beer Wheebz journey across Chicago and Germany

For those of you that don't know, I have been accepted to the International Brewers Program in Brewing Technology and Biochemistry based out of Siebel Institute in Chicago and Doemens Academy in Munich Germany.

This thread will be a daily update of my journey over the next 5 and a half months of the stuff I will see, do, and the trouble I will most likely get in to.

I will be posting up pictures on a daily basis of the things I see and the places I visit, as well as a little write up of the daily activities.

This thread will be the home thread that will be posted on other websites and given out to friends, so be mindful of what you ATCers post up, you know who you are...

Day 1: Thanks to the ice storm I am not leaving early this morning like I had hoped, so the goal is to get out of here at 3pm and make it to Ligonier, PA by 6ish where I will be staying at Robry's house for a fun filled evening of booze and Forza 3. Pics will be posted up along the journey, as well as some drunken bar pics later this evening. For now, I have to get the packing finished and get all my stuff in the car.


Day 2

Well yesterday was a fucking horrible drive. Ohio was quite possibly the worst state I have ever driven through in my entire life. Indiana wasnt too bad, a lot shorter of a drive, and holy hell was the turnpike cheap as shit. Cost me 18 dollars to drive across Ohio, and only 5.80 for Indiana. Just dont speed through Indiana ever, I passed 13 cops in 2 hours, yes, 13.

Got into Chicago last night about 7 miles from my apartment, and then traffic hit.

I have never seen worse traffic in my entire life. Now granted most of it is due to the snow, but I literally moved 2 miles in an hour and a half, it was an absolute disaster.

330 dollars a month for parking at the garage right across the street from my apartment. Everyone told me I shouldnt bring a car to a big city like this. Well let me tell you what, I am very very glad I did. Theres so much cool stuff near me that I really dont want to walk to being that its right around -10 degrees outside with windchill right now.

Got all my stuff unpacked last night and decided to take a little stroll to see what I could find. Walked out my door and went to the right and it was like the light of God shined upon me.

Right next door, mexican bar and grill, which serves till 5am. Next to that, McFaddens Irish Pub, serves till 5am. Next to that, P.J.'s Irish Pub, serves till 5am. Around the corner, I counted 7 bars/restaurants within my site.

Went 2 blocks down, found a grocery store/liquor store. My god what a selection.

Bought this for myself just because.

0012.jpg

0022.jpg



Yes that is a bottle of Sam Adams Utopias, Vintage 2007.

Tonight is going to be Vision Night Club for Marcus Shossow at midnight. That I am getting a cab to, because I will be in no shape to drive at 5am.
 
So I just got done with the school invitation event where you get to meet all your classmates and then the Goose Island Brewpub party afterwards.

Let me tell you what. Goose Island has some incredible beers.

Gonna go watch the superbowl at the bar right next to me and then get some sleep for class starting tomorrow morning at 9am.

Some pics of Goose Island


2011-02-06_16-14-37_300.jpg


2011-02-06_15-25-18_3.jpg


2011-02-06_15-25-26_638.jpg


2011-02-06_15-31-28_755.jpg




And heres my shitty kitchen I have to work with.

2011-02-05_11-35-47_590-1.jpg



More updates to come maybe later tonight, if not, tomorrow evening after the first day of class.
 
Alright so day one of school was a success, albeit a little rough for all of us.

I went in to class still completely drunk from last night, as did about 15 of the other students and one of the teachers.

I hit 5 bars last night after Goose Island, and drank for free at 2 of them. The first one I have been to 3 times now (friday/sat/sun), and I have yet to pay for a drink there. The bartender is really cool, and as long as I buy food, which I do, he just pours me shots and beers and drinks with me the whole time. So far I am up to 9 beers and 4 shots there without paying a dime, which is good because pints of beer are all 6 bucks or more.

The last one I was at was having an employee superbowl party, and I got talking to the GM outside when I first showed up, and he invited me in and we did shots and drank for like an hour and a half before I stumbled home.

I woke up on my floor this morning at like 5am, completely naked, with my door locked from the inside. I know for a fact I came home by myself last night, but I have no idea how I got on the floor or how I got nekkid.

