07/14/17 - Day 102 - Chicago, IL - Goose Island Tour
Booked a tasting tour of the Goose Island Brewery in Chicago. Goose Island began as a brewpub in the Lincoln Park neighborhood named after an island in the north branch of the Chicago River. The brewery opened in 1995 and the company was purchased by Anheuser Busch in 2011. They make a couple of my favorite beers, the Honker's Ale and Goose IPA which are widely available around the country.
The tour started off as pretty standard, with a look at the production facility and fermentation tanks.
A little more interesting was the bottling line, which was operating while we were visiting.
Better still was the barrel aging room where we sampled several varieties that weren't available to he public yet. One was an attempt to recreate an 17th century English ale using the ingredients and technology available at the time. It was a labor of love that made no economic sense but was driven by brew master's interest in the history of beer. The guide admitted that what we were tasting would probably never be available to anyone else because 1) it was a total pain in the ass to produce and 2) the flavor was not in line with what we're used to associated with modern beer. It was kind of like mix of unfiltered wheat beer and sour wine, not something I would have wanted a full pint of.
The adjoining tap house was pretty lively, and i picked up a souvenir for the trip.
On the way out I noticed someone's ingenuity for deterring potential bike theives from an easy mark.
The tour started off as pretty standard, with a look at the production facility and fermentation tanks.
A little more interesting was the bottling line, which was operating while we were visiting.
Better still was the barrel aging room where we sampled several varieties that weren't available to he public yet. One was an attempt to recreate an 17th century English ale using the ingredients and technology available at the time. It was a labor of love that made no economic sense but was driven by brew master's interest in the history of beer. The guide admitted that what we were tasting would probably never be available to anyone else because 1) it was a total pain in the ass to produce and 2) the flavor was not in line with what we're used to associated with modern beer. It was kind of like mix of unfiltered wheat beer and sour wine, not something I would have wanted a full pint of.
The adjoining tap house was pretty lively, and i picked up a souvenir for the trip.
On the way out I noticed someone's ingenuity for deterring potential bike theives from an easy mark.
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