Kinslahger Brewing Company, 6806 Roosevelt Rd, Oak Park, IL 60304 phone: #844-552-4437   website: Kinslahger.com/
Hours: Mon - Tue: Closed | Wed - Thu: 4pm - 10pm | Fri: 4pm - 12am | Sat: 12pm - 12am | Sun: 12pm - 5pm

Experience before you go . . .

The year 2020, who would of thunk! I remember the millennium, year 2000 like it was yesterday. And according to the people that know way more then us, the world was coming to an end! The Techno World just couldn't figure out how the running tally was going to go from 1999 to 2000! Mass hysteria ensued, lawyers were working overtime updating Last Will & Testaments, people were loading up on bottled water and refried beans, now all of this didn't matter because nobody was going to be around the next day anyhow. People were hunkered down, head between their knees, and the normal Dick Clark Times Square count down had a whole new meaning! 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1...........then, nothing happened! It was like the Wizard of Oz when the Munchkins came out of their homes, their gardens, their flower pots after the Wicked Witch of the East died. We're safe and alive to see another day. Now fast forward to 2020, a lot of people are saying they have more focus, they see thing more clearly, they've seen the light.....because of 20-20 vision, cute, marketing genius ploy. For me it's means I'm getting old fast. Between my ears I still feel like I'm in my 30's or 40's, but my body is definitely reminding me daily, that I'm not. Time to stop worrying and start living! Time to shut the door and leave a note! Time to look around and count your blessings! Time to change the subject and start writing about our first Hoppin' Brewery Tour of 2020!! I know folks, I love going off the rails, let's just hope that as time goes on, I'll always be able to find my way back on.

All right, a trip to the frozen Midwest in January is a little unorthodox considering I'm coming from sunny Tucson where the temps are in the 70's. But I had to take care of some business and drive up to northern Wisconsin to see a buddy and have some fun. So business and trip to Wisconsin done and Saturday was rolling in and I reached out to my Beer Drinking Buddy Brad and low and behold.....we both had a hankering for a Tour. The Tour logistics started to pick up speed as we discussed the possibility of not just doing one but three and this would mean the HBT would hit the infamous #100 mark!!! Quite the milestone considering each tour takes at least a couple hours with travel time, we spend at least $30, give or take, takes us 30 minutes to wipe the smile off our face, takes a couple hours to write up each tour and then it takes a couple hours to post it to the website......thank God it's a labor of love and not a money making endeavor because we'd be going broke fast....lol.

So I picked up Brad and he was dressed to kill with the comfy yellow chamois shirt, blue jeans, white socks and at first I thought I saw slippers but no, just slip ons. I wore the scratchy wool black and red lumberjack shirt (w/o hatchet in tow) tight fitting jeans (lol) and also slip ons. Slip-ons.....with the baby boomer generation being front and center, slip-ons on a daily basis are getting more and more popular. Bending over and constantly tying tennis shoes or other shoe strings is a pain and I wish I would of seen this trend coming 25 years ago I would of started a new company......."Clyde's Slip Ons"! My motto would of been "Easy Peasy"! I could of been rich!!!!

First stop of the day was Kinslahger Brewing Company. Down interstate 88 to Oak Park where in somewhat close proximity there where several breweries. Some of which we'd already toured and some new ones. In total HBT fashion, Siri said, "You've arrived", but Kinslahger was nowhere in site. So we continued down Roosevelt to the next block and as Siri told us to, "Make a u-turn" right there to our left was Kinslahger....go figure!! Front sign selfie and in we went. Black and white and you could eat off the floors, that is if you wanted too. Kind of a minimalist look to it and we instantly liked it. Table and chairs to the right, bar running the wall to the left...easy peasy, I guess I like easy peasy! A nice guy at the bar scooched down a stool making room for the two yutes. Brad and I slide in with HBT card already locked and loaded in my left hand. With one fluid motion the left arm and hand are extended towards Maxwell behind the bar and I immediately offer up the 15 second elevator speech for all to hear. The Hoppin Brewery Tour has landed for the 98th time right here in Oak Park, Illinois. Maxwell precedes to give us a little brewery background info and as he's talking I can't get out of my head, "🎼Bang bang, Maxwell 's silver hammer came down upon her head, 🎼Klang, Klang, Maxwell's silver hammer made sure that she was dead🎼"! From the Beatles 1969 album Abbey Road, Maxwell's Silver Hammer was a dark and dreary song about a chap named Maxwell Edison that murdered women with a hammer. Paul wrote the lyrics and Ringo, John and George hated the song but Paul pushed it through and because of the internal upheaval within the band over this song, Maxwell Silver Hammer is sited as one of the underlining reasons the band broke up.......music history lesson for the day folks!! Exclusive and only here on the HBT!!!

Beer started to flow and I had a Kinslahger flight starting off with a Sauvin Blanc (6.7%, 22 IBU) very light and unique, Nelson Sauvin & Hallertau Blanc hops create a Sauvignon Blanc feel with a crisp taste and dry finish. Next we had the India Pale Lager (6.0%, 50 IBU) a brewing experiment with lager fermentation and flavor a of new hop varieties. Chicago Common - Rye (7.5%, 58 IBU) spicy rye, medium full body with pine and earthy hop flavor. Last we had the Meditator - Doppelbock (9.8%,) smooth with cascading malt flavors, delicious and dangerous at 9.8%.

Sometimes when Brad and I have multiple tours in one day a theme emerges either organically or self imposed. Back in August 2018 when we wore out the Quad-Cities in Iowa with Seven Tours in one day the theme was HBT matching shirts with old high school buds and looking like we were the Olympic Curling Team.....and I might add that record still stands and might never be challenged. Or the December 2017 when five breweries were slayed in one evening in and around downtown Dallas. That evening was all family old and not so old to show that we still had it and weren't afraid to flaunt it.....allthough nobody was really looking! So on this cold January afternoon the theme hadn't really taken shape until we were well into the third and final tour of the day. And I'll give you a hint.....music!!!

To my left we have Brian. Brian looks awfully familiar and he thought the same thing about me. We tried a couple, "Have you ever lived here, do you know so and so, have you ever watched the movie Breakfast Club in your boxers while eating lucky charms"? We had no common threads so we just sat there drinking good beer and enjoying each other's company. Get this and this is way cool, Brian makes hand made guitar amplifiers and we're not talking for the garage band down the block, which he's made some of those as well. No were talking Joe Walsh, Brad Paisley and Billy Corgan just to name a few, Rick Rubin's Shangri-la Studio in Malibu and Blackbird Studio in Nashville. Check out CarstensAmplification.com if you want to up your game. All the success and happiness to you Brian...carry on!!

I know, I know this is a long one and not a whole bunch about beer. But we loved Kinslahger Brewing, it's clean not cluttered, it's all about Lagers, Steve the head brewer knows beer and the clock on the wall is always set on 3:11 which is when they opened 3:11:2015.

Until next time and remember.....

Go get'cha one!!!