I think I learned more about barley and malting today than I ever could have imagined, even after taking the 3 and a half month Concise Course in Brewing Technology and Biochemistry I took last year through this same school.

Wanna know what else is awesome. This is whats in the back of our classroom, and we are encouraged to use it.
2011-02-07_14-30-27_203.jpg



We only have one chick in our class, and shes like a 5 out of 10, but shes in school to learn to brew beer, so it automatically bumps her up 3 points just because of that fact. Would smash while she whispers sweet hop alpha acids and fermentation phenolics in my ear.

Tonight is recouperating from last night, but I did manage to rack up a 351 dollar tab at the liquor store today. Bought 33 bottles of beer that you cant get in PA even with all the beer connections I have.

Some pics of Chicago, beer, and a sweet fucking sub from a place called Jimmy Johns.

2011-02-04_15-25-15_9.jpg

2011-02-04_16-36-56_218.jpg

2011-02-04_15-24-29_115.jpg

2011-02-07_19-14-44_374.jpg





Tonight, a Arcadia Barrel Aged Shipwreck Porter. Its good, but its pretty heavy on the bourbon, and it really drowns out the nice caramel and toffee qualities you should have from a porter. But I do love bourbon, and its 12% ABV, so I really dont care as much as I should.

2011-02-07_19-23-18_736.jpg

__________________
 
Well school has been interesting to say the least.

Two days ago I learned more about a kernel of barley than General Mills head scientists. Then we did tower races

2011-02-08_18-31-36_303.jpg


Yesterday was more barley talk with a focus on biochemistry during the germination process. And then we did sensory testing, which was horrible


2011-02-09_17-01-26_288.jpg


Today is water chemistry and molecular mineral composition, yayyyyy
 
Arcadia Barrel Aged Shipwreck Porter 2009
Viru
Avery Oak Aged Samael's 2010
Avery Mephistopheles 2009
New Belgium Night Tripper 2010
Goose Island Pepe Nero 2009
Goose Island Pere Jaques 2010
Goose Island Fleur 2010
Goose Island Matilda 2010
Goulden Caroulis (Grand Cru of the Emperor) 2010 (2 bottles)
New Holland Pilgrims Dole 2009
Mikeller Black Tie
Mikeller 1000 IBU's
St Ambroise Vintage 2009
Allagash Confluence 2010
Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi 2008
Schneider Cellar Aged 50 Barrel Small Batch Release Aventinus 2003
Dutchess De Borgeone
Lagunitas Gnarleywine 2009
Brasserie Du Pont Avec Les Bon Voeux 2005
St Somewhere Lectio Divina
Avery Hog Heaven 2010
Sammichlaus 2006 (2 bottles)
'T Smisje Calva Reserva 2007
Castle Geuze Fond Tradition
Brewdog Paradox Islay
Brewdog Paradox Isle of Arran
Hoppin Frog B.O.R.I.S. The Destroyer Double Imperial Oatmeal
J.W. Lees Moonraker
Scaldis Peche Mel
Samuel Adams Utopias 2007

The list of beers ive bought since Monday in bottles
 
Alright so little update from the weekend

Friday was our first test on malting, germination, brewing water, and part 1 of 3 sensory testings.

After we finished the test at 9:30am, we started drinking of course.

The day progressed into hops, and hop anaylisis and chemical compositions, getting into iso-alpha acids and humulone and lupulone glands producing specific oils for different outcomes in the brewing process.

Our instructor ended up giving us some hop extracts and oils in droppers, and told us to sample some of them in a neutral beer and see what happened. Well let me tell you what, you can make coors light taste pretty good.

2011-02-11_15-51-24_574.jpg

2011-02-11_11-54-05_194.jpg


Friday night was the best though.

Went to a friends apartment with 2 other guys from our school and all 4 of us got fried out of our minds and decided to just roam around down town chicago.
2011-02-11_20-08-14_508.jpg



We ended up walking almost 2 miles to get on one of the trains that runs the loop in chicago. Paul, the guy in the picture, ended up finding some random gloves on our tram car, and was doing all sorts of fucked up poses and pretending he was a bum sleeping on the car.



