Thursday, April 21, 2016

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 soufflĂ©, 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

Sunday, June 7, 2015

BrickStone among great company!


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

Friday, January 16, 2015

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."

 

Sunday, July 6, 2014

They keep on brewing!

Tommy and the rest of the brewing team just keep on brewing away!

 
With plans to open a new production brewery this winter, the brewers of BrickStone keep on coming up with new recipes and even reinventing old ones for you! In addition to the popular Shady Summer American Wheat flavored with lemons, you can expect to see Hazy After Five, a Blood Orange Hefeweizen, and Dark Secret, a Russion Imperial Stout! A portion of the Dark Secret will even be barrel-aged and released at a later time!
 
 
 

Monday, June 23, 2014

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

BrickStone Restaurant & Brewery Taps Hops All Over Chicago This Summer

Bourbonnais, IL - - June 11, 2014 - - BrickStone Restaurant & Brewery  - the suburban Chicago brewpub that recently swept the American Beer Classic held at Soldier Field - is popping up all over town this summer, tapping its award-winning beers at some of the area’s top festivals.

“Chicagoans love their summer craft beers and we’re right there with them,” says BrickStone BrewMaster, Tommy Vasilakis. “We’re pouring our award-winning BrickStone APA, Belgo APA and other house brews at some very cool venues.”

Both APA’s recently took #1 and #2 “Best Beer” awards at the American Beer Classic.  BrickStone’s HopSkipNImDrunk secured the #3 position and the restaurant/brewpub was named  “Best Brewery.”

Craft beer fans can sample these brews and more at the following events:

Saturday, June 21, 2014: Berwyn Brew Fest
1 – 5pm at Proksa Park, 3001 Wisconsin Avenue, Berwyn, IL 60402
WEBSITE: http://www.berwynbrewfest.com

Saturday, June 21, 2014: 4th Annual Summer Solstice Craft Beer Festival
2 – 7pm at Blarney Stone, 15400 Cicero Avenue, Oak Forest, IL
WEBSITE: http://blarney-stone.net/events.html

Saturday, July 12, 2014: Barrington 11th Annual Brew Fest
3 – 7pm (VIP at 2:30pm) in Downtown Barrington , IL
WEBSITE: www.Barringtonbrewfest.com

Friday, July 18, 2014: 10th Anniversary Lawn Ball
7pm – 12am (VIP at 6pm) at Saddle & Cycle Club of Chicago, 900 West Foster Avenue, Chicago, IL
WEBSITE: http://www.bgcc.org/events/10th_anniversary_lawn_call/

Friday, July 18, 2014: Frankfort Park District Beer Tasting
7-9pm at Founders Community Center, 140 Oak Street, Frankfort, IL
WEBSITE: http://frankfortparks.org/special-events.aspx

Friday, June 25 – Saturday, June 26, 2014: Merchant Street Music Fest
In Depot Park, 199 S. East Avenue, Kankakee, IL
WEBSITE: www.merchantstreetmusicfest.com

Sunday, July 27, 2014: Beer Camp Across America – Midwest Edition
12 – 5pm at Navy Pier, 600 East Grand, Chicago, IL
WEBSITE: www.sierranevada.com/beercamp

BrickStone’s APA is also 2014 Beer Advocate’s 34 of 50 most popular beers  and Belgo APA was named the 2013 Great American Beer Fest gold-medal winner.

BrickStone released two new craft beers during the recent Chicago Craft Beer Week, including One Night Blonde IPA a light malt with hop bitterness and citrus flavor and aroming coming from Galaxy and Amarillo hops; and Kaffir Lime Lemon Grass IPA, a collaboration between BrickStone and DryHop Brewers.

About BrickStone Restaurant & Brewery

BrickStone Restaurant & Brewery opened as a small-town brewery in 2006 in Bourbonnais, IL., using a tiny, 5 barrel brewing system. By 2008, its hand-crafted microbrews - featuring the finest hops and malts - had gained such popularity that BrickStone expanded to a state-of-the-art Newlands Brewhouse with a capacity of 25 BBL brews.

Today, BrickStone is best known for its diverse selection of award-winning craft beers, including its 2012 Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal and 2012 World Beer Cup Bronze Medal winning BrickStone APA and 2013 Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal winning Belgo-APA.

In fall 2014, BrickStone Restaurant & Brewery will further expand by adding a separate, fully-automated 50 BBL Brewhouse and release a Blood Orange Hefeweizen and Robust Porter, among other unique brews. For more information, visit http://www.brickstonebrewery.com/.
 

Friday, May 30, 2014

Yes! Magazine's Ladies' Choice Awards

The Ladies' Choice Awards were just announced in Yes! magazine's June 2014 issue.  We are pleased to announce that BrickStone has earned two awards and our gal Haley is on the front cover!!!


 

2014 Yes! Ladies' Choice Awards:

          Best Bloody Mary for a Meal - BrickStone Brewery

          Best Date Night Place - BrickStone Brewery

(For a complete list of winners go to http://myyesmagazine.com/YES_June%202014/)


We are so proud to be named winner of these two categories and thank all of you for voting for us!!!