Solidarity! Celebrating Craft Beer in Chicago. Tomorrow, March 31st, 1pm.

Stone Brewing Company, one of the nation's largest, most popular, and arguably tastiest craft breweries made their entry into the Chicago market, officially, two years ago this weekend! Joyous quafting of their delicious beers happened everywhere. A bacchanalia of Stone beer hit the city between the eyes and in the liver. Celebrating that two year anniversary, Stone invited some other heavyweights, a couple local, to join them in pouring beers this weekend.

1pm, Timothy O'Tooles. Downtown Chicago AND Gurnee locations.

Joining Stone with rare beers and the usual selections:
Two Brothers Brewing Company
Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales
Three Floyds Brewing
Great Lakes Brewing Company
New Belgium Brewing Company

Dogfish Head @ The Long Room (Night of the Dogs)

8 taps of Dogfish Head's specialty brews.

Red and White
Burton Baton
Aprihop
Noble Rot
120 minute
My Antonia
World Wide Stout
Tweason'ale


FREE Vienna hot dogs with all the fixings. Seriously. I do not make this stuff up.


At the Long Room, starting at 5, Wednesday, April 4th.

The Bruery/Dogfish Head Collaboration

Dogfish Head doesn't seem to stop collaborating with people. Sam Calagione might have a record for frequent flyer miles by a craft brewer. The people at The Bruery have been very active as well (and make some fantastic beer, Saison Rue, Saison Lenthe, and Rugbrod being favorites). Check out The Bruery's blog entry that hints at some of the unique ingredients going into a Japanese-influenced collaboration brew.

Short's and Dogfish Head Collaboration

This beer better show up in the Chicago market eventually (though not likely), because it sounds genius. The story goes that Short's got a morale boost from Sam of Dogfish Head, and finally, these friends are brewing something together. One ingredient from each brewery's state, a contribution from Nick Floyd of Three Floyds (you know, because why not?), and a twist on the Baltic Porter is born.

Beach plums from Delaware, horehound from Michigan, red popcorn from Indiana. I kind of want to make a summer trip to Northern Michigan, if this beer doesn't end up with any distribution.

Brewmasters, Tomorrow Night

Tomorrow night, 9pm central, Brewmasters, on Discovery. Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head, is the host of this show that takes the viewer around the world to learn about the history of beer, all its many manifestations, and explores the inner workings of one of the more eclectic American breweries.

Beer on TV!

There have been a few beer movies, but, has there ever been a beer show before now? I'm jumping on the band wagon and posting about Discovery's upcoming Brew Masters show, hosted by Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head.

The show premiers Sunday night, November 21st, at 10 Eastern time, 10 pacific as well.

Sounds like the show is going to highlight what can go into beer beyond the four major ingredients (hops, water, barley, yeast, in case you just stumbled here by accident), and join the Dogfish Head team on their quests to research ancient brews and unique beer styles from around the world.

Chicago's The Publican and a Food Pairing

Pairings, really. The Publican brings Chicago farmhouse inspired fare with a fantastic beer and wine menu. Combine this with a beautiful European style beer hall design, long tables, family-style servings, and a great staff, and you have a restaurant that stands out in a city full of restaurants. The one trouble we had was figuring out what 5 beers to order, to go with five dishes, being shared equally by five people. A free for all developed, but one pairing stood out. Dogfish Head's Indian Brown Ale compliment both the Country Ribs and the Farm Chicken. Both were from the fantastic Slagel Family Farm The malty molasses and chocolate flavors complimented the roasted meats, while the hops fell in line with the fantastic use of fresh herbs.

Much to catch up on still, but...DOGFLOYDAPALOOZA

OMG Beer has much to write about. Bell's Oberon is back. Trees sprouted flowers over the past few days in Chicago, which means Spring has arrived. Spring Seasonals are probably flooding the market.

And, it's time for DOGFLOYDAPALOOZA.
20 dollars, 10 special brews from Three Floyds and Dogfish Head.
Tickets are on sale in advance, and you get a beer with your ticket.

Dogfish Head - Palo Santo Marron

With a new OMG Beer! Headquarters, it feels right for the first review to be a beer I've never tasted. Dogfish Head, the Dr. Frankenstein of American breweries, doesn't just settle for a normal Brown Ale (see also their Indian Brown Ale). This brown ale is aged in the wood of the Palo Santo tree, a holy Paraguayan tree used also in South American winemaking. Palo Santo Marron is a very dark brown ale, almost black, with a sticky tan head that reminds one of chocolate milk. The aroma is sweet, evoking caramel, raisins, apples, and some alcohol (at 12% ABV, this is a sipping beer that packs a lot of warmth in it from beginning to end). Palo Santo Marron is really bold on the tongue, the bitterness is subtle for 50 IBUs (that's almost IPA range), and mostly just balances out the very sweet, dessert-like flavors that linger - vanilla, caramel, dark berries, plum, currant. The nice warming effect of the alcohol, along with the dessert aftertastes, make this an excellent after dinner or late night treat.

Upcoming West Town Brewing Co. Beers...

January was a quiet month, with only one, or arguably, two homebrews. Inspired by the oak-aging going on in the commercial beer world and the need to perfect my porter recipe, I decided I'd reformulate my porter recipe, and then split it in half. Half would be aged in my mini secondary carboy with oak cubes and a half-pint of bourbon, while the other half would be aged normally. That second half is finally about to bottled. The bourbon oak half made an appearance on Super Bowl Sunday. The recipe for the porter will be up soon, along with a brief history of the porter.

To counter-balance the roasted malt and chocolate flavors of my porter, an IPA became the first West Town Brewing beer for February. This beer is about to be dry-hopped and then bottled (and it still needs a name). With only one weekend left, one other beer birth shall occur in February. I love dark wheat beer and I love rye beers, so why not try to combine the two and make a Rye Dunkelweizen? This might be a crap-shoot, or it might be awfully close to a german rye beer called Roggenbier.

Finally, there will be at least one March-produced beer. I recently received the awesome gift of Extreme Brewing by Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewing. One of the easier to find and extremely tasty Dogfish Head beers is the Indian Brown Ale, which is described as a frankenstein hybrid of brown ale, scotch ale, and IPA. The Indian Brown Ale recipe just so happens to be in the pages of Extreme Brewing, so it seems appropriate to pay tribute to a great beer which serves as proof that brewing outside the style box is a good thing sometimes.

DogFloydapalooza (Not my choice of title...)

The Bottom Lounge (1375 W. Lake St.), here in Chicago, is hosting Nick Floyd of Three Floyd's Brewing Company and Sam Calagione of the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.

The beer pouring meet and greet starts at 9pm and admission is $10, which gets you one beer. There will be live music from the Waco Brothers.