ABV Chicago Craft Beer Podcast

ABV Chicago Craft Beer Podcast episodes:

• 05.15.2024

  Episode 536 - Live Oak

  Austin, Texas’ Live Oak Brewing has been making world-class lagers and traditional styles through step-mashing and decoction mashing going back to 1997, and their regionally-available beers have inspired brewers worldwide to embrace not taking any short cuts. Thanks to Craig’s...

  
• 05.08.2024

  Episode 535 - The Hop Butcher Report

  CHICAGO (ABV) - The folks at Hop Butcher have released some beers of note over the last few months, and we are on the scene (at home) to sample four of these newsworthy beers. A hazy IPA tribute to a...

  
• 05.01.2024

  Episode 534 - High Gravity Half Acre

  In somewhat sporadic drops over the last few months, Half Acre has released some highly-desired cans of barrel-aged beer that push the ABV further than ever before. We sample four of these special beers while turning half of this into...

  
• 04.24.2024

  Episode 533 - Jester King

  For over ten years we’ve wanted to do a full lineup of Jester King’s beers, and thanks to Craig’s recent Austin trip, we get to open five unique styles from the farm. We’re happy as a bunch of grazing goats...

  
• 04.17.2024

  Episode 532 - Carolina Sauce

  As the third in our recent unplanned trilogy of Carolina shows, this one proves that sometimes the B-sides are better than the album. We have five beers from various Carolina locations, thanks to listeners Benji & Suzanne, and each drink...

  
• 04.10.2024

  Episode 531 - Straight Barleywine

  Believe it or not, there was a time when breweries would release barleywines that were not aged in any sort of barrel, and the biggest choice you had to make was American-style or English-style. For this episode, we have four...

  
• 04.03.2024

  Episode 530 - The TX Show

  Because we heard that things tend to be bigger down in Texas, our 35th State Show features six beers from Craig’s recent travels. We try our best to span the Lone Star state (despite being a little Austin-heavy), and the...

  
• 03.27.2024

  Episode 529 - Back to the Barrel 5

  Just as the season can’t decide if it’s going to get warm or stay cold, we choose to get nice and toasty with four barrel-aged stouts we’ve gathered over the past few months from local sources. The four beers on...

  
• 03.20.2024

  Episode 528 - Heavy Riff Brewing

  St. Louis’ Heavy Riff Brewing has built a strong local following since 2013, and their mix of experimental styles, barrel-aged beers, and rock-n-roll sensibility has started to make its way up the state of Illinois. Craig talks with co-owner Rick...

  
• 03.13.2024

  Episode 527 - Local West Coast DIPAs

  A decade-and-a-half ago, West Coast DIPAs were changing the craft beer curious into full-on obsessives, and breweries were in an IBU arms race to melt faces with hop bitterness. Recently, now that some of the haze has settled, breweries are...

  
• 03.06.2024

  Episode 526 - Asheville

  The city of Asheville may not even be in the top ten most-populated cities in North Carolina, but it might be the state’s capital for breweries. Thanks to the generosity of listeners Benji and Suzanne, we drink five beers from...

  
• 02.28.2024

  Episode 525 - Baltic Local

  The Baltic Porter is making some more regular appearances in breweries’ seasonal lineups, so we find five local examples of the robust lager style to sample for this episode. We also ponder the benefits and drawbacks of barrel-aging this particular...

  
• 02.21.2024

  Episode 524 - San Diego

  It’s been over a decade since Craig and Ryan have been out to beautiful San Diego, and thanks to listener Dave Adams, the podcast gets a lovely flavor vacation with beers from five of the city’s breweries. The lineup is...

  
• 02.14.2024

  Episode 523 - Stout Me Up

  Sometimes you want a stout that’s not sweet, adjunct-free, and stripped down to just the base style interpretation, and we were so excited to find five readily-available local examples. (No barrels, coconuts, vanilla beans, or cacao nibs were harmed in...

  
• 02.07.2024

  Episode 522 - Deep Wood: On Heavenly Jacket

  Donning our heavenly jackets for this one, we drink the final set of Revolution’s Deep Wood lineup for the 2023-2024 season. Three ‘wines and a stout make up this unsurprisingly spectacular four pack, and even through all of our nit-picking...

  
• 01.31.2024

  Episode 521 - The SC Show

  Our 34th state show is just as sweet as it is sour, as we tackle five beers from South Carolina courtesy of listeners Benji & Suzanne. Even though it’s a bit heavy on the tart beers, we learn about five...

  
• 01.24.2024

  Episode 520 - 10 Beers for 10 Years

  Ever since January 22nd of 2014, the ABV Chicago podcast has released a new episode every single week - and nobody could be more stunned about this fact than us. To commemorate a decade of arbitrary beer reviews, brewer interviews,...

