Next Big Time Brewery

Sole Artisan. 1st anniversary release this weekend, with an imperial version of their great IPA juicebox. He brewed collabs in Maine earlier this month at a bunch of breweries and will finally stop being a nomad brewer next year when his spot opens. Sole's stuff has been good to great and their last can release(simcoe nerd) was his best yet. Sky is the limit..

 

I was starting to wonder if I was rating them to high. Maybe I was being too easy, then I just cracked a Jack Abbey house lager, which I have heard good things about. JA is a good brewery. Their house lager is a couple of steps below Von Trapp's lagers. Comparing it to Von Trapp's Helles is not fair...

 

New brewery opening up soon in Highwood, Illinois called Kings & Convicts, specializing with Pilsners, APA's, and IPA's and I'm very interested to see how they do.

 

Next big time brewery will be Surly out of Minneapolis, no question. They're distribution has quickly moved to be throughout the Midwest with the addition of their massive destination brewery. In addition, they are expanding again with the room for even more expansion. Give them 2-3 years and they will be distributing nationally.

 

I posted my impressions on a few New Beer Sundays- here they are:
Dunkel and Pilsner
Helles
Vienna

I don't think you are rating them too high, myself.

 

Thanks for posting. It seems our opinions of the Pilsner and Helles are flip flopped. I actually remember reading a couple of those posts now that I reread them. It's funny I scrolled through a some of the ratings for Von Trap's beers after I rated them and I noticed that my scores were higher then everyone else for each beer. I started to wonder if the beer was that good or I just really liked them. Glad others agree with my sentiment.

You were one of the reasons I was on the lookout for them. They are a world class brewery.

 

Thanks a lot! And just get used to that feeling if you're going to be reviewing lagers more frequently .

 

Haven't done formal reviews yet, and this has changed during the extensive taste testing I have been doing lately, but as of now
-Vienna
-Dunkel
-Pilsner
-Helles
and let me add that I absolutely love every one of them, seems almost pointless to pick a fave. Soooooo delicious.

 

Mad Tree in Cincinnati or Braxton Brewing Co, in Kentucky

 

Sole was readily available when his first few beers launched. I could find all of them at my local supermarket or distributor.

Once he started canning, I've never so much as seen a single can from the brand.

I'm guessing the entire company consists of him and maybe a few assistants considering how low volume their output is.

 

At my wegmans in ithaca we only have the IPL and the kentucky common. I would love to try something else form upstate.

 

The best of their widely distributed beers is the I.P.W, in my opinion. The Double is phenomenal.

 

Rename this thread to " What's your favorite local Brewery?"

 

Hope springs eternal. Octoberfest showed up on my order sheet.

 

Nice! I bet it rocks. It's definitely on my short list then

 

At least in my area I can see a lot of Chicago-based breweries being on the brink of expansion. Half Acre, Surly, shit, maybe even Pipeworks (if only they'd open a brewpub first). I have a lot of customers come into my store asking for Half Acre specifically. It sucks having to turn them down and explain limited distribution, somehow without sounding like a pompous asshole.