All Beer Blog

Capital Brewery: Island Wheat

Capital Brewery is a Wisconsin brewery located in Middleton, just outside Madison, the capital of the state and making it yet another Midwest beer. They have been in production since 1986 and offer about 20 different beers. According to their website, “Capital Brewery was named the #1 Brewery in America at the 1998 Beverage Testing Institute’s World Beer Championships in Chicago, IL.” Pretty nice award, I can’t comment on it since I have only had one of their beers.

Island Wheat was a pretty good wheat beer, not unlike all others. Apparently it is made with wheat grown on Wisconsin’s Washington Island (hence the name). It poured a hazy yellow color with a pretty nice head. The smell was of wheat and hints of yeast or grains along with some citrus. The taste was the same with added floral characteristics, from what I don’t know.

As you can see, the head is pretty prolific for a lighter beer. It is very white and there is a good mixture of large and small bubbles. The lacing on the side of the glass was minimal. The head receded quite quickly and reduced itself to nothing.

All in all, I give this beer a 7/10! It was pretty good but it was too similar in comparison to most other wheat beers; it wanted to be more but ended up being the same. I think I bought this at my local liquor store, it is probably easy to find throughout the Chicagoland. If you like wheat beers, give it a try!

Regards!

Leżajsk Beer

Leżajsk is another Polish beer. I couldn’t find much information about this beer other than it is named after a small town in southeastern Poland. The brewery is located in the town and it is a very small operation. They don’t even have a website, but they do have a Facebook. I bought a four pack of 500ml bottles at a Polish deli on the Northwest Side, Gene’s Deli and Shop (Belmont/Long), they have a lot of imported beers.. If you haven’t been to or heard of this deli, I suggest you go; you won’t be disappointed, they have every possible Polish food product you could want (especially sausage)! Go with a Polish speaker otherwise you won’t be able to communicate very well.

Back to the beer, it was pretty average. Nothing special, but I will say that it was quite refreshing because it was the first hot day here in Chicago in a while. As you can see, it poured a somewhat hazy gold-colored lager. The smell was like most Polish beers, some grains and malt were present. It tasted the same, surprisingly very light. At 5.5% alc/vol, it didn’t taste bad because of alcohol content. I mentioned I bought it at a Polish deli, I also bought some Kielbasa Wiejska. It went great with the sausage.

You can see it poured a pretty nice head, very white and a good mixture of small and large bubbles. It lasted a few minutes and dissipated to a very thin layer on top of the beer, which didn’t stick around. Like I mentioned earlier, this beer was lighter than it appears, this allowed me to drink a couple 500ml bottles.

All in all I give this beer a 7/10! It was definitely not the best beer I’ve ever had but if you are looking for something not out of the ordinary, try Leżajsk. It was rather light and had a pleasant taste that sat well in my stomach. Not a bad beer rating but you could choose to drink something a little more flavorful. I also suggest you drink it while eating some Polish food, specifically Kielbasa Wiejska.

Regards!

Na Zdrowie!

Barley Island Brewing Company: Brass Knuckles Oatmeal Stout

Barley Island Brewing Company is another brewery located in Indiana. I couldn’t find that much information on the history of the brewery itself but from their website I gathered that they have a brewpub and about 10 beers they brew, they alternate which beers are on tap at their brewpub seasonally. Apparently they are the only brewpub in Hamilton County, Indiana. They state that the name Barley Island comes from an old 17th century name for the room in an alehouse that beer is consumed. Neat.

Brass Knuckles Oatmeal Stout was pretty good. I am starting to really like stouts and this is the first one I have chosen to review. As you can see the appearance is very dark; you can’t see through the beer at all. The smell was that of roasted malty chocolate and a little hint of oatmeal. Chocolate was definitely the dominant smell. The taste was the same, definitely tasted roasted chocolate. With an alcohol content of 4.9% alc/vol is was hard to taste; the beer itself is what you taste, not alcohol.

The head, as you can see, was not very large. It poured a darker, seemingly chocolately head. This dissapated to a thin layer that stuck around until the beer was fininshed. For a stout, this was not as heavy as I thought it was going to be and sat well in my stomach.

All in all, I give this beer a 7/10! It wasn’t the best stout I’ve ever had but it was definitely something you should try if you are interested in stouts. It wasn’t as heavy as others so it would probably be a good starter to see if you have the taste for stouts. I bought this beer in Indiana and have never seen it anywhere in Illinois (or anywhere else for that matter), so if you want it you will probably have to go to the source.

Regards!

Two Brothers Brewing Company: The Bitter End Pale Ale

Two Brothers Brewing Company is a local microbrewery located just west of Chicago in Warrenville, IL. Another great Midwest beer! According to their site, the two brothers, Jim and Jason Ebel, have been brewing beer since 1997. They have year round beers, some seasonal ones and some extra special beers they call artisan beers; all together they have around 10-20 different beers. They have a brewery, a restaurant and a pub. They offer tours of their brewery and extremely reasonable prices at their pub, so I’ve heard.

I’ve heard their beers were good and decided to try one, The Bitter End Pale Ale was a great beer! The appearance was that of a clear, slightly dark copper color. It smelled a bit sweet, noticeable hops. I got hints of some citrus in there as well. The taste was a little different than the smell, it was bitter. You can taste the hops and the citrus, ended up being more bitter though. Was crisp and left you with a nice taste in your mouth, very good! It’s 5.1% alc/vol so it wasn’t strong enough to taste the alcohol, to me, it was just right!

You can see the head was pretty noticeable, dissipated after I poured it. Resulted in a little coat over the beer. You can also see how the lacing formed right after I poured it, this also stayed the entire time I was drinking the beer.

All in all, I give this beer a 9/10! Two Brothers Brewing Company is quickly becoming one of my favorite breweries. Having just tried this beer, I can guarantee you will see another one of their beers on here real soon! I suggest you try this beer, if you like pale ales it is a real treat! All around good beer.

Regards!

Upland Brewing Company: Wheat Ale

Upland Brewing Company is a local brewery located in Indiana. It is my second post of an Upland Brewing Company beer. If you are looking for a short history of Upland Brewery refer to the Upland Dragonfly post. Upland Brewing Company has become my favorite American craft brewery and it’s nice because it is located right in Indiana, but for some reason I can’t find any in Chicago. Midwest beer seems to be the best!

This beer, as you can see, pours a great clear, golden color with a small head. It smells of lemon and wheat. Smell is more fruity and sweet than anything. The taste is the same, some wheat but more lemon than anything. It is quite refreshing. It sits well in your stomach and makes you want to drink more. The carbonation is great, very fizzy. Wheat Ale is 4.5% alc/vol.

The head is minimal. It only appears for a few moments after the beer is poured into a glass, then dissipates. There is minimal lacing on the side of the glass. Like I mentioned earlier, the carbonation is great; it fizzes in your mouth. You can see that there are more larger bubbles than small, more carbonation.

All in all, I give this beer a 7/10! It was very refreshing, a wheat beer you’d want to drink on a hot summer day if it was ice cold. I had this beer over dinner, went great with a steak! If you are ever in Indiana I would definitely suggest finding some of Upland’s beers. If not the Wheat Ale, try another one, I can almost guarantee you will like it and will most likely have more than one!

Regards!