Читать книгу Fifty Must-Try Craft Beers of Ohio - Rick Armon - Страница 23

Chickow!

Triple Digit Brewing Co. | www.tripledigitbrewing.com

Triple Digit Brewing Co.

1621 Dana Ave.

Cincinnati, Ohio 45207

(513) 731–1130

First brewed: 2012

Style: Brown ale

Alcohol content: 10 percent

IBUs: 28

Awards: The barrel-aged version of Chickow! won the best of show at the 2016 Festival of Barrel and Wood-Aged Beers (FoBAB) in Chicago and a silver medal at the event in 2015

Available: Year-round on draft and in bottles

IF YOU LIKE THIS BEER . . . well, there aren’t many other hazelnut brews around. Here are five other darker Ohio craft beers to try:

• Thirsty Dog Rise of the Mayan Dog

• Mt. Carmel Coffee Brown Ale

• Seventh Son Mr. Owl Double India Brown

• Buckeye Warm Fuzzy

• Fat Head’s Shakedown

CHICKOW! WAS never meant to be a year-round beer. Heck, it was never meant to be brewed more than once. Former head brewer Kevin Moreland decided to create the imperial brown ale made with hazelnuts for Listermann’s inaugural Oktoberfest, which featured Cincinnati’s craft brewers.

The strong hazelnut flavor, combined with its high gravity, proved to be an overwhelming hit with beer geeks and novices alike. But perhaps the complex malt base is the most inviting, with people picking up vanilla, caramel, and chocolate flavors and a little heat from the alcohol.

“It caught a lot of people off guard,” says Patrick Gilroy, who worked the festival as a volunteer and later served as head brewer. “It was pretty obvious it was unique and you couldn’t compare it to anything.”

A few months later, after word spread about this tasty and unusual brew, Triple Digit couldn’t make enough of it. Chickow! serves as the brewery’s flagship.

Gilroy also realized that Chickow! is quite the versatile beer, as it meshes well with all kinds of infusions. The brewery has released a seemingly endless number of variations, including barrel-aged, habanero, coffee, pumpkin, caramel, vanilla, coconut, and cinnamon roll versions.

Fans just can’t get enough Chickow!. Triple Digit launched the League of Extraordinary Chickow!s in 2015: a membership club that allows fans a crack at four exclusive Chickow! beers released in 22-ounce bottles throughout the year, along with glassware, a T-shirt, and growler fills. Two of those were an Irish crème and maple Chickow!

Gilroy enjoys thinking up creative ways to play with the beer.

“It’s ever evolving,” he says. “It’s always that same beer but we hate to see things get stale. Not that that beer really can. But in an environment where there’s increasingly more and more awesome beer available at any moment’s notice, it’s nice to have a beer that constantly challenges you to do something new with it.”