  
• 01.17.2024

  Episode 519 - Hop Butcher: Taproom Edition

  It’s been almost three years since the announcement that Hop Butcher for the World would be taking over the original Half Acre brewery space, and it’s been a year since the rebranded taproom opened. So we take time to sit...

  
• 01.10.2024

  Episode 518 - Cereal Beers

  You don’t turn to us for advice on a balanced breakfast, but we’re happy to spoon up five cereal-inspired beers so good that even Mikey likes it. Through clever use of ingredients (or just throwing the cereal right in the...

  
• 01.03.2024

  Episode 517 - Brandy, You’re A Fine Barrel

  We fetch another round of barrel-aged beers for this episode, but with a twist: all four beers are aged in different kinds of brandy barrels. We explore the world of sweet brandy barrels and how they work on different styles,...

  
• 12.27.2023

  Episode 516 - Bourbon County 2023

  Recorded on Black Friday (and previously released a month ago for our Patreon subscribers), this episode is our return to the Bourbon County lineup - after managing to get ourselves uninvited from the Goose Island media tastings. Luckily, we have...

  
• 12.20.2023

  Episode 515 - WeldWerks Medianoches

  In what is likely our most decadent Barrel-Aged December™ episode yet, we sample four enormous stouts from WeldWerks’ Medianoche series that are as complex as they are thick (or thicc, as the kids say). Co-founder Neil Fisher gave us some...

  
• 12.13.2023

  Episode 514 - Marked For Deth

  There’s no escaping Deth, so we gather up four of the barrel-aged Revolution stouts from this year’s Deep Wood lineup and drink with reckless abandon. It’s no shocker that Revolution is still running the best barrel program in the city,...

  
• 12.06.2023

  Episode 513 - Metropolitan Forever

  For over 15 years, Metropolitan blessed this great city with high quality lagers and traditional German styles. They ushered in a second wave of Chicago craft brewing back when there were next to no options available. It’s safe to say...

  
• 11.29.2023

  Episode 512 - FoBAB Winners 2023

  Earlier in November, the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild put on the 21st Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beers to recognize some of the breweries making the finest wood-aged beers around. We got our hands on five (out of the eleven)...

  
• 11.22.2023

  Episode 511 - Chicago Browntown

  Hop on the Brown Line straight to Browntown with us, as we discover a hopefully-growing local resurgence of the brown ale with five examples from Chicagoland breweries on this episode. Adjunct or not, these brown ales all have a unique...

  
• 11.15.2023

  Episode 510 - Hop Waters

  Carbonated water treated with hops is pretty simple in concept, but these five breweries prove that there’s a lot of variation and skill that goes into making these “zero/zero” drinks. And it shows that no matter how well non-alcoholic beers...

  
• 11.08.2023

  Episode 509 - The DE Show

  Though it might be one of the smallest states, the brewing scene in Delaware is mighty, and we’re ushering in our 33rd State Show with a lineup of five flavorful beers from five different breweries. Thanks to Ryan Tracy (and...

  
• 10.30.2023

  Episode 508 - FoBABlin’ 5: Return to FoBABlin’

  Chicago’s biggest, baddest and most-barreled festival is back in its 21st year, so we’re eager to FoBABble about it for the first time in four years as a lead-up to the competition. We also open four barrel-aged beers from breweries...

  
• 10.25.2023

  Episode 507 - Cruz Blanca Luchadors 2023

  The seven barrel-aged beers that comprise this year’s Luchador lineup feature styles and ingredients we have rarely - or never - seen in the past, and no local “special release” lineup is getting as experimental as this one. Flavor master...

  
• 10.18.2023

  Episode 506 - Torture Test: Seven Deadly Beers

  We’re indulging in our capital vices for our yearly attempt to destroy each other over bad beers, and this one features some of the most unexpected pours we’ve ever seen. There’s at least one beer here that unexpectedly brings out...

  
• 10.11.2023

  Episode 505 - Lager Heads: Welcome to Chi-Taste-O

  Chicagoland is pretty gifted in lager-centric breweries, but now that trends have shifted back towards the more drinkable, almost every brewery is featuring more and more lagers. This is an extremely good thing. For this show, we do a blind...

  
• 10.04.2023

  Episode 504 - Amberama

  Now somewhat relegated to an occasional fall seasonal from breweries, the Amber style is essential to the history of American craft beer as we know it. So we’re pumped to see five local breweries dabble in amber ales and lagers,...

