Revolution Brewing (2020)

Whatever the vanilla stout was called, has kicked.

If anyone got one too many pours of it, let me know...

 

Next to no line for cans right now, I waited less than 10 minutes. But now the wait for Deep Woods 2020-2021 is going to feel like forever....

 

I know I just lined up for next year...

 

Interesting. My buddy who just left said the line to get in the tap room is loooong right now. One in, one out due to fire code.

My friends and I decided to stay home and not run the gauntlet based on the weather forecast. Especially since Rev team let him grab my cans for me. Having X, Cuvee, VSOJ, and DB VSOJ Cherry Rye all on tap right now in town made that an even easier choice today. The fact that I could get them at half price pours for happy hour? Well, humble brag it is for me tonight!

 

Where is the VSOJ on tap at?

 

@flat_lander forgot to fill in the blanks on a few things: he's two hours away in Champaign making the weather a big factor for him AND he's a good dude so he was able to get a local buddy to grab his cans AND he's probably at the same damn place that had the Rev Preview Night last night in Champaign, and he's drinking all the damn leftovers. YOU BASTARD!

 

I live downstate in Urbana.

 

I just arrived 10 mins ago, and it is surprisingly chill. Nowhere near capacity, no line, the noise level is bearable for once. Lautner's Cuvee is about to kick. 10 Year is fabulous, for my tastes.

 

FTFY.

 

The craziest part of it all is that V.S.O.J
and DB VSOJ Cherry Rye have been on tap for it seems like a week or 2 now correct @flat_lander ?

 

Well, that's that. Missed the pour I was after. X Year beer is the absolute shit. Cuvee is fine for a 4 pack but basically, barleywine.

 

2 weeks tomorrow. But who's counting?! Pretty sure Honey Jacket is still on too. They also had Legal Hero, 2 or 3 years of ROSJ, amongst others. Legal Hero is great stuff.

 

How do DBVSOJ Cherry Rye and X compare? That's maybe my favorite Rev beer I've had and was trying to compare X to it, but only by a memory from a while ago.

 

Look at my hand and read between the lines!
Cheers!

 

Sanctuary 20 (aka Lautner's Cuvee) and VSOVMC were phenomenal. Cuvee de Triomphe was VERY balanced & wood-forward...a nice change of pace. Uncalled Four was incredible, again...sadly, I missed the No Journey Psych Outs.

Line wasn't bad, tap room was crowded but I never waited more than 1 minute for draft pours, and once again it seems that Revolution is the king of the Chicago beer scene. At least in my opinion.

 

Very crowded release today, the impact of condensing the final release into one day was felt on site.

Great:

1. Lautner's Cuvee (4.0 5.0 5.0 4.25 4.75): Favorite pour of the release. A very complex offering of smoked oak, roast coffee walnuts a unique blend worked very well. Easy smooth drinking, high abv (15.6%) masked well. Will return if still on tap tomorrow.

2. Totally Uncalled Four (4.25 4.0 4.5 4.25 4.5) Excellent BA quad, smooth bourbon blended well with the fruity wine base. Others at the event thought this was the best variant, I can see their point.

Very Good:

1. Cuvee De Triomphe (4.0 4.0 4.5 4.25 4.25) Fruity, sweetness balanced by tartness. Cherry, oak, grapes worked well, light body and easy finish. I'd start with this one due to the light ABV.

2. Cuvee De Grace (4.0 3.5 4.25 4.25 4.0) Interesting blend, never had a beer like this before, but glad I did (had at the tasting yesterday, picked up a four pack today). The Stout, Barleywine and Scotch Ale blend worked well, very smooth creamy silky body and finish. Bourbon very smooth, barleywine worked in.

Good: 10 Year Beer (4.25 4.0 4.0 3.75 4.0) Lightly dry and bitter, barleywine leads, cherry blended well, sweetness balanced by tartness. Would have another, but passed on the four pack.

The brewery felt a bit more crowded than past releases, likely due in part to the fact the release was condensed into one day. Two points of constructive criticism:

1. Waited 20 minutes to enter the building (unavoidable, at capacity, I completely understand). However, when I went to the back bathroom (there were eight guys in line waiting for the two stalls in the front bathroom), I had to debate with an employee to reenter the brewpub, explaining I already waited in line for 20 minutes up front.

It makes sense to attempt to have both bathrooms available for these large events if at all possible, or have signs / employees state when people go to the back bathroom that reentry is not permitted.

2. I waited an additional 20 minutes in the "expedited to go sales line". You couldn't see the general public line until the final 10 minutes (it wrapped around by the washrooms and to the entrance and then back to the sales merchandise table). The general public line was completely empty / one or two persons purchasing with four registers open. Having two registers at the expedited line (or having some flexibility and shifting people to the empty general public line with four unused terminals) would have made sense.

I would have left the long "expedited sales line" for the general public line, but didn't want to have to wait another 20 minutes to reenter the brewpub or engage in a second debate to reenter the brewpub (see point 1).

 

Sanctuary 20 is the worst beer I think I’ve ever had from Rev. Nobody I was with liked it. A big miss with the walnuts.

Ten Year was fantastic and Cuvée was good and the vanilla one was ok.

 

My impression from the draft pour was that 10 Year is more cherry forward than DBVSOJ Cherry Rye was, with both sweet and tart fruit elements. I also am not totally on board with all of the "VSOJ with cherries" analogies; I didn't think the base was as smooth or as rich as VSOJ, so no matter the duration of the barrel treatment, it was different for me personally. I felt like the cherry was very strong on the front palate, but it did subside quickly such that the base beer came through pretty clearly in its own right, enough to make a fair comparison. That said, I always feel like the taproom is sensory overload on a release event, so I may feel differently once I try it from a can at home.

We might be the minority report, but I can relate. I wouldn't say it was the worst beer I've had from Rev at all, but I did think it was very unbalanced. The walnuts totally dominated, to the point that it tasted like a bad bottle of Jackie O's Oil of Aphrodite, on steroids, but not in a good way. Personally, I still enjoyed it, but if the walnuts were dialed back from an 11 to, say, a 5, I think it would have been much, much better.

 

Buddy nailed it when he said Sanctuary 20 tasted like gravy. We referred to it as "Gravy Beer" through the rest of the pour and will only bring it up at Thanksgiving. I couldn't makes heads or tails of it and agree it was the worst I've had from Rev.

Ten Year was delicious cherry barleywine and I preferred it over Cuvee.