Beer reviews and blog posts by Tom Smillie
Tom started his journey into the beer world the summer of 2007. What began as a simple post-garage-cleaning beer with his Dad turned into a love for this “art in fermented form.” Adhering to the motto I can try everything once, Tom's goal is to sample just about every beer ever created. Trying styles ranging from Pilsner to Oak Aged Stouts to Flemish Red Ales, his tastes are varied. Tom's favorite styles are ESBs, Stouts, and Wheats. About a year after he started sampling, he began home brewing.
Rogue John John Juniper Pale Ale
Glancing over the “new arrivals” section of my local store my eye caught a few Rogue beers. It didn’t take long to pull the trigger, disregarding the beers I came for and making the purchase. One of the bottles that I happened to pick up was the second of a series of...
Chatoe Rogue First Growth Single Malt Ale
GYO simply put stands for Grow Your Own. Since I’ve taken up a green thumb and decided to grow my own hops this summer this beer appealed to the horticulturalist in me. Rogue brewery is located near one of the best hop growing regions of the world so the decision to...
Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale
That last week brought with it an unwelcomed guest by the name of Sickness. I’m sure you’ve all meet him before. He usually is accompanied by massive congestion, headaches, sneezing, boxes of Kleenex, and coughing. Due to my sensory system being out of commission I...
Summit India Style Rye Ale
Every once and a while I come across a beer that leaves me utterly perplexed, yet amazed. Summit Brewing Co is responsible for this most recent occurrence. This beer comes in as the 3rd in a systematic release of special brews Summit calls their Unchained Series....
Dogfish Head Pangaea
As it turns out I have 1 pint and 9.6 fluid ounces of pure Dogfish Head staring me in the face right now. The colossal beer I’m about to embark on is known as Pangaea. Skipping over a potential debate regarding evolution, let me just say that the idea behind this beer...
Stone Smoked Porter
Last Friday when I sampled and reviewed this beer, the week seemed to drag on longer than it needed to. After a night of dinner and bowling with some friends, I came home and simply wanted to unwind. In keeping with a tradition I started 2 years ago of having a...
Harpoon IPA
The first time I had Harpoon’s IPA I was mildly disappointed. As their flagship beer my expectations were high hoping that it would be a knock-out product. Thankful, I had one more in the fridge with which to review. I must say that it has grown on me and should be...
Rock Bottom Minooka Milk Stout
As I sit down to write a couple reviews I poured a thick, motor oil milk stout to enjoy. Naturally, this demanded its own review so here is a quick shout out for a local favorite. Rock Bottom at Yorktown (Lombard, IL.) has a great line up of beers along with some...
Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale
While April 1st is a day of fools the release of Stone Brewing Co. beers for sale in Illinois was no joke. A week long event was made of it and coupled with the Craft Brewers Conference here in Chicago this city as got quite a buzz. For those of us in the Midwest,...Building My Own Home Brewing Equipment
I had a couple goals for the day with regards to preparing for my next batch. 1. Read up on all grain brewing and partial mashing from the following books. The Brew-Master’s Bible – Stephen Snyder The Complete Joy of Homebrewing – Charlie Papazian...
Sierra Nevada Fritz and Ken’s Ale
Congratulations Sierra Nevada on 30 years of brewing excellence!!! Over the course of this year Ken Grossman is joining together with some of the key pioneers is the craft brewing industry to create some special brews for Sierra’s thirty year celebration. If you have...
Emmett’s Victory Pale Ale
While this beer in bottle form is a new arrival, the significance behind it is rather nostalgic. Last summer I had the privilege of being on a softball team with a random group of guys. Our captain got Emmett’s Ale House to sponsor us which would turn out to be a...Brewing Contest Results: Common Place
One of my favorite beers is Anchor Steam beer. After my first glass I was not exactly sure what caused me to fall in love with it? Given some time a few qualities stood out. First, I enjoyed the piney hop character which was different than beers I had sampled in the...
Petrus Oud Bruin
Finally! After trying this beer on tap at the Bavarian Lodge I have found it in bottle form. Old Brown is very different than the Aged Pale I reviewed months ago. Where that was straight up sour to the point of puckering, this beer is mellowed and very enjoyable. I’ve...
Viru Premium Ekstra
Have you ever been duped? That is what happened to me when I purchased this beer…well, sort of. Before I bought the bottle I did note that it was produced in Estonia. If I have learned anything while sampling beer; it is that most formerly Soviet influenced countries...
Crown Valley Old School Pilsner
Sampling beer from a new brewery is a two sided coin. It excites me, but at the same time terrifies me. Most often it probably comes down to my line of thinking which goes something like, “this could be a really great beer or suck something fierce.” This new brewery I...
Flossmoor Station IPA
After buying a few new glasses yesterday I thought it would be nice to try them out and see if they make my beer drinking experience any better. I purchased a snifter that I had desperately been in need of for some time now, a goblet, and a tapered glass with that...
Home Brewing: Kitchen Sink Cream Ale
This Cream Ale was the last of the four brews I attempted of the winter months. I wanted to brew a beer that could be lagered for some time in case I forgot about it. Cream Ales are usually fermented at the low end of ale temps in order to produce a lager-like beer....
Eel River Acai Berry Wheat
Strolling through the liquor store my eye happened upon a beer I had never seen before. The brewery is based out of Northern California and will be visited by our very own PHMan Nate and his roommates in the coming weeks. Why this beer caught my attention was due to...
Tyranena Dirty Old Man
So over the week I’ve realized two things: 1) I need to buy a new snifter since mine broke two months ago during cleaning, and 2) Tyranena makes some amazingly delicious dark beers! If anyone would like to support a fellow beer geek and get me a snifter I’d appreciate...
Leinenkugel’s Oktoberfest
During a late Fall day after work I tried to soak up the remaining amounts of sun before the Winter months brought their gloomy clouds. With a camping chair and warm vest I just sat out in the backyard watching the squirrel frantically hide their foraged findings....
Mikkeller Warrior IPA
Sometimes you have to take risks and hope for the best outcome. That was the case with this brew. I had not see or heard of this brewery before, but the selection of beers stocked at the store seemed interesting enough to compel me to buy one. I’ve been on a hop kick...
Nøgne Ø Dobbel IPA
What do you get when you combine Kuetil Jikrun of Nogne O brewery and Toshi Ishii of Yo-Ho brewery? A Dobbel IPA that kicks ass! I found this beauty amongst the aisles in the singles section of the liquor store and it is buying off big dividends. The back of the label...