  
• 09.27.2023

  Episode 503 - GABF 2023

  We were just back in Denver for the 41st Great American Beer Festival, and we’ve got an episode chock full of interviews and beer highlights that’s as good as gold (medals). Catch up on our beer-y travels as we hit...

  
• 09.20.2023

  Episode 502 - Barrels Out West

  In the week that we’re heading out west for a certain fest, we gather up four barrel-aged beers from West Coast breweries that are pretty well-known for their wood-aged offerings. Expectations are flipped on their head and a ringer is...

  
• 09.13.2023

  Episode 501 - Road to GABF: Far Flung IL Medals

  The Great American Beer Festival is right around the corner, and since we’re attending again this year, we’re providing an audio guide to what to drink at the fest while also sipping on some previous medal winners. These aren’t just...

  
• 09.08.2023

  Episode 500 - Part Two, with Josh Deth

  For the second part of our big 500, we sit down with Revolution Brewing founder Josh Deth and talk about the last ten years of his brewery while sharing a rare beer from Craig’s cellar. It’s a fitting interview for...

  
• 09.06.2023

  Episode 500 - Part One, with Jason Klein and Gabriel Magliaro

  500 episodes is a long time to do arbitrary beer reviews, so we reach out for some help in reviewing a few beers from Craig’s cellar. We chose brewers that have been around longer than the podcast to reflect on...

  
• 08.30.2023

  Episode 499 - Blind Oktoberfests

  Once every four years, we gather up nine Märzens or Festbiers for a blind review revue as a not-so-subtle excuse to drink what might be our favorite seasonal style. And again, we have eight local takes (and one collab from...

  
• 08.23.2023

  Episode 498 - The AZ Show

  We’re bringing the dry heat with our 32nd State Show, drinking through five beers from five different Arizona breweries, courtesy of listener Ryan Lamb. There’s a lot to like from this set with some essential Arizona ingredients and a few...

  
• 08.16.2023

  Episode 497 - Deep Wood Summer 3-Pack

  Revolution is back at it this summer with a threesome of barrel-aged delights for an early kickoff to the Deep Wood series, and we take our time breaking down these complex blends to find our results to be pleasantly surprising....

  
• 08.09.2023

  Episode 496 - Half Acre Beer Co.

  We can give a lot of credit to Half Acre co-founder Gabriel Magliaro for helping awaken the craft beer scene in Chicago. And more than 16 years later, Half Acre is still a leader in craft in the city and...

  
• 08.02.2023

  Episode 495 - Hoppy Wheats

  It’s another show about highly drinkable summer styles, and this minor trend of local breweries releasing hopped-up wheat beers caught our attention enough to put five beers in front of us for review. The styles differ despite their shared ingredient,...

  
• 07.26.2023

  Episode 494 - Private Press Brewing

  Brad Clark is the man behind the highly sought-after blended barrel-aged beers of Private Press, and Craig sat down with him over some decanted barleywine to talk about the history and future of his members-only brewery. Brad shares how his...

  
• 07.19.2023

  Episode 493 - Hazy Flagship IPA Blind Battle Royale: Championship Edition

  After six episodes and 25 beers, we’re finally putting our top 6 choices for best Chicagoland/Illinois hazy IPA to one last blind test. This showdown features four GABF gold medal-winners and two “underdogs” - and each beer impresses in its...

  
• 07.12.2023

  Episode 492 - Saisons of SARA

  We’ve been admirers of Sante Adairius Rustic Ales for a decade now, and Craig’s recent trip to California brings us back the gift of SARA saisons - and a wonderful conversation with owner and co-founder Adair Paterno. The four barrel-aged...

  
• 07.05.2023

  Episode 491 - Bay Area Brews

  Summer Craig is starting off strong this year by bringing back five fantastic beers from California’s Bay Area (and beyond) for us to fawn over and attempt to recreate those vacation vibes. We learn the backstories of these breweries and...

  
• 06.28.2023

  Episode 490 - Hawkeye Homecoming

  Ryan’s a University of Iowa graduate, and in the 15 years since his last visit, a few breweries have popped up and thrived in the area. After a weekend with the family in Iowa City, Ryan brought back five beers...

  
• 06.21.2023

  Episode 489 - Chicago Italian Pilsners

  Another somewhat recent trend in the world of local lagers is the Italian Pilsner, a style with only about a 30-year history that adds a bit more noble dry-hop character to something close to the Czech-style pilsner. It’s all winners...

  
• 06.14.2023

  Episode 488 - Hazy Flagship IPA Blind Battle Royale: Round 5

  In our penultimate round before the championship, we have one spot up for grabs with these fan favorite hazy IPAs from Chicagoland breweries. Bringing our grand total of hazy IPAs blind-tasted up to 25, this episode still manages to bring...