Is that big place on North Street toward the west a bit still operating? I can’t recall the name and am not finding it on Google. What’s good in Chicago these days?
What is your geographic region, and was it local or nationally distributed? Not Anchor Porter? I know that one is quite available in a lot of places and was, as I mentioned, the first porter I had.
Originally, the stouts & porters weren’t flavored - a chocolate stout was roasted in a way that makes it taste sort of like chocolate, oyster stouts were (perhaps) meant to pair with oysters. Now it has become the thing to add actual chocolate at some stage in the brewing, or actual oysters (though examples of the latter are fleeting).
I’d prefer a “purer” ingredient list, but Reinheitsgebot is still stupid.
North Avenue? Actually, a little bit north of North on Clybourn? You’re thinking of what was Sam’s Wine and Spirits. They were bought out maybe 10 years back by the other superstore, Binny’s, so they’re now a Binny’s.
What’s good in Chicago? Oh geez, it’s so hard for me to keep track. For drinking, I’ve always been a big fan of Goose Island’s brewpub, which is in the lot over from the Binny’s. They have the widest range of styles and beers on tap of pretty much any brewpub I’ve been to anywhere. Love them. Not a huge fan of the regular 6-pack bottled beers, but love pretty much all their drafts and their specialty bottles and bombers. Unfortunately, it’s closed right now for awhile for renovation.
The typical things I drink here are the Half Acre Daisy Cutter (IPA), their Akiri Shogun (Wheat), The Revolution Anti-Hero (IPA) and Eugene Porter, Metropolitan Brewing’s Krankschaft Kolsch, pretty much anything by Pipeworks if you like double IPAs (try Citra or Ninja vs. Unicorn, Two Brothers Cane & Abel rye. The beers put out by Piece at their restaurant/brewpub are great, too (and so is their pizza. They are as much a pizza place as a beer spot. Get the clam & bacon pizza if you know what’s good for you. They purport to be New Haven style pizza.)
But all of those are pretty much from breweries that have been around at least five years. There’s been just a shit ton of breweries that I’ve lost track or the will to explore. I’m just overwhelmed with all the choices that I try a beer once, and then forget about it. The above are just my regular drinkers. Oh, and the a bunch of things from Lagunitas, now that they have an outpost here, especially their Night Time black ale when I’m in that malty mood.
Yet the variety under that restriction is immense. You’ve got plenty of room for maneuver and variation. There are limited basic ingredient in wine and yet we don’t feel the need to add flavourings to that.
I don’t like “flavoured” beer at all and I reckon it something to do with only really drinking when I eat. When eating the last thing I want is a strong and jarring flavour that clashes with the food so I’ll stick to sparkling water, wine or unflavoured beer.
Having said that, when needing something low in alcohol to quench my thirst and I’m not eating I do occasionally have a grapefruit radler but that’s not a grapefruit beer, that’s the equivalent of a wine spritzer.
I’ve not been able to try either of those you’ve mentioned, but Sinebrychoff’s Porter is an amazing example of the Baltic Porter style. Better than any of the Baltika offerings I’ve had, though I don’t remember if I’ve tried their version of a Baltic Porter. (It’s been awhile, and I remember trying, among other beers from them, something dark and sweet and meh.)
And looking at BA’s listing for Sinebrychoff—which I guess is now a Carlsberg offering, who knew?—there are several porter-types in the ensemble. I’m not sure if I’ve had the Koff or the Porter version. Or maybe Koff is what they call their Porters? Whatever it was, I liked it immensely. Even if it’s a top-fermenting beer, and therefore not like the Baltic Porters you or Silenus mentioned up thread. Probably closer to the IRS style, if not as bitter as good versions of IRS should be.
Bummer that Sinebrychoff (like Tom Hardy’s Ale) requires a trip to Louisiana whenever I want to restock.
IMHO, Alaskan Smoked Porter really does peg the needle for “smoky flavor” in beer, and I’m a fan of Schlenkerla. Frankly, I like ASP with a year or two on it, which I’ve found tones down the smoke a little. Great beer all the same.
I definitely agree with this. I mean, I can understand it back in the day when people were trying to cheapen beer by adding adjuncts or whatever it was that brought about the Reinheitsgebot.
One thing I’ve never understood about it did wheat beers violate this law? I thought the law was to made only of barley, water, and hops. And what about the German gose style that often has coriander and salt in it?
While 95% of what I drink is unflavored, there’s plenty of great beers that have additional ingredients. You have the Belgian fruit lambics, the witbiers with coriander & orange peel, the Belgian abbey ales with their candi sugar, etc. I happen to think a little bit of cherry goes wonderfully in a stout, as well as a bit of coffee. Actual chocolate, I’m not much of a fan of in any of the beers I tried.
And then you have your historical beers that predate hops (gruit beers), stuff flavored with things like spruce needles or heather, or the Finnish sahti which, in addition to being brewed from a mix of grains (including wheat, oats, and barley, in addition to the rye), uses juniper berries as the bittering agent (sometimes with hops.)
It’s beer. Let’s have fun with it!
I live in coastal southern NJ. The nearest Sierra Nevada porter is 30 miles away, according to Google. There is a craft brewery right down the street from my office that makes a decent porter but they don’t open until 5:00 PM on Fridays for “tastings” and I’m home by then.
I am personally a huge fan of the Holy City Pluff Mud Porter. (Thankfully it does not smell like pluff mud.) SC breweries are putting out some very nice beers these days.
I agree also, they taste very different and varied to me. In contrast to the OP, I think it is the IPAs that have little variety and all taste the same to me, since the hoppy/formaldahyde flavor overpowers any of the flavor subtleties.
As we speak, I’m sipping an Epic Brewing Company’s Big Bad Baptista. An American-style Imperial Stout, it’s 11.7%ABV. Not a session stout. Vanilla, cinnamon, coffee notes. A good dessert kind of drink.
I’m not huge into stouts, but I like this one a lot, Old Rasputin: