The Brit and Yankee Craft Beer Podcast

This week head up to Mundelein IL to visit with Tony Bena, co-founder and head brewer at Tonality Brewing Company. One of the newest breweries in the Chicagoland area, they opened last November with a solid, classic taplist and a full restaurant menu. Tony chats with The Brit and co-host Ken McMullen (Fox Republic Brewing) while they sample some of his brews, including what could be called his 'early days' flagship beer, a rather delicious Kölsch. We hope we have set the 'tone' for your next brewery visit! Cheers!!

We've reached our 400th show and we've put together a retrospective of some of our milestones along the way. It's thanks to all our listeners who keep us recording each episode, and thanks to all the brewers who have given their time to talk to us. Plus thanks to all my co-hosts along the way, especially the 'original' Yankee, Lingo! We've drunk a bunch of brews on our journey, and the last 17 years have been a blast, so we'll keep podcasting as long as we can. Here's our story so far...CHEERS! Join us next week when we visit another of Illinois great craft breweries.

Since 2021, Lisle has been home to Bubblehouse Brewing, and when we asked the craft beer community in the Chicago area where we should visit for our next interview, the Bubblehouse 'popped' up as a favorite. The Brit and co-host Ken McMullen (Fox Republic Brewing brewmaster) headed over there and sat down with Jon Miller, Head Brewer and co-Founder, to discover more about this very popular brewery and taproom! CHEERS!

In this episode we venture back up to Lake County and the village of Lake Villa, where we visit with Harbor Brewing Company Founder Kyle Wenzel, and Head Brewer Adam Brose. HBC has been around for over 5 years and has built a large following in their taproom, plus the biergarten located at Winthrop Harbor where you can find awesome beer and views of Lake Michigan. With over 24 taps, these guys seem to be doing it right, and we recommend a visit to one or both of the locations! CHEERS!

This year, The Brit has asked a panel of brewers and chums to help him taste, chat about, and arbitrarily pass judgement on a range of barley wines. We have gathered them from across the USA, plus we have a couple that come from the UK, home of the barley wine style. Joining The Brit are, from Art History Brewing Tom Rau, Ed and Mike Seaman from Broken Brix, Chuck Fort from Church Street Brewing, and ex-tavern landlord John Karwoski. Thanks to Tom, we are recording this at Geneva Lager Works, home to the production arm of Art History Brewing. We also have a short video to accompany a couple of the tastings which can be found on our YouTube channel. Plus Cindy Rau stops by later, just to make sure Tom is not getting too rowdy! CHEERS!

It was during Covid in December of 2020 when we first checked in via Zoom with Josh Grubbs at Black Lung Brewing. Since then he has opened his primary brewery and taproom in Round Lake Beach, and has expanded to a satellite taproom in Fox Lake beside beautiful Lake Nippersink. After our short recording hiatus, we wanted to restart our podcast episodes with a success story. We find out more on their first 3 years, how their brews have been refined, and hear lots of stories about the brewery and beer names. Guest co-host is ex-landlord John Karwoski, and BLB assistant brewer/metal band member Rob Noon is on hand as well. We recommend a visit if you haven't done so yet! CHEERS!

We are back in the pub studio for this episode, which will be the last one until the end of January, as we are taking a short hiatus. We do have an all-star cast in the house with co-host Ken McMullen from Fox Republic Brewing, co-host Chuck Fort from Church Street Brewing, plus the head brewer from Church Street, Sean Gregor. And in this is a bumper edition we have a 6-pack of seasonal brews to taste, plus all the pub chat on many topics. We hope you enjoy our festivities and Cheers for the Holidays!

The greater Chicagoland area hosts many of Illinois craft breweries, but there are plenty of downstate options to visit and enjoy. In this episode The Brit, and co-host Ken McMullen of Fox Republic, travel to Kankakee IL to visit  founder and brewer Matt Strysik, who together with his wife Emily, co-own Knack Brewing located alongside the Kankakee River. This is a grass roots operation but Matt is producing extremely high quality, and very drinkable beers, tapping in to the tastes of the area clientele but also testing out the waters with some adjunct variants. Definitely worth a visit downstate!! Cheers!

This episode we start the podcast with an apology! We have overlooked BBGB for over 5 years, and now we are here to sample the brews and realize we definitely missed out on some good ones! Brewmaster Bob Salzman has turned around the brewery side of this gastropub, and is producing some well-made classic styles. We talk to him about the unique features of Hardware, the restaurant, and what it is like to have a hopfarm as part of the brewing side, one benefit being that his Harvest Ale is fresh and tasty! Cheers!!

If you are a homebrewer or a professional you have likely heard of Brülosophy, a website where they take the art of homebrewing beer to a new level with recipes, methods and their exciting 'Exbeeriments', which scientifically test our palates and push the boundaries of our perceptions of beer. As one of the main contributors to the site, Steve Thanos conducts these Exbeeriments, and in this episode he visits The Brit and co-host Ken McMullen down in the pub studios to put their palates to the test. As a long-standing member of the Plainfield Ale and Lager Enthusiasts (PALE) homebrew club, he brings a wealth of knowledge to the topic, and he's fresh off winning some medals at a local beer festival. Do The Brit and Ken pass the test? Tune in and found it in this fascinating look into the grass roots of craft beer! Cheers!!