Southern Illinois Brew Trail

Southern Illinois region has been mostly noted for it's wineries in the region like Von Jakob Vineyards and Alto Vineyards just to name a few. Well, now with the craft brewery scene on the rise you are seeing new breweries opening up in the region and there is a growing craft beer scene down in the foothills of the Shawnee National Forest.

I recently spent 1 day down there visiting some of the breweries but 1 day is not enough. Ideally you would want at least a weekend to be able to visit the breweries and the wineries in the area. Also that would give you more time to enjoy some of the surrounding areas parks like Giant City State Park and Garden of the Gods.

First stop was to visit Kaskaskia Brewery in Red Bud, IL. They have recently expanded and moved into a bigger location right next door to where they used to be. The taproom is space has been doubled in the new addition. We were disappointed though that they only had 3 of their own beers on tap. They also had several other regional beers on tap as well. Anyways, I ordered their Octoberfest and my brother got their amber. The Octoberfest was a good marzen style beer, malty and reddish in color. It went down quite good.

Well, back in the car and pedal to the metal to get to Big Muddy in Murphysboro, IL  before they closed. We made it there in plenty of time and no we weren't the ones driving, my sister in law was the designated driver. Bellied up to the bar and we both got their Galaxy IPA since we are both hopheads and love IPA's. Galaxy IPA has a whole slew of nothing but galaxy hops in it. Great hop aromas to it and went down well with a little bit of bitterness to it. Next was their Winter Ale and this has a lot of flavors going on in it like cinnamon, ginger and vanilla. Was medium bodied and not too heavy, just right for the colder months. As always, the hospitality at Big Muddy Brewing was top notch.

Onto the next brewery before they close to, we had a late start so we didn't get down to southern Illinois until the late afternoon. About 15 minutes later we made it to Little Egypt Brewery in Ava, IL. Little Egypt is small nanobrewery that brews small batches on a 1.5 barrel system. Ken Rhude is the owner and only employee there and he was very friendly and quite knowledgeable about the craft beer scene. He was saying that next year he plans to open up a bigger facility in Carbondale, IL. Best of luck to him. On to the beers, I got a flight of beers and my brother got a pint of the red ale. Well, my brother didn't care for the red ale and I'm like that's why I get a flight first to see which one I like the best to order a full size pint. I had the award winning hefeweizen, IPA, pale ale, and saison. Well, the hefeweizen was outstanding with that banana clove aroma and no wonder why it won the gold medal at the GABF this year. The IPA was really good as well and I wound up getting a growler of it. Excellent beers and excellent hospitality and look forward to going back there again some time.

Well, by now we were all getting hungry for some dinner so we got back into the car and headed for the St. Nicholas Brewing Company in Du Quoin, IL. St. Nicholas had just recently opened up in an old historic hotel and they also serve food which is what we all needed at this time. Lo and behold we got there too late as they had already closed their kitchen for the night. They roll up the red carpet early down in southern Illinois. Well, I ordered a flight of four beers, I couldn't leave without at least sampling some of the beer. I had to down them down pretty quick though cause the rest of the gang had already piled back into the car to search for some food for our starving bellies.

I will have to get back down there again real soon to actually enjoy the beer and food at St. Nicholas Brewery. Plus we didn't have time to go to Scratch Brewery which is also located in Ava, IL. Was a fun time down in the southern Illinois area even if it was a bit rushed just to get to breweries before they closed. Cheers.




Little Egypt Beer
St Nicholas Brewing Company
Kaskaskia Brewing Company
Big Muddy Brewing

Engrained Brewing Company

So, since I'm the beer traveler of the bunch my brother and sister in law ask me where we going. Okay, so how about heading down to Engrained Brewing Company in Springfield and we can get lunch there as well as sample some of their beers. It was only about an hour and a half drive from their place in Peoria. My sister in law punched in the wrong address into the GPS but we finally found it.

