wacky1980 Posted September 26, 2018 Share Posted September 26, 2018 living in the middle of ass crack illinois gives one little opportunity to visit breweries (unless you want to tour anheuser busch...again). wife and i have been mulling a weekend trip to hit up several central-IL breweries to pick up products for resale in our bar. looks like we're finally gonna do it this saturday. our itinerary so far includes five springfield-area stops: hand of fate rolling meadows engrained buzz bomb anvil & forge hand of fate is probably the most commercially-successful one on the list. we've served their 1818 farmhouse ale in the past, but they don't have distribution for anything else so we have to go to them to get some. anvil & forge is technically not even open yet, but i have an in with the ownership and i'm gonna try to finagle a keg or some package out of them. they make some really good beers, so as long as they're not terribly overpriced, i'll try to come home with a lot of their stuff. i've never tried anything from the other three, so that should be fun. -------- illinois area users: what is your favorite local brewery / beer? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnight Posted September 26, 2018 Share Posted September 26, 2018 Can't give a favorite, as we are not near that area, but that sounds like a cool weekend trip. I have only ever toured one brewery and that was Moon River Brewery in Savannah. Got some good beer. Got to see where they make it. Got to look for ghosts, as their brewery is allegedly haunted, as most places in Savannah are. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wacky1980 Posted September 26, 2018 Author Share Posted September 26, 2018 anheuser-busch is impressive, don't get me wrong. you get to see the stables where they keep the clydesdales, and the 3-story stainless vessels are definitely a sight. the bottling building is stupid big. but it's just way too corporate and you don't really get much in the way of good beer on the tour. i enjoy the garage-size breweries because they're just more personal and creative. there are several about 2 hours east of here, but absolutely nothing withing about 75 miles of us. that's bound to change soon enough, because everyone and their cousin is opening a nanobrewery these days. hell, we've kicked around the idea if we could snag a building next to our bar. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnight Posted September 26, 2018 Share Posted September 26, 2018 3 minutes ago, wacky1980 said: anheuser-busch is impressive, don't get me wrong. you get to see the stables where they keep the clydesdales, and the 3-story stainless vessels are definitely a sight. the bottling building is stupid big. but it's just way too corporate and you don't really get much in the way of good beer on the tour. i enjoy the garage-size breweries because they're just more personal and creative. there are several about 2 hours east of here, but absolutely nothing withing about 75 miles of us. that's bound to change soon enough, because everyone and their cousin is opening a nanobrewery these days. hell, we've kicked around the idea if we could snag a building next to our bar. That's how Moon River is. The basement is where they brew. The ground level is the bar, which serves all kinds of beer, but they sell more of their own than anything else. They have about 3 more levels above, which are used for storage. Except maybe the top level, which is in need of repair. This building is pre-Civil War. They are a single location operation. I could drink one right now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wacky1980 Posted September 26, 2018 Author Share Posted September 26, 2018 rolling meadows is actually a farm, from what i've read on them. the other four are all small operations contained to one or two storefront-size buildings. i went to what was definitely the smallest brewery i've ever seen, the brickside brewery up in copper harbor michigan, about three years ago. i'm pretty sure the brewery and the taproom combined were <2000 sqft. and they made some fucking delicious dark beers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnight Posted September 26, 2018 Share Posted September 26, 2018 i very much want to dabble in this. how awesome would it be to perfectly craft your own beer? as i have said before, i dont drink, but i will have a cold beer while cutting grass, or doing outside chores. i haven't found many domestic brews that i like. there are several imports i am fond of, but not many domestic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wacky1980 Posted September 26, 2018 Author Share Posted September 26, 2018 i've made a couple that i can honestly say i'm proud of. most of what we've made came from other people's recipes, but having a good recipe doesn't guarantee quality. my sabro ipa (my own recipe) turned out pretty good. that one's going in my rotation for sure, if/when i start doing it professionally. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnight Posted September 26, 2018 Share Posted September 26, 2018 i have never had ''homemade'' brew. my tattoo artist does it, but he moved from here, to colorado, and i never got to try it. i want to try some, maybe id have a different opinion about domestic brews. because it doesnt get much more domestic than brewing your own. