Out Of Key Brewing

So I rolled up to the Great Taste of the Midwest ’09 two weekends ago with my boys, Nate, Mitch, and Stinky.  We had an amazing time at the fest and consumed some great beers.  Below are a few of my thoughts on them.

Shoreline Brewery – By far the best hoppy beers I had at the fest. The Rillo Rye was  a great IPA. Lots of body to go along with solid bitterness and a great nose. I could be wrong but it may have been triple hopped. The 3 sum DIPA (Chinook, Summit, Columbus) was amazing. I have driven by their billboard on i-94 over a hundred times and never stopped. I will be in the near future. Won my award for best brewery in show (my love of hops may have biased me).  Great BA Love for these guys.

Goose Island Kombucha Belgian Ale – I needed an enamel transplant after this one (If there are volunteers let me know). Quite refreshing on such a fine summer day. As sour as the day was long. Very Very good. I will be pitching some Kombucha dregs on a batch this week.

Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Kriek – Well soured, with a nice cherry nose solid hints of oakiness. Amazing beer from an amazing brewery. The owner also won nicest / most tolerant brewer of the show after managing to hold a conversation with a friend of mine for upwards of 20 minutes. When we found him after 10 minutes I wholly expected to find Ron looking around for someone to rescue him, they then proceeded to talk for another 10 minutes.

Kuhnhenn’s – Waited in line for about 15 minutes to try the crème brulee stout served out of a slushee machine. The base beer was great with lots of caramel and vanilla. Quite sweet. Serving it as a beer slushy was inspired especially on a 90 deg+ day. Non-traditional but well executed. This was the longest line we waited in all day.

It was my first time at the fest. It will certainly not be the last. Great beer, great friends, great crowd, and flawless execution.