(Just a quick note, late addition on this, this is going to be a two-part article. First part a look-back at The Beer Thrillers articles of 2019, and the second part about our top beers, top breweries, and other happenings of 2019 for myself personally and the blog, and some of our friends in general. So make sure to check out both parts.)

So its the end of the year… end of decade even…. and thus its time to reflect back on where we came from, how we got to where we are, and where we are going. Humanity, since the inception of time, and creating of calendars and years and New Years Eves and New Years Days have always taken the last few days of each year to look back on their year, their life, and reflected, and thought about how they could better themselves, come up with “resolutions” for the upcoming year, and join in with friends and families as they ring in the new year. “New Year New You.”

We here at The Beer Thrillers are going to do something …. similar. Not fully introspective though, because we don’t take ourselves that seriously. But just a fun look back at the year that was 2019. I can’t speak for my co-writers, but I can say for me, personally, 2019 had its fair share of ups, downs, in-betweens, lefts, rights, diagonals, crosses, bounces, turns, jukes, and jives. But I’m still here and better for it all. But I’m not going to go on and on too much about myself personally.

Rather, I’m going to write about how the blog has done, where we started from, where we’re headed, etc. And yea, I’ll probably get a little personal. But nothing deep or philosophical or introspective. More along the lines of what were some of the best beers, breweries, or events I’ve done of the year. So don’t worry, the blog will uphold the Seinfeld idea of “Nobody learns, nobody grows, nobody hugs”.

I started this blog back on May 17th, 2019. (This year!) It was a Thursday, my girls (my daughters) were at school, I was bored, and trying to figure out what I’m doing / was doing. I needed something for my days off while the kids were at school, something that was fun, something I was passionate about, something that let me feel like I was being creative, using my talents, and something I knew about. I’ve been reading blogs, and news sites, and all kinds of things about beer for so long, and I have a lot of experience drinking… …and writing… that I figured why not combine the two? I was feeling like I was in a rut, my job is the same its been for the past seven years, I wasn’t doing anything outright ‘creative’ and needed an outlet for it, and we are in a review culture. I do all kinds of reviews all the time, in small nondescript and unimportant ways. Like reading books when I’m finished, I write up a review of them when I check them off on GoodReads. Same with Untappd, when I drink a beer, I write up a small (Tweet size) review of it. I also felt, I was in a unique spot to start this up. I was getting to a spot where I knew enough people “on the inside” or “in the business”, and I was also doing stuff beyond just being a consumer; like home brewing, growing hops, helping can at Tattered Flag, being engaged in conversations with home brewers and professional brewers a lot, that I felt like I could provide some interesting conversations and articles to the world.

Mainly…. I was looking to not be bored, and to do something I love doing – writing and drinking beer.

So I started the blog up on May 17th, 2019. Basically having no clue what I was doing. I started up using WordPress and here we are. Its still WordPress, albeit the ‘weaker’ version (fingers crossed come sometime the new year, I switch over to the more advanced version, where I have more control over the site and the appearance). I did a little bit of research, chose a name – which to be frankly speaking – the name “The Beer Thrillers” just popped up to me. Nothing too deep or crazy or interesting behind it. I was honestly conjuring up the idea that it would be me, and a few of my friends writing, thus the “Thrillers” and not “Thriller”. I thought me, Drew, Dan maybe, and a few others would all writing all kinds of blog posts and contributing. Maybe some of the insiders in the business I know too… …while this hasn’t happened exactly; I have enlisted friends and other writers over the year to help out. (More on that as I get to their participation.)

Outside of creating the home page and starting up the site, my very first article on the blog was a beer review of Troegs’ Scratch 375 – The CocoNator. As far as first time articles go, I have no problems with it. Counting the writing of my colleagues and fellow contributors and cowriters to the blog, we’re now up to 130 blog posts (this being #131). I definitely think I’ve come a long way from that first blog. But I also like to think I laid the foundation there. I set up a system for how the beer reviews (I do) are written, presented, and I hope they are written in a fun, interesting, educational, and most importantly entertaining way.

