ABV Chicago Craft Beer Podcast

Apr 16 2025 591 ep. 78 mins 688

ABV Chicago Craft Beer Podcast artwork

A Chicago-based craft beer podcast with beer and events reviews. Visit our website at www.abvchicago.com!

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Episode 584 - Helles Lagers

Apr 16 2025 73 mins

We’re taking another style deep dive ABV-style with the pride of Munich: the Helles Lager. We try a German classic before exploring four local interpretations of the unfussy easy-drinking style, but as always, it’s the variations that make it interesting. Also, Ryan is in desperate need of some Inception Pants, Craig won’t even stand up for fewer than three decoctions, and we

Episode 583 - A Progression of Adjuncts

Apr 09 2025 76 mins

Adding non-essential components to a brew - ingredients sometimes referred to as adjuncts - can evoke strong dessert flavors and even a heavy dose of nostalgia. But does adding more and more adjuncts actually make a beer better? We test it out on this episode by drinking four barrel-aged stouts, with each successive beer adding one more flavor component over the previous. Premise!

Episode 582 - A Progression of Barrels

Apr 02 2025 108 mins

A decade ago, if a beer spent a few months in a single bourbon barrel, its release would cause fanfare amongst craft beer obsessives. These days, beers are blended from an increasing number of different barrels for extended periods of time, so we decided to sample beers that represent an increasing number of different barrels to see if more barrels actually means better results. To

Episode 581 - Doppelbocks

Mar 26 2025 77 mins

Whether you’re preparing for a fast or a feast, Doppelbocks are the German-born strong lagers you need if “liquid bread” is what you seek. We explore this style with one German version and four from Chicagoland to fine tune our expectations and enhance our overall appreciation of this malty wonder. Also, Craig gives sound advice to help Ryan navigate his children’s interest

Episode 580 - Cellar West, Chapter 3

Mar 19 2025 69 mins

It’s been about two years since we last checked in with one of our favorite small breweries in America, and this lineup of five from Lafayette, Colorado’s Cellar West is a real flavor ride. We talk about the medal-winning beers sent courtesy of founder Zach Nichols while trying to narrow down which we’d most like off of their cask engine. Also, Ryan’s developing a habit of

Episode 579 - Local & Historical

Mar 12 2025 87 mins

We get unreasonably excited when local breweries make historical and international styles that are infrequently brewed, so we jumped at the opportunity to bring five examples together. These suburban Chicago beers serve as tributes to centuries of brewing across three different countries, and we couldn’t be happier about the results. We dive into the history and stories of these

Episode 578 - Werk Force Brewing

Mar 05 2025 151 mins

Amanda and Brandon Wright of Werk Force Brewing have been in business out in Plainfield for over a decade, but their story and influence goes far beyond that. We spend a good long time talking with the Wrights and sampling through a lineup of their excellent beers, from lagers to IPAs to barrel-aged stouts. Just some of the topics we cover include accepting the inevitability of fla

Episode 577 - Hop Roundup: Winter ‘25

Feb 26 2025 69 mins

We love hoppy beers, and truthfully, we need to find an excuse to try more local releases that catch our attention. Introducing the Hop Roundup: a quarterly series of episodes focused on notable hoppy releases in a general timeframe. For this Winter 2025 edition, we have a brand new brewery with a resurgent style; a fresh year-round from local legends; a collab “reverse” contin

Episode 576 - The UT Show

Feb 19 2025 78 mins

We’re going behind the curtain for our 36th state show, as listener Jeremy hooked us up with five beers from Utah. The beers represent a pretty wide variety and offer a few real standouts as we try and make sense of some pretty…interesting beer laws. Also, there’s valuable jorts advice, heavy eye-contact cocktails, barrel-aged flashbacks, and a genuine French ending. Who says

Episode 575 - Deep Wood: Now and Later

Feb 12 2025 76 mins

To close out the 2024-2025 Deep Wood release lineup, Revolution somehow finds a way to do some new things with barleywine while retaining the spirit of their barrel program we’ve all come to know and love. It’s all about interesting woods here (and a little help from some friends) as we’ve hardly been so happy about experiencing the barleywobbles. Also, Craig’s sweet stock