We then proceeded to Xoco restaurant, which if you watch Top Chef or are at all familiar with the culinary world, you know who Rick Bayless is. This is one of his concept restaurants for Mexican Cuisine (no not tacos and burritos), thats simple but extremely elegant.

Started with some home made fire grilled chips and guacamole, and a bottle of Goose Island Lolita

2011-02-11_21-08-38_940.jpg


Next came the amazing sammich

2011-02-11_21-14-44_217.jpg


Ahogada: Pork Carnitas, black beans, tomato broth, spicy arbol chili sauce, and pickled onions.

This thing was one of the best hot sammiches I have ever had.



To finish off the night, home made Churros with a chocolate dipping sauce.
2011-02-11_21-43-07_207.jpg



We then decided to get a cab back to Pauls house, and I went home after that.
 
Saturday was Flossmoor Station and Three Floyds

We started at Flossmoor at noon, and then drove to Three Floyds for lunch and beers and a tour.


2011-02-12_13-08-47_129.jpg


2011-02-12_16-14-40_873.jpg

2011-02-12_13-58-46_203.jpg

2011-02-12_15-31-34_890.jpg

2011-02-12_15-31-54_69.jpg

2011-02-12_15-33-14_534.jpg

I had Octopus for an appetizer, which might have been the best thing I have eaten here in Chicago yet. Then a couple of us split Scotch Eggs, and I had andouille sausage, duck confit, and some fucking incredible super thick cut caramelized bacon from the grill.
2011-02-12_14-29-29_575.jpg

2011-02-12_14-42-58_718.jpg


2011-02-12_15-02-03_570.jpg
 
Finally we ended up at Flossmoor Station last night, and had an incredible tour and a special reserve tasting with the head brewer.
2011-02-12_17-51-30_690.jpg



Sunday so far has been pretty relaxing

Saki at a sushi bar, and food to go


2011-02-13_11-37-03_862.jpg

2011-02-13_11-44-58_747.jpg
 
Last night was a huge drunken stupor of drunkeness and retarded highness

im not going to go over the entire day, but lets just say i passed out twice and woke up both times not in the same place I passed out at

did get a incredible gyro last night though, and an amazing burrito today

class average for our first test was a 98% too haha, which is what I got

2011-02-13_21-04-12_280.jpg

2011-02-14_12-53-03_93.jpg
 
Alright so an update on the past 2 days

yesterday we went to briess malting in Wisconsin, and let me tell you what that was such a cool factory, but we werent allowed to take pictures inside because, well, its like top secret

I did get some pictures of the outside of the malting plant

2011-02-15_09-49-32_703.jpg

2011-02-15_13-00-00_133.jpg

2011-02-15_14-09-55_899.jpg

2011-02-15_10-44-50_845.jpg

\
2011-02-15_10-56-22_725.jpg


2011-02-15_14-39-26_754.jpg


I know you cant see it, but we drove through Sheboygan, and I just had to try to get a picture from the bus, because lets face it, Sheboygan is an awesome word.








We then finished up the tour with beer, another presentation, and what was hands down the best fucking bus ride I have ever had in my entire life.

2011-02-15_16-39-28_906.jpg

2011-02-15_16-41-13_585.jpg

2011-02-15_18-43-19_714.jpg


3 and a half hours, 42 people, and a 5 total coolers of beer

We have a video of us shotgunning PBR's as well, but it was kind of dark so you cant really see anything, you can only hear all of us. I will get the video by the end of the week hopefully

A guy named Tom brought home made distilled brandy that he makes at his brewpub on the side out in Washington.

hes the old dude giving the thumbs up, and let me tell you what, when he talks, he sounds like Tommy Chong, its so funny.
 
tonight I went to Mortons Steak House in Chicago, its about a 4 minute walk from my apartment

138 dollar bill for just me

Oysters Rockefeller

Some sweet ass onion bread I didnt get a picture of

Glenrothes 12 year

Goose Island Matilda 2007, thank you Mr Bartender Chad i think your name was

and the best Strip Steak I have ever had

I could only eat 3/4ths of it, but I took the rest home including the fat on the side, and now I am just sitting here munching on the fat because its so incredibly buttery and gooey and amazery

now that I am back, its a Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi

2011-02-16_17-51-33_982.jpg

2011-02-16_18-16-47_845.jpg

2011-02-16_18-55-16_425.jpg
 
Well its been two weeks since an update, but it was not because I did not want to, ive just been busy as hell


So last week we had the head of brewing operations from Bells come in and teach our class for 3 days.

