Road Trip Help

Go to Sam's, the liquor supermarket across the parking lot from Goose Island brewpub.

I believe New Glarus has stopped shipping to Chicagoland, but if you find their 750s of Wisconsin Belgian Red and Raspberry Tart, sample what are arguably the best fruit beers (in the super-fruit division, not the subtle-fruit) in the USA.

Goose Island should also be on your hit list. If they don't ship to Texas, load up with Goose Island and their delightful, citrusy Honker's Ale and IPA.

Might as well visit a Binny's while the OP is at it.

Just the opposite. They've *stopped* shipping to Illinois. New Glarus is concentrating on growing and providing quality beer to the home market first, before expanding again.

That's an a-men.

Uh, Don, Chicagoland is *in* Illinois. And they've stopped shipping there. Not only is that not just the opposite, it's just the same.

Glad I could be of help.

The OP should also look for GI's Oktoberfest which was FFFG in bottles two autumns ago (my last in Chicago). Keep an eye out for Bell's products too.

-Steve

Though there's still plenty of old stock lurking around here & there, so keep it in mind, esp. the Belgian Red.

Being right across from Sam's, this is a natural--stock up on growlers from the brewpub. They've always got something interesting on tap that won't make to bottles.

As for locally brewed stuff, don't miss Two Brothers and Three Floyds. Three Floyds is now bottling their own beer, unpasteurized, unfiltered, at their facility in Munster, IN. MUCH better than the stuff that was being contract brewed by Schell. Look for the bottles with the colorful caps (plain bronze is the contract brew).

For additional recs, check out

--NPD

Y'know, maybe there's something about posting late at night after a session up at the Jolly Roger about which I should be aware. I believe there's a three-letter acronym for it.

Apologies to Alex for agreeing by disagreeing. I won't lie to ya, I was drinkin'.

that is the single biggest understatement I have heard in a loooong time. There is no comparison whatsoever from the Schell stuff to the real thing now being brewed in Munster, which was being crafted while Metallica was cranked up at max levels on my visit in early August. With 9.5% abv Dreadnaught, I thought that was rather appropriate. Word has it that the beer is headed to VA and MD, and maybe even PA, for us East coasters. Oh yeah, they were already bottling Alpha King and Dreadnaught, with the 13% abv Imperial Stout up next. Plans are afoot for a brewpub/restaurant on site also.....Chuck C.

Chuck Cook wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@beerandtravel.com:

Rumor has it Dreadnaught has already landed in Maryland, though haven't seen any of it in VA as of yet. Deeply and passionately awaiting the arrival of Dark Lord.

Am I confused?

That's what I heard was the "nice" explanation. The other rumor was that they didn't like working with the Chicago-area distributor, unilatertally dropeed them, and due to three-tier regulations have to wait for a year before striking a distro deal with another company.

-- Joel Plutchak Boneyard Union of Zymurgical Zealots

"Resorting to personal harassment is a tactic of desperation."

All I've seen so far is the IPA, but I agree most enthusiastically with your assessment. Bottled Three Floyd's beers now actually taste like Three Floyd's beer!

Good tip.

-- Joel Plutchak Boneyard Union of Zymurgical Zealots

"Resorting to personal harassment is a tactic of desperation."

No. I was drinkin'. Nice little session at the Jolly Roger, dry-hopped Islander Pale and Imperial Pale Ale, and ... well, just the opposite. I was confused. (**heh.)

Would like to hear it from the owners' directly, but it wouldn't surprise me. Brewer-distro politics and business relationships can get mighty prickly at times.

Thanks, We get Goose Island here at Flying Saucer.. But will check out the rest..

MB

You want it from the owners directly, eh? Here's from Deb Carey, about April of this year:

"In November I pulled out of Illinois, so we're WI only. It's mostly due to production issues. I hate to sound like I'm whining about this, but we're at

25% growth every year, so we're always ordering tanks. We did 14K bbls. in 2002, and we thought we'd done a big expansion, $500,000, I refinanced the loan, and the whole thing went online in August. I thought we were good, but no fricking way. Our sales in June were up 70%! We were running around trying to make more beer. We've been accused of contracting, but no way. I have no respect for people that do that, sorry. We expanded, expanded, expanded, and we still don't have enough. Every day distributors place their orders and I'm allocating it. Enough! The people in IL are not growing their market the way they should, and it's always "what's in it for me?" Even places where it's just warm shelf placement, they want you to pay for their ads, or their newsletter. I won't! I don't need the headache. I've got people in WI screaming for beer, and they don't need to bribed. So screw it, I'm out of there, and I had the audacity to print it."

I'd say that pretty much covers it. Deb's from Wisconsin, and feels real comfortable there, likes the way people do business there, and sees plenty of growth there. I don't think it's any coincidence that Capital also pulled in their distribution over the past five years. About 75% of their sales are in Wisconsin, and that business is still growing for them.

How's that, then?

I picked some up in Richmond a couple of weeks ago. Yum.

"John" wrote in news:oMKdnVpiF7-Fn snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

Richmond? Richmond? I'm in the DC suburbs, and I'm not getting Dreadnaught yet. I though the big cities always got the good stuff.

Richmond is a really weird case. They have some of the most beer-retarded bars around (with a couple exceptional exceptions, like Capital Ale House), a Southern thing (sorry guys, but it's true), but then they'll come up with something like a surfeit of Unibroue 11. Richmond has more brewpubs than Philadelphia, for example. It's a strange place, beer-wise.

NOOOO!! Really, do yourself a favro andcross the street from Sam's and check out the brewpub-only offerings. You could run into some amazing Belgian-styled concoction, a sahti, an imperial stout that you'll never find outside the brewpub or a beer festival. I frankly think most of their bottled beer isn't very representative of what the GI brewers are capable of (but that's probably best from a marketing standpoint).

--NPD

Ok will do, and my main intent is to pick up as much as I can to bring back to my German Stein Club here for weekend tasting..

Thanks all MB

Beauty. Suggests both theories could be right.

-- Joel Plutchak Boneyard Union of Zymurgical Zealots

"Resorting to personal harassment is a tactic of desperation."

Yes, except Deb was particularly pissed at the retailers, which is NOT the usual complaint I hear from brewers. They're almost always bitching about wholesalers, which she didn't really have much to say about. Kind of odd, actually.