Nearly everything a moderate-bodied amber ale should be. Spicy red-orange fruiting and sharp hop bittering override caramel-toasted cereal graining. Fluttered red apple, brown pear, green grape and white peach illusions pick up slick diacetyl astringency that ruins initial promise.
O’SO MEMORY LANE GERMAN-STYLE PILSNER
Rustic pilsner malts bring light toasted graining to musty yellow-fruited dalliance and pungent wood-dried hop bittering. Polite carbolic fizz and faint phenol esters mask mild grapefruit niche while white-breaded bottom softens precipitously.
O’SO HOPDINGER
Confusingly confounding wordage regales modern art label of nickel-hued medium body. Pungent hop bittering gains resinous pine-needled mildness to satiate floral-bound dried fruiting. Honeyed fig and apricot undertones slither by teasing yellow grapefruit nip, settling softly at biscuity malt base.
O’SO NIGHT TRAIN
Gripping oatmeal porter loads dark-roasted mocha malts, creamy dark cocoa powdering and fudgy cookie dough yeast atop ashen wood-smoked hop char. Baker’s chocolate, Hershey’s chocolate, light-roasted coffee, vanilla and molasses subsidies deepen heady mocha theme to its capacious oats-sugared spine.
SOLEMN OATH NONE MORE BLACK
Interpolating a Cascadian Dark Ale (a.k.a. Black IPA) with sour saison yeast and earthen barnyard funk, far-reaching farmhouse brew allows dark-roasted mocha malting, pine-charred hop bittering and spoiled citrus piquancy to set the tone. Raw molasses tarring embitters chocolate-roasted coffee bean backdrop. In the distance, dry bourbon and burgundy undertones emerge alongside a smidgen of mildewed peat soiling.
SOLEMN OATH E-VILLE AMERICAN BROWN ALE
Naturally nuttier than brewers’ Ultrahighfrequency, draping dark-roasted chocolate malts across maple-glazed walnut, pecan and hazelnut illusions. Smoky mocha assertiveness gains prominence after the first few sips. Piney citrus hop bittering deepens over time.
SOLEMN OATH FOUX FAFA
Exemplary floral-fruited Imperial farmhouse IPA (with camouflaged 10% ABV) contrasts juicy tropical tang and crystal malt sweetness against soft citric-hopped bittering. Yellow grapefruit-peeled lemon zest, mandarin orange, clementine, tangerine and banana illusions abound over earthen minerality to delicate white-breaded spine. Perfumed orange blossom oiling, vinous green grape tartness, mild peppercorn prickle and docile rosebud-lilac wafts provide pertinent backup. A perfectly mellow saison/ IPA hybrid.
SOLEMN OATH ULTRAHIGHFREQUENCY
Strictly American-styled medium body (sans Solemn Oath’s usual Belgian influence) tosses massive piney hop bittering at dark-roasted rye graining, toasted caramel nuttiness and honeyed fruit bouquet. Tangy red apple, brown apple, peach, melon, honeydew and cantaloupe sweetness quickly embittered by sharp orange rind, pink grapefruit and pineapple briskness.
SOLEMN OATH WHISPER KISSES SAISON
Approachable saison moderation softens white-wined Chardonnay buttering with light grapefruit-orange tartness, lemon-rotted champagne grape souring, lilting lemongrass liming and floral-hopped pleasantries (layered above a biscuity malt base). French saison yeast offers ascending lactobacillus acidity to dry earthen bottom.
SOLEMN OATH MR. INAPPROPRIATE
Promising soft-toned hybrid combines orange-peeled coriander spicing of a Belgian witbier with the grassy-hopped ‘floral citric’ aromatics and resinous pining of an American wheat ale. Mildly creamed caramel malting anchors yellow-pink grapefruit tang and navel orange juicing to biscuit-y white and red wheat spine.
SOLEMN OATH SCAREBALL
Emphatic Imperial Pilsner (with corn liquor-like 9.4% alcohol burn) upholds preponderance for sharp IPA fruiting. Wafting floral sweetness embraces assertive lemony orange-grapefruit tang and grassy hop bittering over honeyed cereal grain malting. A bold hop-head alternative.
PIECE BREWERY & PIZZERIA
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
In Chicago’s upscale Wicker Park section in a red brick building on North Avenue, sensational hipster joint PIECE BREWERY & PIZZERIA recently celebrated its eighth anniversary. Modeled after Connecticut’s highly successful Bru Rm. at BAR, this humble post-industrial pub serves as a top-notch pizza place (specializing in thin crust New Haven-styled pizza) and casual sportsbar.
A rounded 20-seat right side bar sits across roomy stool-tabled seating. Multiple TV’s and several guitars (Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen’s part owner) are strewn about the gray and mauve walls while wood lattices and exposed ducts crowd the skylight rafters. Besides having a respectable selection of house beers, there are 20-plus bottles of fine craft beer available.
During July ’14 on a bright Sunday, my entourage grab a table at the raised level next to the front windows. Despite being crowded and busy, our thin crust pepperoni pizza came post-haste alongside the seven beer samplers.
For starters, dry-bodied Golden Arm Kolsch retained a lemon-soured hop fizz and orange-rotted cologne musk that may suit Blue Collar thirsts (though its sulfuric diacetyl murk may turn off a few stragglers).
A better choice was stylishly concise light body, Top Heavy Hefeweizen, a surefire bet with lemon-sugared banana, clove, bubblegum and vanilla sweetness sidling bubbly champagne effervescence and white-peppered orange blossom snips. Similar in approach, Belgian-styled moderation, Swingin’ Single, brought tart banana-clove sweetness to dry black-peppered lemon peel bittering.
Piney juniper hop bitterness mellowed to grapefruit-peeled lemon pit souring for crisply clean Dysfunctionale, a wily American IPA with ancillary honeyed pineapple, mango, navel orange and tangerine tang. For contrast, English-styled IPA, Victoria, maintained a musky lemon-grapefruit frontage, subtle juniper hop briskness, reedy bark-dried astringency and dewy earthen mustiness.
On the dark side, fudgy Roland The Headless Assistant Brewer possessed an approachable mocha theme as roasted chocolate, Columbian coffee, milked espresso, creme brulee, sweet hazelnut and bitter walnut illusions rode above the dry oatmeal base.
Best bet: classic Egyptian Pale Ale, Cameltoe, hid its hefty 9.5% ABV behind tropical IPA fruiting and soft resinous pine hops. Caramel malt sugaring and mild vanilla creaming sweetened its ancillary yellow grapefruit, mandarin orange, tangerine, clementine, pineapple, peach, nectarine and papaya tang as well as candied apple, pear and banana nuances.
While Chicago’s brewpub scene keeps growing exponentially, Piece continues to thrive and build a substantial reputation amongst locals and travelers alike.