All you need is love ... 

... and chocolate!

BrickStone Brewery is a stop on the Village of Friendship's Chocolate Tour on Saturday, February 3rd, 2018. This year, our Chef has handcrafted Chocolate Cherry Bomb Truffles for the event. 

McCormick Place gets its own craft beer from BrickStone

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-mccormick-place-beer-0210-biz-20170209-story.html

Contact:  Michelle Benson

michelle@createmomentum.com

708-907-5301

 

 

SAVOR…CHICAGO AND BRICKSTONE BREWERY UNVEIL McCORMICK PLACE EVERYDAY PALE ALE

FIRST OF ITS KIND BRANDED BREW FOR North America’s largest convention center

 

 

 

[CHICAGO, February 7, 2017]  Brewed using hops grown in the rooftop garden atop McCormick Place’s West Building, McCormick Place Everyday Ale is a refreshing pale ale with a light malt backbone and hopped with Citra, Amarillo and Cascade hops. It is the country’s first branded ale brewed for a convention center using locally-sourced ingredients.

 

The thirst-quenching ale is the result of SAVOR…Chicago working with local Brickstone Brewery to create a McCormick Place-branded brew that uses hops grown this past season in the rooftop garden.  McCormick Place Everyday Ale is available in both cans and on tap in select McCormick Place locations during the Chicago Auto Show and throughout the year.

 

“For many visitors coming to Chicago for a trade show, McCormick Place may be the spot where they spend most of their time. We want to introduce these visitors to the region’s many wonderful makers, brewers, and bakers,” explained Doug Bradley, SAVOR…Chicago Vice President of Culinary. “This local partnership is a great way for us to showcase the region and produce a flavorful, uniquely Chicago brew.”

 

“It's really a great honor to partner with McCormick place and SAVOR,” said BrickStone’s BrewMaster, Tommy Vasilakis. “We had great time working together and we hope you enjoy McCormick Place Every Day Ale as much as we enjoyed brewing it.”

 

BrickStone Brewery first opened its doors in 2006 and started with a 5-barrel brewing system. Within a few years, their microbrews, made right on site with only the finest hops & malts, had gained such popularity that they expanded to a state of the art Newlands brew house with a capacity of 25 bbl brews and most recently opened a production brewery with a fully automated 50 bbl brew house with canning capabilities. Today, BrickStone is best known for its diverse selection of award-winning beers, including 2012 GABF gold medal and 2012 World Beer Cup bronze medal APA and 2013 GABF gold medal Belgo APA. They are located in Bourbonnais, Illinois.

About Chicago’s McCormick Place

McCormick Place, the largest exhibition and meeting facility in North America, is comprised of four state-of-the-art buildings, the North, South and West Buildings, the Lakeside Center, and the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place hotel. Combined, McCormick Place offers 2.6 million square feet of exhibit space, 173 meeting rooms, the 4,249-seat Arie Crown Theater and one of the largest ballrooms in the world.

 

Located on Chicago’s lakefront just minutes from downtown, McCormick Place is owned by the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and managed by SMG, a worldwide convention facility management company.  For more information, please visit www.mccormickplace.com  or on facebook.com/mccormickplace and twitter.com/mccormick_place.

 

SAVOR

SAVOR, a leader in convention center catering, concessions and special events, took over McCormick Place foodservice operations September 28, 2011. SAVOR is part of SMG, the largest public facilities management company in the world

including McCormick Place as of August 1, 2011.  In 2010, 17 convention centers where SAVOR provides food and beverage service won prestigious Prime Site Awards from Facilities & Destinations.

 

SAVOR is an industry leader in introducing green standards and programs to public facilities. As the food and beverage provider to facilities with some of the most stringent environmental policies in the world, we have researched the matter extensively and work closely with community and facility managers to develop environmentally friendly

operations focused on minimizing carbon footprint by purchasing locally produced, sustainably raised product, using non-petroleum-based packaging and recycling or composting waste whenever possible. www.savorchicagomcpl.com

 

SMG

Since 1977, SMG has provided management services to more than 220 public assembly facilities worldwide, including arenas, stadiums, theatres and performing arts centers, equestrian facilities, convention, congress and exhibition centers, science centers and a variety of other venues. Across the globe, SMG manages more than 14 million square feet of exhibition space and more than 1.75 million arena and theatre seats. As the recognized global industry leader, SMG provides venue management, sales, marketing, event booking and programming, construction and design consulting, and pre-opening services. SMG also offers food and beverage operations through its concessions and catering division of SAVOR, currently serving more than 100 accounts worldwide. www.smgworld.com