When I started this in May, I had just gotten a couple of cans from my shift manager at work – Jordan and used them a the base for my first few beer reviews. The CocoNator was quickly followed by two South County beer reviews – Painting with Light (May 19th) and Sundrifter (May 30th). Also during this time, from my recent volunteer work helping can at Tattered Flag I worked with and gotten quite a few of their cans (hard work and sweat at their brewery resulted in many cans of whatever beer was being canned that day, as well as lots of other cans they still had from past canning runs). Two of these resulted in the beer reviews of Boulangerie Stout – Imperial Churro (May 22nd) which was a collaboration between Derek Wolf of Wolf Brewing Co. and Tattered Flag and You Hoppin’ On Me? (May 24th).

I was trying to write fast, furiously, and get some articles out there as a starting blog, I knew content was going to be the main driving force (and still is). Quality content even better. Hopefully I provided the quality content. I guess thats all up to you guys to decide, but I like to think I did (or at least, like I said, hope I did). As you can see from my picture of the Imperial Churro; often times in the background or foreground or beside the beers you’ll see some of the recent books I’m reading, as well as my dog Leela – especially if I’m drinking at home where she typically has to get her nose into the business of all involved. On May 27th, I conducted a bit of a science experiment when I found an old (over a year old) Black and Blue Tastee from The Veil. I had gotten a four pack from one of my favorite bartenders – Chris – who had traveled down and muled some back up. I wrapped up May, my first month of writing for the blog, with my first beer review from a bar – Warwick Hotel – on May 31st with a beer review of Cinnamon Toast Crunch by Collusion Tap Works.

May finished, and my first month done; even if I had only started late in the month on the 17th, I felt accomplished with the blog. I published 9 total blog pages; which included the home-page, the author-bio page, the contact page, and other necessary background pages. Word was slowly trickling out about the blog, I was up to 59 visitors and 121 views. Not a bad first month – especially considering it was basically just two weeks (the 17th through the 31st). Lets say I was “pleased as punch” with the start of the blog. June was looking bright!

June started with a beer review from the Bissell Brothers Brewing Company – Baby Genius on June 3rd. Followed up by a bottle of LazerSnake by Three Floyds on June 9th.

On June 13th, I did my first multiple beer review, and my first beer flight review – from Troegs Independent Craft Brewing – of course. What other place would I do my first beer flight review? Troegs was basically my initiation into the craft beer scene when I was ….cough turning 21…. and was the start of my craft beer love. Troegs is still a wonderful brewery, a fantastic venue there in Hershey, and overall holds a definite soft spot in my craft beer loving heart.

June 14th ended up being my first “double blog post” day. Earlier in the day I had stopped in at Tattered Flag to pick up a four-pack, had a beer, and when home, wrote a review, and later that night, with my daughters, I stopped in at Boneshire Brew Works, had a beer, and did a review before bed. At Tattered Flag I had the Abra Collabra beer, and at Boneshire I had the Sunburst beer. A week later I did my first brewery review, when I took my oldest daughter to Gettysburg for the day to visit the battlefields and monuments. Before visiting the sites, we stopped for lunch at the Battlefield Brew Works. A day later I was back at Warwick for another beer and review – Manayunk’s King Crunch.

Around this time, looking to expand, I enlisted the help of a buddy and fellow craft beer aficionado and enthusiast, and Boneshire lover – Josh Doncevic. We had a few talks at Boneshire Brew Works, and we chatted on the Central PA Whalerz group, and discussed this and that and everything beer related, and I thought he’d be a perfect fit for the blog – and he is and still has been. And on June 27th, he took his plunge into the world of blogging with his first beer review Northmont by Yellow Bridge.

