Beer Beneath Glass 2024 Recap

Phrases: Eric Krol (@eakrol)
Images: Jaime Hernandez (@jaimelikesbeer)

The Illinois Craft Brewers Guild kicked off this 12 months’s Craft Beer Week on Friday evening with Beer Beneath Glass, a well-organized occasion with sufficient of a crowd to really feel like a occurring however not a lot of a crowd you had been elbow-to-elbow.

We like this beer fest since you even have an ideal probability of leaving underneath your individual energy. Barrel-aged stouts make up a a lot smaller proportion of beers than FOBAB, the Guild’s different yearly signature occasion. That stated, the primary documented sound of a glass shattering on the marbled flooring within the Nice Corridor at Union Station got here at 5:28 p.m., with simply two minutes left within the VIP hour.

There have been sights to be seen. A cell-phone toting monk roamed the ground repping North Aurora’s Brother Chimp Brewing gold-medal successful Vienna lager (although it wasn’t on faucet at BUG). A number of drinkers nonetheless wore pretzel necklaces. Section Three Brewing, which is about to mark 5 years, had bottles from their implausible barrel-aged collection out there for pours. We noticed Strawberry Arabesque and Trivia.

Let’s get to the highlights:

Longest Line:

Brothership Brewing’s BA Area Particles Coconut, which was additionally the perfect beer we had all evening. Only a ton of great-tasting chocolate and coconut. There’s a cause this Mokena brewery nonetheless attracts strains every time they launch a BA bottle.

Second-Longest Line:

Extra Brewing‘s Milaana Mix No. 3. This was a combo of BA stout, barleywine and imperial porter. This had a variety of barrel and was our runner-up. Others swore by Extra’s Soggy Dutchman, an imperial tiki ale aged in Jamaican rum barrels. It gave us heartburn however had nice taste.

Kitchen Sink Award:

Hop Butcher‘s BA Slumbering Large Cookie had so much occurring, and all of it was candy. Stouts and barleywines aged in bourbon and banana mead barrels, with coconut and vanilla added.

Adjunct Not Wanted:

We had been excited to see Penrose Brewing out of Geneva introduced a BA darkish barleywine. Not as excited for all of the vanilla in it.

Beer 3:16 Says:

We thought we’d discovered one other wrestling-themed beer in Partitions of Jericho, however seems Burning Bush’s choices have Bible-themed names (Purple Sea was the opposite). Subsequent door, Buffalo Creek Brewing poured Half Nelson, which positively had a wrestling-related title.

Fruit Twist:

Moor’s Brewing out of Chicago added fruit to their beers to supply a kick. The session ale marketed a “clean lemongrass end” and the pilsner had “only a pinch of Anjou pear.”

Award Profitable:

Evanston’s Double Clutch touted their World Beer Cup bronze-winning altbier. We see why it received.

Double Responsibility:

Piece, identified for its pizza, scored with The Weight, a tremendous instance of the pale ale kind with good hop taste and a dry end.

Pivot!

Cruz Blanca’s chelada was a refreshing change of tempo, as had been Go Brewing’s NA choices.

Pucker Up:

We had the Destihl pickle beer, and … it tastes like pickle juice. Malort-face-inducing pickle juice. The gent slinging it stated it’s been two and a half years since they began brewing it, and it nonetheless sells.

Dankness:

One of the best hazy we had was Half Acre’s Fountain Mountain, a double with standout hop taste. 

Hoppy Pilsners FTW:

Roaring Desk out of Lake Zurich provided Melts Into Air, a California-style pilsner that we drank with a bacon sausage from Large Fork Manufacturers. They had been within the distillery room, which was a preferred place to hold.

Up and Comer:

We chased down a scorching tip from a beer scenester that Knack Brewing was providing an ideal haze. The Kankakee nanobrewery scored with the dank PRYEvate Idaho, which featured Citra, Mosaic Cryo and Idaho hops.

As all the time, because of the ICBG for placing on the pageant and permitting us to crash it 12 months after 12 months. See you subsequent time.

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