Craft Brewers Conference
Brewsville-Chicago: The Craft Brewers Conference and World Beer Cup draws brewers from all over the world to America’s Second City this week. I got in at 8, met some brewers from Haverhill (prounced Averil (as in Levine) on the L train, and went to Rock Bottom for Ralph Olson’ s retirement party. Ralph has been a hop salesman in Yakima for 31 years for HopUnion. The party was brilliant, with uber-hoppy beers from far and wide pouring at the event, including Oakshire’s Watershed IPA.
This is what retirement looks like
A large contingent of Cascadian brewers were there to wish Ralph well. I felt right at home, and saw a large number of brewers and beer folks from other parts of the US and Canada (well OK, US, Canada and Quebec).
After the Hopunion party, it was off to a Stone/Surly party at Jake Melicks, a beer bar with mad amounts of flatscreen TVs showing sports which reminds me of the Tap and Mallet in Rochester, NY, or St. Augustines on Commercial Drive in Vancouver, BC. Surly founder Omar Ansari went to my alma mater, Macalester College, in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the company based in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of the Twin Cities makes some amazing beer. I had Surly’s Schaudenfreude, described to me by the barman as “their take on a session beer” which was like a massively hopped English brown, super malty and tasty.
All evening there were many enlightening conversations about beer, and sustainability. This week will hold many more fantastic conversations over fantastic beer, I’m certain. Stay tuned to brewsville.com for the latest. Cheers.
