Revolution Fist City Review

Name: Revolution Fist City
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.5
IBUs: 40

Next beer in my Chicago beer mail comes from Revolution Brewing, a brewery which I have heard of before and recall having one of their beers at Cheesie's a couple years back. As to which beer it was, I do not know since I had not yet discovered the awesomeness that is Untappd.

For this review, I've got their weirdly named Fist City, which is an American Pale Ale. I'm guessing the name is to keep in line with their anarchy image and since a fist is used in a lot of their beer can artwork, I guess it makes sense. Or they could be fans of Loretta Lynn, who happens to have a chart topping song called Fist City (Yes that's true, Google it if you don't believe me.) Still though, I'm not sure if that would've been my first choice of a name but who am I to judge?

Appearance - Fairly hazy dark yellow color with a moderate amount of visible carbonation. The head is pretty foamy and has some decent retention for the most part and the lacing is pretty good as well with a medium amount left behind.

Aroma - Citrus & grapefruit notes with a slight hint of pineiness mixed in with a light toffee malt scent. For an APA, it smells surprisingly sweet.

Taste - Citrus hops with some light floral hoppiness that are almost herb-like in quality. I am getting a slight resin kick on the front of the tongue too. The latter half of the flavor is where I am starting to pick up on some yeastiness & that somewhat heavy toffee malt backbone; Although I am getting some stronger bitter hoppiness in the back as well.

I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to call this an IPA or an APA. On one hand, it doesn't quite have that hop-omph that IPAs possess but at the same time, it doesn't quite have that strong yeasty/malty flavor element to make it an APA. Either way you look at it, you're getting a great beer and one that's worth check out.

Revolution Fist City - 8.5/10

Goose Island The Muddy Review

Name: Goose Island The Muddy
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 9.0

I've got a new release from Goose Island Brewing and it's the third release that I'll be having in the "The" Series. It's the name I've given to the limited release series that Goose Island has been releasing recently. First came The Illinois, an Imperial IPA named after Frank Lloyd Wright's conceptual mile high skyscraper that would've been built in downtown Chicago. Then came The Ogden, a Tripel which is  named after William Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago.

The newest addition to the series is The Muddy, an Imperial Stout that gets it's name from Muddy Waters, who is responsible for the creation of the Chicago Blues scene, which first rose to prominence in the first half of the 20th Century. According to the bottle, this is is brewed with licorice.

The Muddy pours a pitch black color with some high visible carbonation. The head takes on a thin khaki appearance along with some sparse lacing.

The nose starts out with rather strong roastiness with chocolate malts, dark licorice and light vanilla notes. With the exception of the light vanilla, this is a very dark & roasty smelling beer and the licorice and roasted barley work in conjunction with the chocolate malts to make this possible.

Sure enough, that dark and roasty aspect carries over into the flavor. It starts out with a strong roasted barley taste which is followed up by some chocolate malts & dark licorice before being topped off with a bitter hop aftertaste.

The body is quite hefty and the carbonation is pretty moderate. It also possesses some thickness so it does feel a bit chewy.

The Muddy is a nice, dark and roasty Imperial Stout that is sure to please fans of the style. However like The Ogden before it, the asking price is a bit high when you consider that it only comes in a 4-pack, which is around $15 before taxes in my area. My advice would be to do what I did and buy a single bottle and try it out before deciding if a 4-pack is worth the price of admission.

Goose Island The Muddy - 8.5/10

Une Annee Austere Review

Name: Une Année Austere
Style: Saison
ABV: 6.5%

Tonight I've got a beer from a new brewery called Une Année (French for One Year), based out of Chicago, IL. What makes Une Année so unique is that they're an American Brewery dedicated to making traditional Belgian & French styles of beer. Going from the information on their website, they've been open since 2012, which makes me wonder why I didn't hear about this place while I was living in Chicago.

Recently Une Année became available in my area, so I've decided to take a look at Austere, one of their four Saison offerings, which in this case is their traditional Saison. I'm curious to see how this turns out so let's try this out.

Austere pours a hazy yellow color with a very foamy head. The lacing retention is quite high and the visible carbonation is moderate to high.

The nose starts off with a sweet lemongrass scent, with some pale-pilsner malts, floral hops and some Belgian yeasts.

Flavor has some strong Belgian yeast esters and cloves on the front of the palate which are backed up by some floral hops, lemongrass and pale malts. The aftertaste is a mix of pale malts, floral hops and cloves.

The body is fairly surprisingly heavy with some moderate carbonation, which gives the beer a bit of depth. Aside from the heavy body, the palate is fairly typical of that from a Saison.

I was quite impressed with Austere and how true it stays to its Belgian roots and I think Une Année nailed it! Had I not known this was made in Chicago, I would've assumed it was imported from Wallonia itself. When it comes to traditional Saisons, this is probably the closest you're going to get without having to travel across the Atlantic. Anyone who has the opportunity to buy this would be wise to check this out.

Une Année Austere - 9.25/10