Dude is so freakin smart it was unreal.

I am not going to go over what all we learned in class because you probably dont really care.

We did go to revolution brewery and we had an absolutely awesome time, but I do not have any pictures because my phone died about a half an hour after I got there



We did have a couple of beer tastings in class and some sensory and style tastings

2011-02-18_19-54-22_599.jpg

2011-02-22_16-26-02_805.jpg

2011-02-22_16-29-35_445.jpg

2011-02-23_12-35-50_813.jpg

2011-02-23_19-22-22_448.jpg
 
Most recent awesome time was this Saturday

We got a private tour at Bells production brewery in Comstock Michigan, about 3 hours from Chicago.



2011-02-26_11-32-57_466.jpg

2011-02-26_11-58-06_679.jpg

2011-02-26_12-49-06_293.jpg

2011-02-26_13-06-10_418.jpg

2011-02-26_13-06-43_933.jpg

2011-02-26_13-07-41_503.jpg

2011-02-26_13-12-35_54.jpg

2011-02-26_13-37-23_770.jpg
 
they have this sweet robot that moves kegs around off of the line and palatalizes them and wraps them
2011-02-26_13-39-52_613.jpg

2011-02-26_13-51-52_885.jpg

2011-02-26_14-10-22_100.jpg





Then we went to Arcadia for food, which was awesome. Got a private brewery tour by the head chef and GM
2011-02-26_15-35-46_928.jpg

2011-02-26_15-49-51_187.jpg

SatFeb26155011EST2011.jpg

2011-02-26_15-55-38_692.jpg

SatFeb26155554EST2011.jpg
 
The only full barrel keg I have ever seen

2011-02-26_15-57-45_631.jpg




2011-02-26_16-05-51_433.jpg


I had to take a picture of this, I laughed hard

2011-02-26_16-21-39_198.jpg


lobster artichoke and goat cheese dip

2011-02-26_16-41-04_327.jpg


ribs

2011-02-26_16-47-01_772.jpg


beef brisket

2011-02-26_16-51-24_765.jpg


lobster pizza

2011-02-26_16-51-30_493.jpg
 
Then we went to this place called Beer Exchange

Its basically like a beer stock market

ever 10-15 minutes it changes like a stock ticker based on what people buy and how much is left in the keg

you can purchase tickets at a certain price, and if it goes up in price you still get it for what you paid for it, but if it goes down, well you are just shit outta luck. It was really fun

2011-02-26_19-15-02_274.jpg



Finally we had Bells Brewpub in Kalamazoo Michigan

2011-02-26_19-42-27_927.jpg

2011-02-26_21-09-14_817.jpg

2011-02-26_23-11-23_664.jpg

2011-02-27_00-12-57_732.jpg

2011-02-27_00-43-15_634.jpg



And my drink of choice for the night

2011-02-28_15-32-22_893.jpg
 
Today I ate at Epic Burger

let me tell you what, it wasnt that Epic

5 guys is still better

2011-03-03_12-12-16_0.jpg


Drinking an Arcadia Cereal Killer though, which is freakin awesome
 
You are seriously going to weigh 400lbs when you get home. Glad you are having fun.

And...I am going to contact A&E and schedule your episode of Intervention for this summer, Ya Damn Drunk!
 
Hey wheebz, thanks for getting us up to date on your adventures. Sounds like you're having a killer time. Looking forward to more adventures.

JayT, right after the Intervention, I'll sign him up for The Biggest Loser. (wheebz, you know we love you...)
SL
 
Back
Top