The Collaboration: Brewday At Mygrain
As you all know by now, we are teaming up with Joliet's own Mygrain Brewing Co. to make some badass beer. Yesterday we drove over to the brewery to roll up our sleeves and get to work on "Escape From Stateville."
The Process:
I'm sure many of you are wondering how this whole process began. About a year ago, our staff caught wind of a new brewery opening in downtown Joliet. When this happened, I, a Facebook-obsessed beer slinger, messaged the brewery to see what they were all about. From there, I stayed in contact with brewery management. In early December, the brewery messaged me that they were finally ready to sell us some of their beer, and we set up a last minute tasting at the store to accompany the beer. In a hilarious turn of events, the day that we received their beer just so happened to be the same day that we received our allotment of Founders CBS. As I arrived to work that Friday afternoon, I walked past about 100 people who were waiting in line in hopes of getting their hands on the CBS. As the line grew, customers began to file in. While the Joliet faithful waited in line for their CBS, the Mygrain staff, led by co-owner Vince and head brewer Dan, passed out free samples of their Stateville stout and Pilcher's Ale. As I was working on a cash register during the busy rush, I noticed that Mygrain had stolen at least some of the spotlight from the CBS release, as dozens of customers entered my checkout lane with several 4-packs of Mygrain beers. It was at this moment that I realized that Joliet was in for a real treat.
Later that night, after the crowd thinned out, I approached Dan and asked him about linking up with us and doing a collaboration. Super excited about the successful tasting event (and the bottle of CBS that I saved for him), Dan was on board right away. Over the course of the following week, my co-workers and I spitballed a few ideas about what type of beer to brew. Since it was early December at the time, we knew that a stout would be perfect. The more difficult decision was, what type of flavored stout did we want to make. We changed our minds every hour, starting with cookie dough, changing to peanut butter, all the way to caramel apple. Finally, we decided that we wanted to make a stout with a "rocky road" flavor profile. Since Mygrain already had a chocolate stout called Stateville, we decided to continue that theme and went with "Escape from Stateville," as our moniker.
The Beer:
"Escape From Stateville," is an imperial chocolate stout brewed with marshmallow and nuts. The beer will be pretty strong, weighing in at approximately 8.5% ABV. Last night, we began the process of brewing the first batch, which will hit our shelves in about a month.
The Brewery:
Mygrain is a beautiful, brand new state-of-the art brewery and restaurant in the heart of downtown Joliet. It's a nice relaxed change-of-pace from the courthouse and ten thousand law firms located nearby. We had a helluva time brewing beer and hanging out with the staff. The beer menu is diverse, featuring everything from stouts to Belgian quads, with a lot of in-between. Mygrain also boasts a delicious dinner menu, featuring many gut-filling entrees, which are perfect after imbibing a few cold ones.
The Process:
I'm sure many of you are wondering how this whole process began. About a year ago, our staff caught wind of a new brewery opening in downtown Joliet. When this happened, I, a Facebook-obsessed beer slinger, messaged the brewery to see what they were all about. From there, I stayed in contact with brewery management. In early December, the brewery messaged me that they were finally ready to sell us some of their beer, and we set up a last minute tasting at the store to accompany the beer. In a hilarious turn of events, the day that we received their beer just so happened to be the same day that we received our allotment of Founders CBS. As I arrived to work that Friday afternoon, I walked past about 100 people who were waiting in line in hopes of getting their hands on the CBS. As the line grew, customers began to file in. While the Joliet faithful waited in line for their CBS, the Mygrain staff, led by co-owner Vince and head brewer Dan, passed out free samples of their Stateville stout and Pilcher's Ale. As I was working on a cash register during the busy rush, I noticed that Mygrain had stolen at least some of the spotlight from the CBS release, as dozens of customers entered my checkout lane with several 4-packs of Mygrain beers. It was at this moment that I realized that Joliet was in for a real treat.
Later that night, after the crowd thinned out, I approached Dan and asked him about linking up with us and doing a collaboration. Super excited about the successful tasting event (and the bottle of CBS that I saved for him), Dan was on board right away. Over the course of the following week, my co-workers and I spitballed a few ideas about what type of beer to brew. Since it was early December at the time, we knew that a stout would be perfect. The more difficult decision was, what type of flavored stout did we want to make. We changed our minds every hour, starting with cookie dough, changing to peanut butter, all the way to caramel apple. Finally, we decided that we wanted to make a stout with a "rocky road" flavor profile. Since Mygrain already had a chocolate stout called Stateville, we decided to continue that theme and went with "Escape from Stateville," as our moniker.
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| Vince, Co-Owner of Mygrain Pouring Samples |
The Beer:
"Escape From Stateville," is an imperial chocolate stout brewed with marshmallow and nuts. The beer will be pretty strong, weighing in at approximately 8.5% ABV. Last night, we began the process of brewing the first batch, which will hit our shelves in about a month.
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| A glassful of our beer, before it is actually beer. We pitched the yeast in later that night. |
Mygrain is a beautiful, brand new state-of-the art brewery and restaurant in the heart of downtown Joliet. It's a nice relaxed change-of-pace from the courthouse and ten thousand law firms located nearby. We had a helluva time brewing beer and hanging out with the staff. The beer menu is diverse, featuring everything from stouts to Belgian quads, with a lot of in-between. Mygrain also boasts a delicious dinner menu, featuring many gut-filling entrees, which are perfect after imbibing a few cold ones.
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| Me, my old man and the boys making some freaking awesome beer! |
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