Surely jack-o-lantern-flavored, cinnamon-perfumed beer isn't
serious beer. We tried seven pumpkin beers, and as it turns out, some were actually pretty good—especially with a bowl of chili.
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The concept of chocolate beer isn't new, but Sapporo's latest product, Chocolate Brewery, sounds darn tasty. It's made with Royce chocolates, a Japanese confectioner that looks good, but I can't read a thing on the website. Fortunately, I can read what's posted on japansugoi.com, which says the beer is only available from Sapporo until the 23rd of January. Boo on them. Luckily, there are lovely alternatives to Chocolate Brewery like Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout, which tastes like liquefied 70 percent cacao, carbonated into a heavenly treat. Another good brew is Sam Adams' Chocolate Bock, one of their extreme beers made with Scharffen Berger chocolate and has a rich body and smooth taste. Any other chocolate beers to note?...
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Sometimes when you get pretty much everything you want, the few things you can’t get take on a much bigger sense of importance than they deserve. This has generally been true regarding beer in Chicago. Home to great local breweries like Two Brothers, Goose Island, Three Floyd’s—and not to mention mega-stores like Sam’s and Binny’s replete with aisles and aisles filled with more craft brewed beers than there are stuffed animals at an FAO Schwarz—you’d think we’d be sated. But, no, we're not. For years, we longed for that Texas export Shiner Bock or the sweet lager of Brooklyn Brewery, and more recently the brews of Bell’s from Kalamazoo, Michigan, when they lost their distributorship. In these parts, securing a...
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