getting excited when Chicago Craft Beer Week rolls around. This year we sent Matt Tanaka, our blogger and beer traveller out into the city to liveblog his way through all 11 days of #CCBW. He drank fantastic beer, ate tasty food and spent time with people from every corner of the Chicago craft beer scene — and brought his camera with him as he did so.
Check out this video we put together of some of the highlights and then see our favorite photos below.
Music: "Rob Myself" by Mooner
Last week we took you behind-the-scenes as Chef Chris Cosentino and the Virtue Cider team created a custom cider called Offalgood Cider. Now that the cider has officially been released, we sat down with Lakeshore Beverage craft beer and cider expert, Jenn Eppich for a closer look at the final product.