Tag: beer junkie

LOCAL BEER REVIEW: MIKERPHONE BREWING’S CAT’S IN THE CRADLE

by Kevin Sterne

My trusted hop-head confidants have been gushing about Mikerphone Brewing, so I decided to pick one up from Beer Temple, my got-to source for beer to revere. Because I have a soft spot for the Harry Chapin song (and because this was a new arrival rec’d by the Beer Temple guy), I decided to go with Cat’s in the CRADLE, a double dry-hopped India pale ale.

 

So, to be real for a sec: this isn’t a beer style I’ve been seeking out this summer. I’ve written about New England Styles—and I love the style, but had grown bored of it because so many Chicago breweries are doing it. Summer 2017 has been an exploration in pilsners, lagers, saisons and sours. My new favorite brewery is Hopewell, and I live about a 10-minute walk from a draft-poured First Lager.

And if you heard about my 4th of July experience, you know I’ve been shifting towards sessions (meaning: less hops, less malt, less barley, less flavor and less fun). Plus, I’m in the thick, loathsome middle of training for the Chicago triathlon, rendering me a wet blanket. I still cannot avoid seeing massive coverage of this brewery on the my social media sphere, and had, admittedly, been experiencing some #fomo.

 

Since hop heads have been gushing over Mikerphone, I thought it appropriate to stick to hophead conventions with this review, judging appearance, smell, taste, and offering an overall opinion. Without further ado, let it begin:

Appearance: well, I took fucking pictures, so that’s what it looks like. #nofilter

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Smell: Peach fuzz, grapefruit, a fresh summer rain

Mouthfeel: smooth, juicy, drinkable. Goes down like water in a mouth dragged through the desert.

Taste: grapefruit, grapefruit rind, grapefruit pulp, grapefruit seed, grape fruit skin, muted pineapple and mango, and some grapefruit as well.

Overall: This is a high-gravity brew for the fructose-forward hop heads. And as a 25-year old, white male who likes beer, I am that…sometimes—see: above reservations. For the style, this beer checks all the boxes and is damn close to Heady Topper and that tier of India pale ale. So, I guess my qualm is with the style; it doesn’t lend itself to casual drinking or food pairing in the way a lager or wheat beer does. It’s a beverage that shitty-beer drinkers can appreciate because it’s more Gatorade than beer. There’s almost no malt or bitterness to be found. Sometimes that’s good.


Kevin Sterne is a writer and journalist based in Chicago. He writes about music, craft beer and culture here and for Substream Magazine, ANCHR Magazine and other places. His super weird and highly offensive fiction has appeared in Drunk Monkeys, Praxis Magazine, Potluck Mag, Word Eater, Defenestration and many other places you’ve never heard of. Kevin is the creator of a really terrible magazine called LeFawn which you can buy at Shuga Records for pennies on the dollar.

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Take it Slow After the Big Bangin’ Holiday with these Chicago Sessions

by Kevin Sterne

If you we’re anything like me this past holiday, you ate for America, drank for America and possibly barfed in the name of ‘merica. I feasted my through beans, greens, hogs, dogs, chickens and turkeys slathered with sauce. I imbibed sheer gallons of frothy IPAs, double IPAs, lagers and pilsners. All the while cursing the name of the Donald.

I woke up for work the next day in a sticky, sweaty t-shirt…swathed in a blanket of empty beer cans, needing about three more recovery days. And perhaps even a lifestyle change—nothing too drastic though. Because I have a New Year’s resolution to uphold.

Maybe just turning back the dial on the ABVs. This means shagging the malty, ultra bready double IPAs in lieu of bright, effervescent hopdom. Thankfully, Chicago has plenty of crushable session beers to get me through this week and the looming dog days of summer.

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Daytime IPA by Lagunitas

Unbuckle your slacks, hop on the diving board and jack-knife into this juicy, tropical thirst-pool. It’s a downright chuggable juicy blend made for hop lovers. Chug away, just don’t try shot-gunning these stubby bottles. DO stay hydrated with this crisp, refreshing nectar, just be sure to wait 20 minutes before jumping back in the water.

