South Chicago Suburbs

Another weekend of homebrew judging sent us to the South Chicago suburbs and a couple brewpubs prior to the event.  First stop was the Three Floyds Brewing Company in Munster, IN  http://www.3floyds.com/ under normal conditions a three hour drive.  Upon arrival around 11:30 a.m. the parking lot was already full and we had to park on the street.  Currently they are doing some remodeling and have limited service for their beers.  However, they still have 20 tap beers for the offering.  

The taps run from session beers to high octane IIPAs and barley wines.  Of course the year round beers are on tap, but also a bunch of seasonal as well.  Between the four of us we tried 12 of the 20 tap beers, ranging from several ESBs to IIPAs.  My first beer was Das Kleine Schwarz Einhorn a wonderful Schwartz beer.  Black in color but light in taste, probably one of the best Schwartz beers I have had recently.  A proper Schwartz is dark, malty and refreshingly hoppy.   My next beer was Lord Admiral Nelson a good traditional ESB.  My last beer was Zombie Dust; I am now a new convert to this beer.  This is an outstanding IPA. I think it supplanted Arrogant Bastard as my favorite beer.  It has a strong hop presence with a strong malt backbone.  Even though the hops are featured in the beer it is well balanced making it very drinkable.  Now if someone asks which IPA to have, I will mention Zombie Dust first.

 Among our group we also tried the Lawless ESB, Stygian Darkness, Jinx Proof, Arctic Panzer Wolf,  Mushy P and Brian Boru the few that I remember.  The tap list can be seen at http://www.3floyds.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/current-beer-menu1.htm.  Every beer we had was at worst good if not great.   After our visit I understand why they have such a cult following for their beer.  Unfortunately we were a bit early for Dark Lord, but we still enjoyed the visit.  If you find yourself within an hour of Three Floyds make the detour and enjoy the beers you can only find at the brewery.    With beer requests to bring home the four of us left with over $200 of packaged beer for friends and ourselves.

Next stop was Flossmoor Station Restaurant and Brewery in Flossmoor, IL http://www.flossmoorstation.com/.   This is a great location in downtown Flossmoor in the old train depot next to a current train station stop.  Our group has all been to Flossmoor previously and we were not disappointed with our return visit.  We found seats at the bar and promptly ordered a sampler of their beers, which entailed a total of 16 different beers. Here is a link to the beer selections: http://www.flossmoorstation.com/brew/selections.htm.  Some of my favorites include Panama Limited Red Ale, Pullman Brown Ale (of course since this is their flagship beer), Intercontinental Pale Lager, Smoked Porter and Wallonian Saison.   The IPL was smooth, refreshing and hoppy.  The porter had a noticeable strong smokiness that I loved.  The saison was dangerously smooth and refreshing, this is not a session beer.  Flossmoor is a worthy stop all by itself.  They have great beer and a good food menu.  Another good thing was that we happened to be there at the correct time and we able to partake in a happy hour food bar.  We also we able to picked up some growlers to go of our favorite beers.

At the hotel we enjoyed a growler of the IPL and watched some NCAA tournament basketball.  It was an early night for all of us since three of the four of us had a judging event on Saturday.  The beer judging contest was very enjoyable, and our friends that we were with won some ribbons including the Best of Show Mead.    
 All in all it was another great weekend of beer.

QC Beerguy