Flossmoor Station Master Wheat

'A golden, flavorful, and crisp light ale brewed with 33% wheat malt, our Station Master Wheat is distinguished by a hoppy yet smooth taste with a malty body and a subtly spicy aroma.' -Flossmoorstation.com

I was very excited to see this bottle at my local Whole Foods so I grabbed it right away. Earlier in the winter I was able to find a bottle of Flossmoor's IPA, which was pretty good, but I neglected to blog that. Sadly, I wish I had given the IPA the write up it deserved (some other time, Flossmoor) because my experience with the Station Master is not as favorable.

I am not a big fan of 'light ales' and would never have known this was classified as such if I hadn't looked this brew up on the Flossmoor website just now (and if it was on the label, it might have swayed my purchasing decision). Drinking the beer, I knew right away what it was though. Watery, without much in the way of hops and spices and an overall disappointment.

I really do not want to tarnish Flossmoor as a brewery, because they have some great things going for them, I just didn't like this beer one bit. When I tried their 'milky way stout' in the Goose Island Stout Fest last year it was great, the beers at their brewpub were excellent, the IPA they bottled was damn good! Station Master is just one mis-step for them, and that's just my opinion, the brew has won awards and all that. I'm sure my next write up for them will be much more favorable. See you next time!

-Musical Pairing: The Clash-Combat Rock (great band, bad record)

Flossmoor Station

I was extremely excited to finally check out the Flossmoor Station Brewery Pub since their beers at Stout Fest were pretty great. We opted to drive even though this place is almost connected to the Metra Station.

The beers here come in three sizes 12, 16 and 22 ounces. The 22 ounce beer is easily the most economical at a little over five dollars! I decided to go with some of their standard beers to get an idea of what they serve all year round.

'Our lightest beer, the Zephyr is a light and refreshing golden blonde ale in the style of premium american beer. Brewed with 3 varieties of hops and a touch of rice, this light golden ale provides a smooth introduction to the distinctive flavor of our premium quality handcrafted beers.'

The Zephyr is a pretty good beer to start your night off with. Its tart with a little bit of hops but it still is a smooth drinker. Refreshing stuff, nice palatte reset and it goes well with food which is great for a brew pub.

My only gripe with this beer is towards the end of the glass I was getting bored with how plain the Zephyr is. I was ready to move on to my next beer, maybe something a tiny bit more interesting.

'A golden, flavorful, and crisp light ale brewed with 33% wheat malt, our Station Master Wheat is distinguished by a hoppy yet smooth taste with a malty body and a subtly spicy aroma.'

All the hoppy wheat beers I have had recently makes the Station Master pretty tame in comparison. There is a good amount of orange zest in this beer that somehow doesnt add much of a kick.

This is your standard wheat beer, exactly what you would expect to the letter when you order a wheat beer. No chances taken here, which wasn't exactly what I was looking for after the Plain Jane Zephyr. I was very tempted to order the X-IPA after this but I wanted to stick with the standards. That and the X-IPA wasn't available in the giant economy glass!



'Our Panama Limited Red is a hoppy, robust yet smooth amber ale brewed with nine different malts and four types of hops. With its deep amber color and rich malty body, our Panama Limited Red will smoothly transport you into the wonderful world of complex and flavorful handcrafted beers.'

I am not a fan of red ales, but if they all tasted like this one I sure as hell would be. Very hoppy for a red ale and a lot less malty than I am used to. Panama Limited Red Ale is a very unique beer. A nice range of spices really make this an interesting drink.

This was my favorite beer of the night, which I have to admit was kind of a letdown. I was looking for a knockout beer and ended up with a lot of tame but drinkable brews. I hope I am not turning into a hop head! Please no!


The entire night was a let down to tell the truth. The food was mediocre and the choo choo noises were getting on my nerves after an hour or so. Flossmoor gave me the impression that they are making a bid to be the next brew pub chain. I can't put my finger on why, there was just something mediocre about every aspect of the place. My expectations were probably set too high. I will be giving this place another shot in the future and look forward to seeing their newly bottled beers in stores but I doubt I will be raving about Flossmoor the way many do. You seriously cannot go wrong with those prices though! I should have taken it a little easier with them because, shit, its $5 for the equivalent of two drinks!

Oh yeah- Thanks to Hollie and Kristina for buying me beers!

Goose Island Stout Fest 2008

The fest was a really fun time, lots of nice people, great beer and the staff at Goose Island was very welcoming. We came in for brunch beforehand and basically were allowed to camp at the same table for 4+ hours, ordering some pretzels here and there.

It is VERY hard to taste little nuances after you have had a few stouts, so imagine how I felt sampling fifteen. At the end of the fest I was just drinking whatever and hanging out with my buddy Andy. I'll throw a few highlights out there for you guys who couldn't make it.

Flossmoor Station- The Milky Way stout was a nice change of pace after the five or so high ABV and very dry stouts I had tried at this point.As you would expect it was exceptionally creamy, I plan on grabbing a growler of it when I go to the station in mid April. The Iron Horse was a very good but average tasting brew that helped me kick off the day. It was pretty roasty with some chocolate in there. Good stuff. According to their blog they are starting to bottle some stuff, if this is the case I hope to see both of these beers on shelves soon!

Blue Cat brought their 'Anniversary Ale' which I kept going back to as a palate restart, but damn it was good stuff. I liked their Irish stout too, but at this point of the week I was sick of anything with the word 'Irish' in it.

America's- They had a killer Bourbon Barrel Imperial that had been 'taking up space' for 2 1/2 years. I am a real sucker for this style of beer, being a big fan of bourbon and stouts. Their Sweetness Stout tasted bland in comparison, but after a few buffer drinks I came back for another and it turned out to be great. At this point in the afternoon my mouth tasted like all sorts of nuts so sadly everything started to blend in. I would definitely purchase this beer to check it out and give it the proper review treatment.

I also had a few rounds of the Goose Island Bourbon County Grand Stout once I decided my memory was done. I love this stuff, have since I first tried it. It is not something I could drink every day but it goes a long way to warm the cold in your bones. I'm going to save a bottle or two for rainy days when I am ok with being knocked out by two beers. Strong stuff, tasty stuff.

Probably the highlight of the day was Harrison's Black Diamond Stout. It isn't flashy but it is a beer I could drink year round, with pleasure. This was a discovery that made my entrance fee worth every penny. Another place I am going to have to check out! my list is getting awful long.

I will definitely attend this event next year as it was a lot of fun. Stout Fest put an end to 'fake Irish beer week' because I sure as hell didn't even want to look at a beer for two days, let alone another stout. Poor planning on my part, but I doubt any of you will mind much.

PS. The drunk guy who clapped me on the back in order to say 'Fuck the Cubs' made my evening. Thanks dude.