Revolution Local Hero

Brewed By: Revolution Brewing Company (Revolution Beer LLC) in Chicago, IL

Purchased: 22oz bottle bought at Fine Wine & Liquors in IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: India Pale Ale, 6.5%

Reported IBUs: 65

I like supporting local businesses, I do, but it chaffs my ass when a liquor store posts false information on BeerMenus and then acts surprised when you are upset and/or disappointed. Also, requiring a $10 dollar minimum purchase for special releases is hilarious. If you want to attract new customers, you should entice them with limited releases, and then have good customer service. Anyway, about Revolution:

Revolution Brewing is a brewery and brewpub based in Chicago. Revolution's roots are tied to founder Josh Deth, a homebrewer who began working at Golden Prairie Brewing. A few years later, while working at Goose Island, Josh dreamt up the idea for Revolution Brewing. In 2003, Josh and his wife opened Handlebar, while Josh worked as an Executive Director of Logan Square Chamber of Commerce. While working for the Chamber of Commerce, Josh found an old building on Milwaukee Avenue, and the wheels began to spin to open up a brewery. After three years of raising funds, Revolution Brewing opened its doors on February 2010. In July of 2011, Revolution added a 2nd floor Brewers' Lounge. And in 2012, the company opened a new production brewery and tap room. The brewpub is located in Logan Squre on 2323 N. Milwaukee Ave; the brewery is located on Kedzie Avenue at 3340 N. Kedzie Ave. For more information on Revolution, check out their history page here! 

The Local Hero IPA is brewed with with Centennial, Cascade, Chinook, and Nugget hops, fresh from Hop Heads Farms located in Hickory Corners, MI. "Hop Head Farms:" that's a bold move, Cotton. As per RevBrew, Hop Heads Farms provides quality Midwest hops. Hops, not drugs. This IPA punches in at 6.5% and packs 65 IBUs.

Revolution Local Hero

This one pours into a golden body in lower light, with two to three fingers of rocky, golden-tinted head. Bright light confirms much of the same: a mostly clear, golden beer, with a white/off-white head. There's plenty of lacing, and fat carbonation rising upwards.

I'm getting a lot of grass, biscuit, and honey on the aroma. There's some peppery citrus as well: maybe lemon zest and peppery tangerine/orange. More grass, resinous orange...to the taste-mobile!

This tastes nice and chewy...I'm getting a lot of grass, floral notes, spicy/zesty hop character, and tons of biscuit/bread backing. There's some lemon and pineapple in here, and maybe some grapefruit.

This isn't bad at all, and I'm finding this quite drinkable at 6.5%. It leans towards sweet, bready, and grassy...otherwise, things are a bit muddled or nondescript. Palate depth is fine, and complexity is okay. You get sweet grassy hops up front; that rolls into spicy hops with some more sweet grass, pineapple, grapefruit, and spice; the back is lingering spice with some bread/biscuit. Pretty clean on the finish, and as with most RevBrew beers, nicely attenuated.

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this beer. It's very solid, and a good local IPA for sure, but not really genre-changing or mind blowing. It's just a very nice, fresh IPA. Yum. Food pairings: American food. Wings. Bar food. Burgers. Cheap Mexican food. You know the drill people.

Random Thought: Seriously though, what the fuck is with the $10 dollar minimum purchase thing? That's beer entrapment. Even worse, it's a horrible business move. Making me have to buy $10 dollars of your shitty shit in order to obtain sweet #whalez isn't going to make me a lifelong customer. It just isn't. If you want my business, stock your shelves with good beer and I'll come. And then when you have special releases, I'll come even harder. This is why West Lakeview Liquors is fucking awesome. They don't do any of this $10 dollar minimum bullshit, they stock great beer, they have a great staff, and sometimes they have those midwest shelf turd whalez.