What Makes 3 Floyds Brewery
‘Not Normal’
The brewery needed to upgrade their operations to meet customer needs. Floyd laid the groundwork for even more expansion in 2015 with the purchase of a $4 million bottling line and he purchased the building next to his brewery to build a distillery for gin, whiskey and other spirits.
Three Floyds has become one of the most popular breweries in the country, producing more than 50,000 barrels of their popular beers. The brewery is especially well-known for these three beers: Their flagship American pale ale Alpha King, a ghoulishly named American pale ale Zombie Dust and a Russian imperial stout named Dark Lord. And yes, it is dark. If February, they produced a pilsner named Hopped Half.
The brewery, which is about 30 miles south of Chicago right over the Indiana border, has grown 30% to 40% each year for the last few years, even without traditional marketing plans or advertising. This success is even more impressive when you consider that craft breweries are popping up left and right in and around Chicagoland. But Floyd remains unfazed. Year after year, beer enthusiasts have ranked Three Floyds on ratebeer.com as one of the top brewers in world.
Heat it up at
Charcoal Bar in Old Town
And when your GPS is taking you into an industrial park, you know you’re on the right track – their building is pretty unassuming considering their cult following.
Their events are also extremely popular. Tickets to the annual Dark Lord Day, where about 8,000 lucky customers can buy Three Floyds' Russian imperial stout and listen to heavy metal music, sells out in minutes.
3 Floyds Brewing Co.
9750 Indiana Parkway, Munster, Indiana (219) 922-4425
3floyds.com • Facebook.com/threefloydsbrepub/ • Twitter.com/3floyds/
Goose Island Still Going Strong
And when your GPS is taking you into an industrial park, you know you’re on the right track – their building is pretty unassuming considering their cult following.
Their events are also extremely popular. Tickets to the annual Dark Lord Day, where about 8,000 lucky customers can buy Three Floyds' Russian imperial stout and listen to heavy metal music, sells out in minutes.
Before drinking the drinks at Charcoal Bar, guests can order food from Sumi Robata Restaurant, which has a total night and day difference, with its bright, zen-like design. Guests can have lamb with spicy miso seasoning or wagyu ribeye steak. Vegan options include appetizers like edamame or grilled asparagus.
You can also order off the Sumi restaurant menu to eat at Charcoal Bar.
The atmosphere at Charcoal Bar is just as appealing as the food and drinks. In keeping with the charcoal theme of Sumi Robata, some wooden planks are charred to give the illusion of fire. The River North bar seats only 11 on a first-come, first-serve basis, so guests should plan to arrive early.
702 N. Wells St., Chicago, IL • 312-988-7864
Goose Island is probably safe in this regard, having been acquired by Anheuser-Busch (AB) in 2011. While Ken says there was an initial fear that AB’s involvement might rob the brewery of its independent spirit, he has nothing but praise for the company. He says it’s not an “us” and “them” relationship, but rather an “all of us” mentality. He adds that Goose Island could have gone the “private equity route.” “But AB,” he says, “understands our need to pursue the best ingredients we can get our hands on.” That includes use of the largest contiguous hop farms in the United States, which is located in Idaho and stretches four and a half miles long.
Ken is especially proud of the company’s yeast management. “It’s the most important ingredient. It defines the beer’s style, imparting 50 to 70 percent of the beer’s flavor profile.” Most breweries only use three or four yeast strains. “There’s nothing wrong with that, by itself,” says Ken, “but what happens is that all the styles of beer coming out of that brewery start to taste vaguely alike.” A “house flavor,” he calls it. Goose Island uses 20 different yeast strains. The 20 strains are “a tough thing for our lab and our brewers to manage, but the return on that is, we can look you straight in the eye and say ‘we have a true portfolio of beers.’” True beer connoisseurs can taste the difference.
Ken is also proud of the brewery’s barrel-aging program. The company will brew a certain style of beer then age it in either a bourbon barrel for about a year or in a wine barrel for 18 months. That’s what gave birth to the company’s signature “Bourbon County Stout,” back in 1992. Bourbon County Stout was a brew developed as a celebration of Goose Island’s one-thousandth batch of beer. Aging the beer in a bourbon barrel really does make a difference in flavor, according to Ken.
“The beer settles into the barrel and picks up all the subtleties and nuances of the bourbon trapped in the wood, and [the reaction is] ‘Holy cow, this is beautiful. This is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced with beer.’”
In fact, it’s become a Thanksgiving weekend tradition. Bourbon County Stout is sold only on Black Friday, and just like all those folks who line up for Black Friday shopping deals, fans of Bourbon County Stout will camp outside their favorite liquor store to make sure they don’t miss out. It sells out fast, usually in one day. “It’s an event,” Ken says.
Another event unique to Goose Island is its 312 Urban Block Party, an annual event held in September that draws thousands of people. This year’s event was expanded to two days and included plenty of food and live music. This was also the first year the block party was held right outside the brewery’s new taproom, a two thousand foot expansion completed in May. Ken calls the taproom a “dream come true.” It’s the place where all the brewery tours start.
Be on the lookout this fall for Goose Island’s launch of a pilsner called Goose Four Star Pils. The “four stars” are a reference to the four stars on the Chicago flag. One last Goose Island fact just to make you a little envious: Each Goose Island employee gets 20 free pints of beer per month in the taproom—a nice reward for a hard day’s work!
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So when should you make a trip out to Munster to try a Zombie Dust, Alpha King or Dark Lord? Expect to see a line of customers waiting to get into the brew pub's 11:30 a.m. opening to get their hands on a draft or hard-to-find bottles to take home. Currently, they’re selling six packs and cases of Yum Yum, Zombie Dust, Gumballhead and Alpha King and 22 ounce bombers of Big Tiddy Assassin, Blog Out the Sun, Deesko and Blackmasking. Always check their website for an update on what’s being featured.