Pop-Up Cheese Shop

We're pleased to announce that next Saturday October 8, 2011, we'll be hosting a Pop-Up Cheese Shop at our brewery, featuring cheese from Cellars at Jasper Hill, and bread from Elmore Mountain Bread. We'll also have some specialty beers on hand, lending delicious support...of course.

Jasper Hill is a group of people in Vermont dedicated to creating and cellaring world class cheese. We were introduced to Jasper Hill by family friends at Elmore Mountain Bread, also mega-talented Vermonters. Maybe you read about both on our blog this past spring.

Anyway, we're orchestrating a day of cheese and beer at our brewery during Jasper Hill's upcoming Chicago visit, and following it up with an evening of continued cheese & beering at Lush Wine & Sprits on Chicago Ave.

The first part will begin at our brewery at 3pm. You'll find the below cheeses being plated el solo, and/or pressed into dreamy sandwiches on hand made/carried Elmore Mountain bread. Cheese goodies will be available for purchase - and available for accompaniment with a complimentary flight of sample sized pours, representing 4 of our particularly cheese friendly brews. In short, you buy the cheese, you get the beers.

At 6:00pm, we'll take down the Pop-Up, and make our way to Lush Wine & Spirits on Chicago for an exquisite continuation.

The Lush event will be ticketed, and will run from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. Lush will be preparing an array of suitable accompaniments to pair with our beer and Jasper Hill cheeses. Contact Lush for ticketing info: (312) 666-6900

Cheeses:

Cabot Clothbound Cheddar - butterscotch, tangy, brothy, nutty
Landaff - bright, grassy, tonicy (best melter for grilled cheeses)
Bayley Hazen Blue - anisey, raisiny, chocolatey
Harbison - spoonable bloomy rind wrapped in bark - sweet cream, woodsy, herbal, mustardy

Oh my, if there were ever an event to savor! Please, come join us.

Half Acre Beer Co
Chicago, IL

Waves

As fall hits and summer fades we throw out one last toast to summer.

This beer is about summer today and yesterday, a mindset, an ease.....

Tasty Waves is the summer session pale that glides in and around your long days soaked in sunshine. It's a 5% cruiser we're putting into 22's and growlers.

Put down your ambition and ride these tasty waves while it's hot.

Release date to follow.

Cheers,

Half Acre Beer Co
Chicago, IL

The Cycle

We first have to step back to our last beer, StickyFat, to truly understand this beer. The next beer about to gush from the tanks is Mr. Ouroboros. Mr. Ouroboros is the follow up wet hop beer to StickyFat. Both are brewed with freshly picked, whole cone hops straight from the harvest. Both are hop forward, juicy potions demonstrating the perfume quality you can extract from the cones. And, both are odes to the lore of the fields. We were joined by friend and fellow brewer Jonathan Cutler of Piece Brewpub to bring this beer to you. We utilized a kolsch yeast strain and bags & bags of whole cone Citra to land on a beer all its own.

Mr. Ouroboros is the ghost of Coney Bottoms, the one and only concrete evidence of the StickyFat Bear. Coney Bottoms, a simple minded farmer that happened to be puttering around in the wrong row when the StickyFat bear was gorging on the ooey-gooey, was taken down by the bear. Since then, the ghost of Coney Bottoms, who the hill-people call Mr. Ouroboros, resurfaces each cycle to loom, to lurk, to gurgle.

As one farmer's 11 year old son recounts:

"Daddy, I saw the Mr. Ouroboros creaking and cacklin' in the field.......gumming all he's got left of his hand and makin' creepy."

This wet hop brew pays homage to this cycle and Mr. Ouroboros.

This will be a draft only / growler pour beer. Release date to follow.

Half Acre Beer Co
Chicago, IL

StickyFat

***This year we've brewed two wet hop / harvest beers.

Today we'll discuss the first:

Each year hop farmers trudge into their sea of vines and pull down the hop cones.
Most of these sticky chunks will get broken down and converted to pellets so we brewers can work them all year.
However, some are left whole and quickly passed to brewers for the purpose of brewing wet hopped harvest beers.

Last year we took these cones and brewed StickyFat for the first time. StickyFat is a dark ale that's spent time with the wet hops.
We've brewed this again. It's on draft right now in our store. You can buy it beginning today 9/8 at 12pm.

StickyFat of 2010 was anything but subtle. Many flavors flying in your face at once, each fighting for dominance. StickyFat of 2011 is more refined. It's a different beer because we used new hops from a different crop year with a different approach, but tailored well and built better, with a result we're pleased to announce.

Working with wet hops is a process without strict rules. The results speak to the year, the crop, the weather and the choices you made. StickyFat is here again, our tribute to the StickyFat Bear, the very tired, the very mellow bear that looks to get hold of the hops farmers nurtured all those months.

As one farmer of old was quoted saying:

"The Bear, he sleepy, but quick. He eat the sticky hop and run away. I got nothin' left cause the Bear's fat now. It's all gone."

Sad, but true. Come grab some of the annual Wet Hop brew for your harvest time session.

We made T-shirts again this year and they are sweet.

Growlers fills $16
New Growler & Fill $20

Half Acre Beer Co
Chicago, IL

Galactic Double Daisy Cutter: Destinations, Vol. 2

Happy Labor Day, everybody. If you're spending the holiday out and about, soaking up our sunny city and suddenly find yourself with beer needs of the Galactic sort, here are your Galactic Double Daisy Cutter: Destinations, Vol. 2

Small Bar Fullerton (TAPPING TODAY!)
Binny's South Loop
Whole Foods Kingsbury
Beer Bistro

Ooh, and Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar in Bridgeport still has some GDDC from Saturday night's tapping. Thanks again for hosting us alongside all those other incredible beers, Maria's!

And remember, these kegs are tapped only when the good people at each establishment see fit. Alright then, enjoy today's holiday, and more importantly, a shorter work week.

Yay!
-Rog