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wacky1980 Posted September 26, 2018 Author Share Posted September 26, 2018 i'll send you a sixer next time i get the chance. got a preference on style? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnight Posted September 26, 2018 Share Posted September 26, 2018 i do not. and thank you. that would be awesome. disco will be thrilled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wacky1980 Posted September 26, 2018 Author Share Posted September 26, 2018 Just now, midnight said: i do not. and thank you. that would be awesome. disco will be thrilled. i'll let you know when i get a few beers scraped together to send out there. we'll figure out the details then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnight Posted September 26, 2018 Share Posted September 26, 2018 2 minutes ago, wacky1980 said: i'll let you know when i get a few beers scraped together to send out there. we'll figure out the details then. sounds awesome to me! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue_Alphonse Posted September 26, 2018 Share Posted September 26, 2018 2 hours ago, wacky1980 said: living in the middle of ass crack illinois gives one little opportunity to visit breweries (unless you want to tour anheuser busch...again). wife and i have been mulling a weekend trip to hit up several central-IL breweries to pick up products for resale in our bar. looks like we're finally gonna do it this saturday. our itinerary so far includes five springfield-area stops: hand of fate rolling meadows engrained buzz bomb anvil & forge hand of fate is probably the most commercially-successful one on the list. we've served their 1818 farmhouse ale in the past, but they don't have distribution for anything else so we have to go to them to get some. anvil & forge is technically not even open yet, but i have an in with the ownership and i'm gonna try to finagle a keg or some package out of them. they make some really good beers, so as long as they're not terribly overpriced, i'll try to come home with a lot of their stuff. i've never tried anything from the other three, so that should be fun. -------- illinois area users: what is your favorite local brewery / beer? Local to me where I used to live covers some of Delaware... I haven't had much oppotunity to sniff around up here in RI yet. That being said: Obviously Dogfish Head 16 Mile Seven Gates Sly Fox and there are probably a couple I am missing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsar4 Posted September 26, 2018 Share Posted September 26, 2018 3 hours ago, wacky1980 said: living in the middle of ass crack illinois gives one little opportunity to visit breweries (unless you want to tour anheuser busch...again). wife and i have been mulling a weekend trip to hit up several central-IL breweries to pick up products for resale in our bar. looks like we're finally gonna do it this saturday. our itinerary so far includes five springfield-area stops: hand of fate rolling meadows engrained buzz bomb anvil & forge hand of fate is probably the most commercially-successful one on the list. we've served their 1818 farmhouse ale in the past, but they don't have distribution for anything else so we have to go to them to get some. anvil & forge is technically not even open yet, but i have an in with the ownership and i'm gonna try to finagle a keg or some package out of them. they make some really good beers, so as long as they're not terribly overpriced, i'll try to come home with a lot of their stuff. i've never tried anything from the other three, so that should be fun. -------- illinois area users: what is your favorite local brewery / beer? 11 Not really a beer fan. I'm sure there's some local brand that I've had that I liked, probably something from Goose Island (which I used to drive on my way to work). Couldn't drive through a neighborhood without seeing an old "Tied House" for Schlitz somewhere along the drive. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wacky1980 Posted September 27, 2018 Author Share Posted September 27, 2018 1 hour ago, Rogue߷Alphonse said: Local to me where I used to live covers some of Delaware... I haven't had much oppotunity to sniff around up here in RI yet. That being said: Obviously Dogfish Head 16 Mile Seven Gates Sly Fox and there are probably a couple I am missing. yeah, obv dogfish head. i've heard people talk about sly fox. i follow a lady on twitter who is a maine-based beer ... blogger? i guess. but she's pretty awesome and seems to know quite a bit about the NE beer scene. i'll have to block off a whole week to check out that corner of the map. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wacky1980 Posted September 27, 2018 Author Share Posted September 27, 2018 1 hour ago, tsar4 said: Not really a beer fan. I'm sure there's some local brand that I've had that I liked, probably something from Goose Island (which I used to drive on my way to work). Couldn't drive through a neighborhood without seeing an old "Tied House" for Schlitz somewhere along the drive. chicago has boat loads of micros at this point. there's a bar about an hour from here, where one of the owners makes regular trips up to chicago to pick up kegs from all the popular micros to tap down here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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