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Flywheel by Metropolitan Brewing

A Chicago-style pilsner from a brewery bucking the IPA trends—Metro Brewing, like Hopewell Brewing Co, focuses mainly on lagers. But this isn’t your dad’s beer by any means. Flywheel packs spicy hops that are evident in the nose and the taste. Pair this one with some backyard grilling or summer pizza.

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Lil Citra by Pipeworks Brewing

An enormously juicy session that somehow keeps the ABV below 5%. True brewing prowess by the masters at Pdubs. With hordes of citrus flavor, including mango and guava, this is a beer that demands a companion. A Chicago-style hotdog makes a great pair. Hold the ketchup.

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Troublesome by Off Color Brewing

Crisp, tart and refreshing, this beer gives no trouble going down the gullet. So why is it troublesome? Well, it uses Lactobacillus, which I had to look up too. If you’re not clicking on that hyper-informative hyperlink, then you’re missing out on the bacterial properties that lend to the sour flavor of this here Off Color wheat brew. I guess they call it a Gose.

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Mango Guppy by Pipeworks Brewing

Does anyone do scintillatingly citrus beers in Chicago better than Pipeworks? Anyone? Bueller? How about session IPAs brewed with mango puree and honey? Mango Guppy is like your cool step aunt’s fruit salad. You know, the one without the shitty honeydew.


Kevin Sterne is a writer and journalist based in Chicago, the editor of LeFawn Magazine. Apart from Shuga Records, he’s written about beer and music for Mash Tun Journal, The Tangential and Substream Magazine. His creative fiction has appeared in Drunk Monkeys, Potluck Mag, Defenestration, Praxis Magazine, Down in the Dirt Magazine, and Word Eater, among many others.

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Twitter: @kevinsterne
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CRAFT CREATIONS: ODDBALL BREWS FOR THE HIPSTER PALATE

Three of the Midwest’s off-kilter beer offerings
By Kevin Sterne

Given that the Chicago craft beer market is so saturated with pale ales, I’ve been on a mission to find beers that don’t carry the typical “hoppy” and “citrus” descriptors. Don’t get me wrong, I love pale ales. Those beers are fun, and plenty of Chicago breweries have rolled out solid, if not spectacular pale ales, including some of my favorite IPAs on the planet. But, to appreciate these delightfully pungent and citrusy brews, it helps to diversify. Last week I drank nothing but adjunct lagers. And got really, really sick. This week I’m trending back to the craft beers, but not just any beers. These are beers that tickle the tastes buds with somewhat off-the-wall flavors.

Lionstone Brewing’s Back 40 Peanut Butter
ABV: 4.7%
Brewed in Geneseo, Illinois

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Sink your teeth into this prideful peanut butter-packed brew that demands to be served in a repurposed Smuckers jar. You’ll have the lion share of high-brow hipster nod when you aptly pointing out that this beer tastes like Ritz Bitz crackers. “Your taste is so refined,” they’ll say, “this Wicker Park brunch is divine, I wish there some musical equivalent to this, perhaps on bandcamp.” But the best part about sipping this scrumptious peanut-butter-infused nectar? It doesn’t get stuck to the roof of your mouth.

OddSide Ales’ Passion Juice
ABV 6%
Harvested in Grand Haven, Michigan

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These aptly-titled OddSide brew keepers have pollinated a flavor fusion in full blossom. Result: botanical brew that lends more than just a floral aroma. The passion fruit is potent yet pleasant, both in the smell and the taste. A full depth of flavor in this one, including a biscuit mash, though it is light on the malt. Still, a heartier and more refreshing beer than some other flowery ales out there. Sprinkle this little flower into a tulip glass for maximum pollination. And remember to save the bees.

