We flew out to Chicago for a few days of mixed business and tourism. Naturally, I took advantage of the Chicago pages on Beer Menus to get a heads up on what would be available and what bars had interesting draft lineups. High on my “To-Drink” list were Bell’s and Three Floyd’s, two outstanding Midwest breweries that do not distribute to NYC. I was on the lookout for Bell’s Hopslam in particular, which is their double IPA brewed once a year.
Nothing says "Welcome to Chicago" like a goblet full of Hopslam.
Conveniently enough, I found a place on BeerMenus just down the street from our hotel called Kasey’s Tavern that had Hopslam on tap. After checking in at our hotel, Martha and I wandered down to Kasey’s to sample this beer and get some dinner. I managed to leave my review notebook back in the hotel, so I texted myself some notes about the beer. Here they are:
“Notable pine aroma. Sweet up front. Bitter back end. Finish is equal parts hop haze and malt sweetness.”
Somewhat useful notes, if a bit on the sparse side. Here’s what else I remember: Like most good double IPAs, this is rather sweet up front, yet the hop bitterness builds at a faster rate than the malty stickiness.
Good, though not nearly as awesome as I’d built this up to be in my mind. Naturally, that didn’t stop me from having a second right away before switching over to Bell’s utterly fantastic Two-Hearted Ale.
By the way, Kasey’s was an excellent, low-key neighborhood bar with a good selection of craft brews on tap and an interesting list of bottles from the cellar that included a number of Lost Abbey ales. The only food they officially offer is frozen pizzas, but they will order in from the bar and grill on the corner, Hackney’s Printers Row, for you.