Sips

Last night at the Binny’s in Chicago’s South Loop, Larry Bell made an appearance to kick off the release of Oberon. Tickets were five bucks which got you a pint of Oberon. Also on tap were Hopslam and Batch 9000. Of course I had to have both on tap. Batch 9000 was really good but, for me, Hopslam on tap stole the evening. The aroma of the hops was so unbelievable while the flavor was robust and full.

What made the evening such a great event of me: Rich, his wife Kathy, and my wife Sue went as a group. Each couple has three kids, so having an evening for adult fun, especially in the middle of week, is almost non-existant. A friend of mine, Dave, who lives in Chicago, also met up with us and joined the group. We had some good conversations and laughs with the guys talking beer and women talking, hmm, who knows what.

Larry Bell stopped by the table for a few minutes to chat before he had to go pour beers. We talked about the history of Oberon which dates back to 1991 and was called Solsta. The named changed to Oberon about 1998 after a claim that the original was trademarked. Rich, being a native of Michigan, talked about his first experience with Oberon.

On a side note, in spite of Batch 9000 only coming out a few months ago, Oberon has a batch number of 9603. They brew a ton of beer. I read where they are making 80,000 barrels of Oberon this year. A big amount for a craft brewer when you think a lot of local places are lucky to make 1,000 barrels total in a year. Enjoy!