Revolution Brewing’s Rosa
ABV: 5.8%
Pollinated in Chicago

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Another pollinated brew, this one features Hibiscus flowers and a touch of orange peel. This one pours a golden amber, is light in body and delightfully drinkable, especially for an ABV north of 5%. I could go on about the sensual flowers, the delicate arrangement of aromas and the silky-smooth flow of this nectar. But I’ll leave that to you. Enjoy.


Kevin Sterne is a writer and journalist based in Chicago, the editor of LeFawn Magazine. Apart from Shuga Records, he’s written about beer and music for Mash Tun Journal, The Tangential and Substream Magazine. His creative fiction has appeared in Drunk Monkeys, Potluck Mag, Defenestration, Praxis Magazine, Down in the Dirt Magazine, and Word Eater, among many others.

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Twitter: @kevinsterne
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Chicago’s own Pipeworks Brewing Company and Dark Matter Coffee have a threesome with 18th Street Brewery.

Review by: Kevin Sterne

Pipeworks Brewing Company and Dark Matter Coffee are two institutions of experimentation in Chicago, consistently twisting tongues and bending palates with S’mores and Chile flavored lagers and hop-infused roasters, respectfully. The two cross pollinate the other’s nectar on many occasions; DM releases beans aged in Pipeworks barrels during holidays. In turn Pipeworks has brewed several coffee-forward beers: Dark Matter Machine Coffee Cream Ale and Grand Guignol: Act Two Oatmeal Stout.

For their latest sexual intermingling, they invited a third party, 18th Street Brewery. The child of this threesome—Attack of the Devil’s Lettuce, whose name and artwork alone raise expectations as high as a Wicker Park hipster’s brow. ADL is ultra-dank, coffee-infused imperial IPA that leaves the tongue pulsating from so much flavor arousal.

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My tongue felt how my brain does when heavily caffeinated. I was wired to everything. And with so much going on in this beer, the stimulation can be a bit overwhelming. But I’ll break it down in simple terms:

• Look: No filtering leaves this golden child hazy and deep amber.
• Smell: Coffee, Coffee, Coffee. Some hops, a bit of malt. But mostly Coffee, Coffee, Coffee.
• Taste: A tome of flavor. Coffee in the front accented by tones of peppercorn, lemon, orange peel. The Sorachi Ace hops lend intense Earthy flavors, giving the swallow a pucker of vegetables plucked from the soil—maybe lettuce? This makes for a flavor clash that’s difficult to reconcile.
• Feel: Big and bulbous, with noticeable alcohol.
• Overall: The bomber size demands two mouths. Full disclosure: I didn’t finish the whole thing, there too many flavors fighting for attention, making the drink experience more taste chore than drinkation.

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While this three-pronged sexual conquest may have resulted in some tainted birth flued, this is by no means a bad brew. There’s a lot for the tongue to touch, and if you can get your slimy paws on it, pick up the Brain Tentacles and Wild Jesus & The Devil’s Lettuce record to stimulate your audio nodes in conjunction. A droning chamber of bass, sax and metal darkness pulled from the murky pools of Lou Reed’s long ago Berlin. Stir the brew and the tunes in a cauldron and puff on your devil’s lettuce. Now THAT is a sensory orgasm.


Kevin Sterne is a writer and journalist based in Chicago, the editor of LeFawn Magazine. Apart from Shuga Records, he’s written about beer and music for Mash Tun Journal, The Tangential and Substream Magazine. His creative fiction has appeared in Drunk Monkeys, Potluck Mag, Defenestration, Praxis Magazine, Down in the Dirt Magazine, and Word Eater, among many others.

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Twitter: @kevinsterne
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As fun as the idea of a new At the Drive-in album is, I’d rather exist in my Relationship of Command echo chamber…sipping Lagunitas Waldo’s Special Ale

by Kevin Sterne

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17 years is a long time to hang with a feeling. But that’s what this so-called “emo revival” is propped on. Nostalgia is what brought Mike Kinsella devotees out of hiding for a second American Football LP. And why the Internet shuts down over so much as a rustle from Brand New’s camp. The Lonesome, Crowded West. Full Collapse. What it Feels Like to Be Something On. These are pillars of 90’s, lower middleclass suburbanite feelings. Whatever you call it, be emo, post-hardcore or “screamo”—At the Drive-in’s Relationship of Command was the high-water mark for which all subsequent music was weighed against.

