Goose Island Pere Jacques Review

Name: Goose Island Pere Jacques
Style: Dubbel
ABV: 8.7%

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all had some fun last night and stayed out of trouble; If so, you are already off to a great start. To kick off a brand new year, we're going to review another beer from Keyport's Growler fill station: Goose Island Pere Jacques.

I have been looking for different ways to review beer because it's mainly been cans and bottles. So you could say my New Year's resolution is to review more growler-based beer and that's a resolution we can all get behind.

Pere Jacques pours a ruby orange color with a very fizzy brown head, and no lacing. The carbonation also has a very mild appearance.

The nose has some licorice notes with hints of caramel malts, plums/dark fruits, orange peel, citrus hops and toffee. Pretty malty smelling as far as Dubbels go.

The flavor is a bit more citrus focused than the aroma. I'm getting citrus hops, plums, licorice, and caramel. It's worth pointing out that it doesn't taste as robust as the nose leads you to believe.

It's got a pretty heavy body paired with some lightly carbonation. It doesn't quite give it a creamy feel but it's fairly easy to drink.

While it gives a great first impression and despite having a decent taste, the flavor leaves something more to be desired. I feel that with a bit more robust flavor, this would be a fantastic Dubbel.

Goose Island Pere Jacques - 7.5/10

Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Review

Name: Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale

Style: Wheat Beer

ABV: 4.2%

Goose Island Brewing loves to make it known that they are a Chicago-based brewery, despite contract brewing some of their highest selling beers out of state though they still continue to operate in Chicago and continue to make beers in their original location.

For those who are not familiar with Chicago, 312 is the area code which the city uses and is used by the majority of residents in Cook County. It's either that or 773, which is used primarily in the surrounding suburbs and/or counties.

While it bears the area code in which I once resided, it doesn't remind me of Chicago as much as Honker's Ale does. In any case, let's take a look.

It starts off with a hazy yellow color with a soapy head, with a high amount of carbonation and decent lacing along the sides of the glass.

The aroma has a strong cereal grain scent with wheat, pale malts, grassiness, slight floral hop notes and some mild skunkiness.

The taste is mostly cereal grains, pale malts, some slight wheat notes and mild earthiness. The hops present in the nose are nowhere to be seen here. Aftertaste is a mixture of grains and pale malt sweetness. Tastes more like an adjunct lager than a wheat beer, in my opinion.

Body feels a bit heavy with some rather strong carbonation. Doesn't feel all that good considering the flavor.

If you're looking for a good wheat, this one will disappoint you in almost every way because it tastes more like a Bud than a Wheat Beer.

Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat - 4/10

Goose Island 25th Anniversary ESB Review

Name: Goose Island 25th Anniversary ESB
Style: English Special Bitter
ABV: 6.4%

It would appear that many major breweries around the country right now are celebrating their 25th year in business and Goose Island Brewing is no exception to this. So to celebrate, they have released an ESB (English Special Bitter) to mark the occasion. Most beers in this category tend to be in the mid 5% ABV range; This one comes in at 6.4%. Also unlike Honker's Ale, which is now contract brewed out of Fort Collins, CO thanks to the purchase by AB-InBev, this one appears to be brewed right in The Windy City.

25th Anniversary pours a clear orange color with a foamy white head. The lacing initially appears to be somewhat lacking but it does leave behind a rather abundant amount. There's also some mild carbonation visible here as well.

The nose is fairly citra-hop forward with some caramelized malts, grapefruits, and some yeastiness. For an ESB, it's rather hoppy & fruity with all things considered.

It's got a mildly bitter piney hop taste upfront along with some citrus hops, roasted barley and grapefruit notes. There's also some mild malty & biscuit/yeasty flavor in here, but it's overshadowed by the hop and fruity notes.

The body has some weight to it and the carbonation is in the middle in terms of intensity, which allows you to take in those extra flavors.

For an ESB, it's very hoppy. As such, it does feel a bit imbalanced because of the sheer hoppiness which makes it a bit harder to recommend. Still it's a pretty good beer but not exactly one that I would go out of my way to try again.

Goose Island 25th Anniversary ESB - 7.5/10

Goose Island Honker's Ale Review

Name: Goose Island Honker's Ale
Style: English Bitter
ABV: 4.3%

Goose Island Brewing brings back a flood of memories for myself when I lived in Chicago. No matter where you went in The Windy City, you could find this beer (amongst many others) at pretty much any bar and restaurant in the Chicagoland area. In fact, for quality purposes, I would recommend reading this review while listening to the song below because Chicago is a pretty awesome place plus this song, like the beer, reminds me of Chicago.

I remember having this very beer for the first time at Giordano's along Rush Street about a block from Michigan Ave. We were waiting for our deep dish pizza to finish up when a buddy of mine recommended that we have a beer while we wait and Honker's Ale was his recommendation. I thought it was pretty good at the time and we ended up having a couple more pints to go along with our meal.

But there is however a bittersweet anecdote to all of this. You see Goose Island was bought out by AB-InBev in 2011 and while I personally don't think it's hurt the overall quality of the products, Honker's Ale is now contract brewed out of Fort Collins, CO but their more specialty beers like Bourbon County and Pepe Nero are still brewed in Chicago at least to my understanding.

Honker's Ale pours a copper color with an amber hue and a slight hazy appearance. There is a high amount of carbonation and a semi-foamy head.

The nose has a semi-pungent yeast and bready scent with a slight floral hop aroma and some pale malts to go along with it.

Like-wise the flavor is fairly comparable to that of the aroma but with a slightly more profound yeasty/biscuity notes.

The body is moderately carbonated which slowly subsides and it's a pretty light weighted beer. It also has a pretty crisp and refreshing feel to it, adding to the overall drinkability.

This is by no means a complex tasting beer, but it manages to still be a good one. It's one of those beers that's perfect for any occasion and I'm happy to say that despite the InBev purchase, this still is as good as I remember it. Like the label says: You'll look forward to it time and time again!

Goose Island Honker's Ale - 8/10