 

 

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Good Beer Hunting Interview with Sandy Vox

Check out what Sandy has to say about the beer industry. You will hear her mention BrickStone around the 24 minute mark. http://goodbeerhunting.com/gbh-podcast/2017/2/3/ep-111-sandy-vox-of-jewel-osco

BrickStone Brewery earns three more Gold medals from the Beverage Testing Institute

Bourbonnais, IL (April 19, 2016) – BrickStone Brewery earns three more Gold medals from the Beverage Testing Institute for BrickStone APA, HopSkip and Galaxy Down Under in the North American and British Ales category. “I feel very honored to have all three brews tested ranked among the top rated American style pale ales and American style IPAs,” said John Thompson, brewer for BrickStone Brewery.

The Beverage Testing Institute gave Galaxy Down Under Pale Ale a score of 95 points calling it “a fresh, nicely extroverted tropical hop bomb of flavor and goodness.” This brew is bold, bitter, hoppy & malty with the aroma of spiced pineapples and mangoes, toasted Hawaiian bread, bee pollen and caramelized onions. This is the first year that BrickStone Brewery has released this brew. While it is available only for a limited time on draft, you will see this brew come back for a visit every year.

BrickStone APA was awarded a score of 94 points from the Beverage Testing Institute. This brew is also bold, bitter, malty & hoppy but with the aroma of spiced mangoes & apricots, chive-garlic-herb bread and pine blossom. It is “a super lively and tropical pale ale.” BrickStone APA is one of BrickStone’s flagship brews available year round in both draft and in cans.

The third brew that earned a gold medal was HopSkip earning an exceptional score of 93 points from the Beverage Tasting Institute. This malty & hoppy brew is both smooth and mild. It has the aroma of caramelized mangoes and pineapples, pepper herb muffin, pine blossom and sage with the flavor of honeyed grapefruit peel, spicy orange soufflé, roasted sweet potato, and birch bark. According to the Beverage Testing Institute, this brew will appeal to “citra heads.” HopSkip is available year round in both draft and cans.

Last year, the Beverage Testing Institute awarded BrickStone Dark Secret Russian Imperial Stout a gold medal and included BrickStone Dark Secret among the top rated for flavored stout.

About BrickStone Brewery:  BrickStone Brewery first opened as a brewpub in 2006 and quickly became known as the place where people meet for hand-crafted brews in an inviting atmosphere. Although delicious cuisine has always been a large part of the overall experience, BrickStone’s award-winning craft brews have been gaining more and more recognition regionally and nationwide. Because of the growing demands of the ever expanding craft beer market, last year BrickStone opened a full-scale brewery just a half mile from the brewpub to increase production capabilities. For more information about BrickStone, please visit www.brickstonebrewery.com 

About BTI: The Beverage Testing Institute was founded in 1981 as America's premier source for wine, beer, and spirits reviews for consumers and a boutique, specialty marketing service for the drinks trade. For more information about BTI's competitions and review services, please visit http://www.tastings.com/trade.html

BrickStone among great company!

BrickStone APA has been listed in Chicago Tribune's Eat This, Drink This 25 Essential Chicago Beers!

Dark Secret Dark Matter Collaboration earns Gold in BTI's World Beer Championships

The Beverage Testing Institute awarded BrickStone's Dark Secret Russian Imperial Stout a Gold medal in the Stout, Porters, & Strong Ales competition held last month. BrickStone's Dark Secret is released annually on Black Friday. This year's variance was aged in Dark Matter El Rosaro coffee beans which were barrel-aged then roasted to a medium dark and blended with Giant Step dark roast.

BTI gave the brew a rating of 92 (exceptional) and described it as, "Opaque black color. Dense aromas and flavors of dark roasted coffee beans, burnt sugar and nuts, burnt raisin toast, and wood with a velvety, soft, under-carbonated, dryish medium-to-full body and a warming, medium-length finish with elements of espresso gelato, smoked nuts, caramel cream, and honeycomb with light oak. An intense coffee stout for real coffee connoisseurs that has an interesting arc from burnt to sweet."

"We're very proud of this brew," said BrewMaster Tommy Vasilakis. "We are extremely fortunate to have collaborated with Dark Matter and their fun and talented team. We knew from the first sip of coffee that we just had to work with them."