Brewed By: Half Acre Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois
Purchased: 22oz bottle bought at Half Acre in Chicago, IL; 2013
Style/ABV: American Stout, 6.5%
Reported IBUs: 60
Tonight is Thursday, so let's do a Chicago beer...because why not. About Half Acre:
Reported IBUs: 60
Tonight is Thursday, so let's do a Chicago beer...because why not. About Half Acre:
The Half Acre Beer Company was founded in October 2006, which is young for craft beer in general, but great for the local Chicago scene. The founders of Half Acre started out by working with the Sand Creek Brewery in Black River Falls in Wisconsin. They eventually developed their Half Acre Lager, and began distributing and selling it in Chicago during the August of 2007. The beer was successful enough that Half Acre was able to buy out a space in the Bucktown area of Chicago. With continuing sales, Half Acre was eventually able to purchase equipment from Ska Brewing Co. and moved to their current location on Lincoln Avenue on the north side of Chicago. Half Acre has been brewing at their Chicago location since 2009, and seems to be really expanding in both amount of distribution and popularity. Check out the full story HERE, and check out their website for a low-down on all their beers and info.
If you roll over to the Baumé page, you can see that this beer is pretty unique in that it is a Rye Stout. This one should bring lots of chocolate and coffee notes, as well as big hop bitterness at 60 IBUs. The website clocks this in at 7.0%, my bottle says 6.5%.
This one pours a surprisingly dark brown/black color with a finger of bready, brown head. The head fades away leaving some lacing, but a nice coating is sustaining. I'm a little surprised by how opaque this is. Even in bright light, I'm only picking up brown tones on the very edges of the glass. It's a great looking Stout, and you can see some carbonation on the edges.
The aroma on this is really nice, with some big roast, burnt marshmallow, chocolate, a hint of cognac/booze, earthy coffee, coffee creamer, instant coffee, and some elusive rye spice.
This is incredibly smooth, light, and complex for a beer in the 6.5% to 7.0% range. It sort of reminds me of a Black IPA, but it's not quite there. There's a ton of subtle roast in this, light chocolate and cacao, and all sorts of nods to coffee, coffee creamer, instant coffee, etc. There's some hop kick in the mid and back palate, with lightly acidic citrus, berries, and earthy dirt. I'm also picking up a ton of tobacco and chicory, and a touch of rye/rye spice.
This is ridiculously drinkable, with a lightly acidic and smooth mouthfeel, driven by medium carbonation, coffee bitterness, and some hoppy dryness in the back. I'd call this medium-light. It reminds me of the Dogfish Head Chicory Stout, only better. Palate depth is good, and complexity is not far behind. You get some acidity and coffee/chicory up front with some creamer and berries; this rolls into big roast, cacao, chocolate, more coffee, dirt; the back end is hoppy, lingering dirt/coffee, and fade to pretty dry.
Rating: Above-Average (4/5 Untappd)
Mmmm, tasty. This is a Decent Above-Average, and I'm a little surprised at how much I like the Half Acre Stout lineup. So far there Stouts have been great. This is a really easy-going, complex little beer. You get a lot of coffee and chicory, which if I had to guess comes from the Rye. I'm not picking up a ton of rye ala a Rye IPA, but that's okay. This beer would pair well with ribs, coffee braised meats, and anything cooked on a grill. You could also go the chocolate cake/coffee infused dessert route. This is a pretty fantastic beer, so check it out if you can.
Random Thought: I love how just when Summer is arriving, I get a cold. Fak my immune system.
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| Half Acre Baumé |
This one pours a surprisingly dark brown/black color with a finger of bready, brown head. The head fades away leaving some lacing, but a nice coating is sustaining. I'm a little surprised by how opaque this is. Even in bright light, I'm only picking up brown tones on the very edges of the glass. It's a great looking Stout, and you can see some carbonation on the edges.
The aroma on this is really nice, with some big roast, burnt marshmallow, chocolate, a hint of cognac/booze, earthy coffee, coffee creamer, instant coffee, and some elusive rye spice.
This is incredibly smooth, light, and complex for a beer in the 6.5% to 7.0% range. It sort of reminds me of a Black IPA, but it's not quite there. There's a ton of subtle roast in this, light chocolate and cacao, and all sorts of nods to coffee, coffee creamer, instant coffee, etc. There's some hop kick in the mid and back palate, with lightly acidic citrus, berries, and earthy dirt. I'm also picking up a ton of tobacco and chicory, and a touch of rye/rye spice.
This is ridiculously drinkable, with a lightly acidic and smooth mouthfeel, driven by medium carbonation, coffee bitterness, and some hoppy dryness in the back. I'd call this medium-light. It reminds me of the Dogfish Head Chicory Stout, only better. Palate depth is good, and complexity is not far behind. You get some acidity and coffee/chicory up front with some creamer and berries; this rolls into big roast, cacao, chocolate, more coffee, dirt; the back end is hoppy, lingering dirt/coffee, and fade to pretty dry.
Rating: Above-Average (4/5 Untappd)
Mmmm, tasty. This is a Decent Above-Average, and I'm a little surprised at how much I like the Half Acre Stout lineup. So far there Stouts have been great. This is a really easy-going, complex little beer. You get a lot of coffee and chicory, which if I had to guess comes from the Rye. I'm not picking up a ton of rye ala a Rye IPA, but that's okay. This beer would pair well with ribs, coffee braised meats, and anything cooked on a grill. You could also go the chocolate cake/coffee infused dessert route. This is a pretty fantastic beer, so check it out if you can.
Random Thought: I love how just when Summer is arriving, I get a cold. Fak my immune system.
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