http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/stew/chi-jared-rouben-brewery-20130103,0,2419217.story Holy Canoli, now the brewpub is losing their boy wonder.
Well, as mentioned, he's been there for 4 years (longer than John Laffler at Goose!) and, as always, it's not unheard of for brewers to leave one place to open another. Personally, I didn't think his beers were as successful as when Will Turner was the the head pub brewer, but I did appreciate his attempts to try different/interesting things. I wish him the best with his new brewpub and I look forward to trying it one day! And I'll look forward to seeing who fills his boots at the brewpub and what he/she is going to do next.
Mayan Gold and Honey B are two of the best beers I've ever had, I hope his new brewery will participate in FOBAB. Maybe now I can get the recipies off of him...
I loved those chef collaborations and I loved the farmers market series every week in the summer. Stout Fest and Belgium Fest will be different next year, hopefully Off Color and Jared's new thing are both invited but I doubt they'll be given 6 taps a piece.
After visiting Asheville, and being a Grand Rapids fan boy...Chicago is becoming far and away the beer capital of America...I just have to visit Philly and Portland to reaffirm my thesis.
Interesting. Will be curious to see who they pick to fill his spot. Was just at Clybourn this past weekend....The XL oatmeal stout was amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing. Should have got a couple growlers of it.
It looks like his final tapping sounds pretty damn interesting and I'm hoping to get some this weekend. "Squid Ink Saison that was a Chef Collab w/Giuseppe Tentori of GT Fish & Oyster and has now been aged in an Evan Williams Single BBL for a midnight color, bourbon oak aroma, blackberry flavor, and medium body. 7.5%"
True story - I was at GI for lunch a couple of years ago, and as is my wont, had my nose pressed up against the glass looking down into the brewery below. They were moving a large bourbon barrel around, and then much to my chagrin, they tapped into it and were sampling the contents. Talk about beer jealousy! Then, about 15 minutes later, I was sitting back at the bar with my better half, and a guy taps me on the shoulder and puts a snifter of said brew on the bar. Gave me a good nature jab about my said pressing of nose against the glass. I didn't know who it was until I saw the photo in the article, but I believe it was Rouben.
This is sad to hear. Jared made very good beers, maybe not stellar but very good. In addition he is a great guy and always put on an entertaining Beer Academy every month at the brewpub. I enjoyed his food and beer pairing passion. Every time he talked beer he was always interested in what food flavors it tasted like or would be paired best with. I wish him the best.
Yep always appreciated the offerings Jared had on at Goose whenever I made it out that way. The cask offerings always made sense, his IPA's were good to great and the barrel aged beers were great to fantastic (black pyramid / royal tannin bomb / whatever it was called). Wish him the best of luck on his new endeavor. Cheers!
I'm not inside enough to know which beers were Jared's and which weren't. But I can say for the last 3 years, Goose Clybourn has easily been my favorite brewpub. The chef collabs gave been ridiculous. The barrel aged Christmas treats too. Great ipa's of all sorts. Great, great bitters and milds. And the stouts, too. Marisol alone is the kind of beer that breweries wish they could make. He's got skills. And I look forward to his next venture.
definitely sad to see him go, but have zero doubts about the success of his new venture... Congrats Jared!