A flurry of beer reviews followed – Should Have Put Him in Custardy, a beer flight from Hershey Biergarten, helped close out June and start July with Josh’s review of Ectogasm. June saw the blog grow by massive leaps and bounds, we went from 59 visitors in May to 848 visitors in June with 1100 some views. July was looking to be a great month for The Beer Thrillers, and it certainly delivered some amazing beer reviews! Pink Guava, Inexplicably Juicy, Miami Vice, Old 51, Dillston, Saison and Hurry up and Wait, a beer flight from Tony’s travels up north at the Black Gryphon, Wolf Prints, and Mango Guyabano sWheat Tart.

On July 19th we launched our Twitter page. Which just a few days ago, we hit our 100th follower! (Time for me to plug in here and suggest everyone head over there briefly to follow us, then come back here.) On July 23rd we also started our Instagram page. I will be the first to admit that we don’t do as much with Instagram, primarily because I don’t know enough about it yet. Looking to learn more about it in 2020 and get that page going a lot more.

July continued with some more beer reviews like Enigma, Green Zebra and Next Coast, Good Walk Spoiled, another beer flight from Troegs, and Road Less Traveled. I ended the month by discussing my upcoming road trip with my daughters.

July also saw some fun and interesting events I got to do for the first time. I lost my Ffej of July cherry, getting to make it out to possibly the biggest, baddest, most sickest birthday bash / lawn party ever. Me and Drew also attended the Moo-Funk Home Brew event as well. July was certainly a fun month, but August was looking to be even better.

August started off with a bang, I took my daughters up north PA to visit Elk Country, then we visited Straub Brewery, then we went to Kinzua Bridge and after that stopped at Logyard Brewery and next door to it was Twisted Vine Brewery. That was Day One. Day two saw us hitting the Pittsburgh area. First at dawn we hiked McConnell’s Creek, then went to ShuBrew before going into Pittsburgh proper and visit the city where we did a whole slew of things like see Fort Pitt, take the Duquesne Lift, check out medieval Catholic relics, stop by a Jewish synagogue, see the outfield wall still standing, and we also checked out a few breweries like Cinderlands Warehouse, The Church Brew Works, and we finished the day staying at a motel right next door to Yellow Bridge Brewing. Day Two was a lot busier than day one, but just a much fun.

We didn’t slow down for Day Three. We had a whole host of driving to do on day three. We started at Bushy Run to watch the reenactment and check out the events, then went to the Alleghany Portage and Railroad Museum, and then went into Johnstown to see the Johnstown Flood Memorial and there we checked out the brewery Stone Bridge Brewing. From there we Staple Bend Tunnel Trail and then we stopped and paid our respects at the Flight 93 Memorial. On the way back home to the Hershey area we stopped at Olde Bedford Brewing.

Was a fun three days where we got to see lots of cool places, museums, memorials, monuments, and nine breweries to boot. Can’t beat that!

The beer reviews weren’t going to slow down in August either. Ghost in the Machine by Josh, a beer flight at Twisted Bine, Juicy Fruit sWheat Tart, and Caucus Race 6.0. Then shortly before my oldest daughter’s birthday I took her and my second oldest down to Antietam to see the battlefield there and on the way back home we stopped at Cushwa Brewing. Which I did a brewery review of.

They have since moved out of that building but they are still close by to the location. August still had plenty more beer reviews for you guys starting with Harrishire, Kettle Sour Series – Raspberry, Ghost in the Machine by B. Kline, Good Vibrations, and then I did a dual beer review from two beers I had at a Harrisburg Senators game – a Pineapple Kolsch and a Dry Irish Stout, Reve Coffee Stout, Rye for an Eye (my birthday blog post and beer), and that closed out the month of August. As for events in August, me and my friend Ming went to the Lancaster Brewfest and afterwards went to Mad Chef Brewing (my first time there) which was an overall fun event.