No band played with as much cathartic energy, or barely corralled violence (however you want to view Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s relationship with a microphone stand). The El Paso four-piece was in another stratosphere with their sonic intensity, and that’s exactly how the media portrayed them in the ironic quest to commercialize a band that was so sincerely anti-mainstream. When the closest comp at the time was Nirvana’s Nevermind it’s easy to see how At the Drive-in was unlike any band in the 1990’s.

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So how’s the music 17 years later? In•ter a•li•a is a return to familiarity in the same way Saosin’s Along the Shadow of a Man sought to be. It satiates a need for aggressive, post-hardcore without eyeshadow and every song is relentless. Omar Rodriquez Lopez still plays like he’s trying to break his guitar in half, manic and unrestrained (no more clearly than on the song “Continuum”). Bixler-Zavala’s lyrics still land on the spectrum between cryptic and nonsensical: Smuggled in their faith like an orbit in decay // Drools the cloying adulation of piss ants // One shot for every snitch leads the needle to the stitch. The rhythm section is still a raw, stutter-stop conglomeration. There’s even those little interludes of noise following each song.

All the pieces are there. “Incurably Innocent” and “Call Broken Arrow” empty the adrenaline glands just like their predecessors: “Cosmonaut” and “Mannequin Republic.” It’s not a stretch to imagine “Pendulum In A Peasent Dress” tucked between “Sleepwalk Capsules” and “Invalid Litter Dept.”

The band followed their blueprint and delivered an album that checks a lot of musical boxes, but missing is the context of its construction.

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In 1999-2000, Emo/post-hardcore was riding a wave (cresting with “One Armed Scissor”), washing up the sediment of: The face palm that was Y2K; the now tame cluster fuck of the Bush v Gore election; American Beauty; Nu Metal; and Fucking Nu Metal. Relationship of Command held a mirror to the lunacy of Adidas rock, consumerist mall shopping and the tech boom. But In•ter a•li•a cannot deliver the same effect.

This isn’t a failure of its design, it’s a failure of our time. The world we know is beyond satirical in representation. 2017 cannot be pinned down through funhouse lyrics masquerading as a dystopic metanarrative. We are a society numb to nonsense, and few among us have the attention span to decode lines like these: TV’s gonna comm lag, jettison the populace // Disassociation in the belly of the beast // Break the fourth wall, break the fourth wall come on // Lobotomize the question of my infinitude. Bixler-Zavala need look no farther than Jon Mess of Rise Record’s label mate, Dance Gavin Dance for lyrics inundated with sarcasm and misanthropy and cynicism.

With so much to distract us, it would take a post-post-modern version of human centipede with Trump, Kellyanne Conway and Putin in the lead roles for us to unplug from the Zucklord and actually pay attention.

I’ll just live out my remaining days in my Relationship of Command echo chamber.

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Join me in the echo chamber where I’ve befriended The Waldo’s Special Ale. Purportedly the dankest and hoppiest beer Lagunitas rolled. This ale smokes contemporaries in the imperial IPA game. Hyper citrus fruits cover the heavy alcohol—but unlike Dogfish Head’s multi-minute ales or Stones palate ruiner, the Waldo’s creamy caramel and melon finish won’t leave your tongue tasting gravel.

 

Kevin Sterne is a writer and journalist based in Chicago, the editor of LeFawn Magazine. Apart from Shuga Records, he’s written about beer and music for Mash Tun Journal, The Tangential and Substream Magazine. His creative fiction has appeared in Drunk Monkeys, Potluck Mag, Defenestration, Praxis Magazine, Down in the Dirt Magazine, and Word Eater, among many others.

kevinsterne.com
Twitter: @kevinsterne
Instagram: Kevinsterne
Instagram: LeFawnZine

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