Engrained Brewing Company is more of a brewpub than it is a production brewery. And the food that they serve there is farm to fork in that they try and utilize local produce and natural meats from the surrounding community. Of course I ordered a flight of beers to go along with my angus beef bacon cheeseburger. My brother got a flight of beers as well and the special jalepeno burger that was on special.

I got their blackberry lager, Red Pale Ale, IPA and their saison. The blackberry lager was a kolsch style beer with hints of the blackberries. Not too fruity but good none the less. Next sample was the red pale ale and this had a nice hop aromas to it and was lightly reddish in color. Then it was on to more hops and their IPA. Their IPA was nice and bitter with a crisp clean finish. Finished it all off with their saison. Hints of peppercorn were notable and a dry finish for the saison.

Good food and good beers at a good price and family friendly too. Located close to the highway too so if your ever in the middle part of the state and need a break from all the historical places, I'd recommend heading in to Engrained Brewing. Cheers.


Engrained Brewing Company

Peoria Brewing Company

Was down by my brothers over the past weekend and wanted to check out the Peoria Brewing Company. My brother has been there a few times already and likes their Rothgar Rye PA. A good size crowd was on hand so they must be doing something right. They had about 8 beers on tap in their tap room. Tap room was a fairly good size with numerous tables and half a dozen HDTV's. Oh and the other end of the facility had indoor golfing game too. I ordered a flight of beers and my brother went with a pint of the Rothgar.

On my flight of 4 beers I chose the Rothgar Rye PA, Yippy IPA, Honey Do, and Erik the Red. I started out with the Honey Do, typical wheat beer made with honey, nothing really special about it. Next sample I tasted was the Erik the Red which was a little better but still pretty average beer. I had the Rothgar and that was the best beer that I had sampled to this point. And granted everyone has different tastes so what I enjoy drinking might not be the same for you. Anyways it had a nice rye flavor and hop aroma to it. Lastly was Yippy IPA which they said was a double IPA but it tasted more like a barleywine and I'm not a huge fan of barleywines to begin with. Needless to say I didn't like it at all and thought it tasted yucky.

We didn't stay there too long, heck I didn't even finish my last sample cause I about spit it out after first tasting it. I totally was disappointed after looking forward to coming here. Maybe over time they can work to improve on their recipes and start to brew better beers. Just not my thing for now. Cheers.

Peoria Brewing Company

Generations Brewing

A generation ago the Germans settled into Freeport, IL some 25 miles or so west of Rockford. And since that day they have been referred to as Pretzel City, USA. Now a generation later comes a brand new craft brewery to the region, Generations Brewing Co.

They just recently opened up their taproom so I took a drive out there this past Saturday to check it out. A fairly good sized taproom with about a dozen tables and a view into the brewery. I bellied up to the bar and ordered a flight of beers. You get five 4 oz. samples with their flight. I chose 4 of their beers and the one guest beer they had on tap. First sample was Hella Good, a kolsch brewed with Gambrinus honey malt and orange blossom honey. A pretty solid lighter beer to start off with. Next up was Pretzel City Amber which was actually brewed with pretzels and was good, just needed a nice soft Bavarian pretzel to go along with it. Next up was their extra pale ale, No Promises. This was more hoppy for being an extra pale ale. Each batch will use different hops so each batch will have a different hop profile. This one they used some local grown hops which is a nice touch to support your local community. Onto a saison called 5 Blend that uses not 1 yeast strain but a blend of 5 different yeast strains. Very good beer as well. Fifth and final sample was a beer from another new brewery that is soon to open up, Lena Brewing Company, more info on them as soon as they open up.

They were giving tours at the brewery the day I visited and even though I've been on plenty of brewery tours where ya see the same things, stainless steel brew kettles, bright tanks, and fermentation tanks, I did the tour anyways. Tour lasted about a half hour and you can take your beer with you as you are doing the tour.

Great way to spend an afternoon at a local brewery, well not too local to me, I did have to drive about an hour and half to get there but it was worth it. Looking forward to seeing how they progress and best of luck to them in the future. Cheers.

Generations Brewing Company