Moving onto September started with my cashing in my birthday taco coupon at Newfangled Brew Works and had a really tasty Kettle Sour from them. In September I wrote a piece for Breweries in PA and also posted it on my blog – the version on the blog is found here: Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg (9.6.19). It has become one of the most popular pieces on our blog, and I believe it has done very well for the Breweries in PA crew as well. Beer reviews certainly didn’t slow down: a flight of Levante and Tattered Flag beers, a flight of Troegs beers, Fresh Fest and Trail Day Pale Ale, a flight of beers from Mount Gretna Brewery, and Spundae.

September also saw me do our first listicle articles. With two – one celebrating our oldest posts – and one celebrating our most viewed posts. Followed by, as always, more beer reviews – Key Lime Pie, They Burn Them All Away, AuZealand, a flight of Ever Grain beer, Vanilla Ice Cream Stout, and a Sour Blueberry wrapped up September.

October started off with a couple of Boneshire Brew Works beers – Tried and True (Mango) and Iscariot. I then got to attend Dr. Alison Feeney’s seminar and event at Mid-Town Scholar “For the Love of Beer“. Afterwards I went to The Millworks and had a flight. I did a book review of Dr. Alison Feeney’s book – For the Love of Beer. We finally joined Facebook on October 17th, you can find our Facebook page here. We are now up to 154 followers on Facebook, hoping to grow more! Did a beer review of Salted Caramel Moo-Hoo next.

I was contacted back in September by Midwest Coast Brewing Company to do an advertisement article and announcement article about their brewery opening. And I think it turned out very well. This was the first time a brewery reached out to us and asked us to do a piece for them and I think it turned out very well. I did a bit of an interview with the owners / brewers, and talked about their brewery’s opening. This has led to Mellow Mink reaching out to us and inviting us to their place to check them out and do an article (January 2nd we’ll be doing that).

J. Doncevic did a review of Ekaunot by Barebottle. We then covered Rotunda Brewing Company’s rebranding of Irv’s Pub into Rotunda Brew Pub. Also did a news article on Pennsylvania breweries that won at the 2019 GABF. That was my first straight up news article for the blog.

More beer reviews: Athena, Sour Me Peach, Irish Table, Envie and Envie 4X, Yuengling’s Hershey’s Chocolate Porter, and to wrap up the beer reviews of October I did Fatum Series: Member Berries. We also covered Boneshire Brew Works’ 3rd Anniversary Celebration.

November was a crazy month for me. I challenged myself to doing 30 blog posts, one per day – MINIMUM, and I am proud to say I achieved that and met my goal. It was certainly daunting a task, but I did achieve it.

Here’s the list of my articles in November: Pumpkin Stout, St. Thomas, Walker Station Stout, a flight by ZeroDay, King Sue, Intergalactic Warrior, s’Mores LazaRIS, There’s Nuttin Butter Than a Nice Pair of Camo Pants, Secret Machine, Broken Heels, Animal Adjective, 556 Stout, Boat Drinks, a flight of Tattered Flag – Newfangled Brew Works – and Cox Brewing beers, Alpha Abstraction, Double IPA, Lager, Birra Di Levante, Tickle Parts – Passionfruit, a flight of beers from Appalachian Brewing Company, Default Brewing, Darwin’s Salted Forehead, Newfangled Pils, Gotta Get up to Get Down, Paradise Lost, Moon of Vega, Citraquench’l, Azathoth, a flight of Troegs including Mad Elf, and finally a review of Official BBQ and Burgers – Pizza Boy’s second location. WHEW! That was a lot to get out, you can read about it in the November Recap.

November also saw Default Brewing join us here at The Beer Thrillers. Headed by AJ Brechbiel, they are a group of home brewers who will be providing home brewing articles for the blog from time to time. They gave us a welcoming post in November: Cheers from Default Brewing.

I also started up a collaboration with Let Us Drink Beer blog. Where we would be guest writing and contributing to each other’s blogs occasionally. They are down south, and with us being here in PA, it seemed like it’d be a nice fit. Provide some information and beers and breweries that readers might not normally get to see. They posted their first article “Five Must See Breweries in Atlanta” in November.

Josh also wrote two beer reviews in November: Ghost 782 and Ghost 779.

December started off a little slower here for us, probably because I was a bit tired from November, or perhaps just because its the holiday season, I don’t know. But my first beer review was Ice Dreamz. I did a few more beer reviews in December – My Watch Has Ended, The Hog, Scrooge IPA, Sap, and Autumn.

Default Brewing gave us an introduction to their crew: “Meet The Crew at Default Brewing“.

I covered the guest blogging that was going on and Let Us Drink Beer gave us a review of Koki Bunni.

Finally, the last article posted in all of 2019 (outside of this one now) was a travelogue of me and Drew brewery hopping around Harrisburg. Starting at Boneshire Brew Works, and going to The Vegetable Hunter, The Millworks, The Sturges Speakeasy, and ZeroDay Brewing. Was a fun day jumping around from place to place.

Hopefully you enjoyed this look back on 2019 with The Beer Thrillers. The second part of this article will most likely be posted January 1st, possibly before work, possibly after work. I have to leave for work now, and work until (at least) 8PM, and will most likely be going right out to enjoying New Years Eve festivities with my daughters. Tomorrow I work 10-6, and afterwards will be doing a podcast with Esteban about LOST.

The second part of this series will cover top beers, top breweries, and other things about the year for The Beer Thrillers and myself. For example – podcasting.

So make sure you check out part two then as well!

As always, I hope you have a Happy New Year, enjoyed the blog, and continue to do so! Without you, we don’t need to write, so we hope you are having as much fun and entertainment with this as we are!

-B. Kline on behalf of The Beer Thrillers staff.

This was a first for us here at The Beer Thrillers, we were contacted by a new brewery opening up to discuss their opening and to discuss their brewery and brewing operations. It is an honor to get to do this write-up for them and to help their business start up and grow. We love hearing from breweries and individuals and brewers about their craft and their businesses and always love to help where we can. While we here at The Beer Thrillers are primarily located in Central PA – we do cover breweries across the country (and world) and do beer reviews from breweries all over. Midwest Coast Brewing is located in Chicago, so unfortunately we have not yet gotten to check out their facilities, but I have been in contact with their owners and brewer to write up this article, and they have also sent pictures of their facility (as well as their grand opening) to provide a view for everyone who is interested in checking them out. Hopefully in the near future we will be able to make the visit out and check them out! 

Late September I was contacted by Elena Veckman and Cameron Compton of Midwest Coast Brewing to discuss on our blog their brewery opening. Since I have been unable to make it to their facility, they have graciously answered many questions about their facility, themselves, beer, and then after their grand opening weekend – how the weekend went.  

Elena Veckman (or Lanie as she likes to be called) and Cameron Compton are sister and brother who have decided to chase their dream and open their own brewery. They purchased an old warehouse in the Industrial Corridor / Brewing District of Old West Town Chicago. As Lanie describes their beer and brewery so far: “We’re focusing on more classic beer styles that go down smooth – our British ESB and Hazy IPA (we consider hazy a classic American style now – it’s not going anywhere, thank goodness!) for example have gotten great reviews from bars and people. We’d be thrilled to connect over the phone and tell you more, or have you to the taproom to check it out (and taste it) in person. We’re really proud of the vibe we’re creating in our taproom, we’d love to have you in!” 

The brewery is located at 2137 W. Walnut St. Chicago Illinois. A Google Map showing their location can be found here: Midwest Coast Brewery. Their brewery is a ‘verified venue’ on Untappd and their menu can be found here: Midwest Coast Brewery Menu. 

When asked about their tap room, Cameron Compton replied: “We subjectively think our taproom is gorgeous – the building is nearly 100 years old and has the type of architecture you’d expect from a building that age.  Covered with brick, wooden bowtruss ceilings, concrete floors… We really had a great canvas to work with.  We just “polished” it and chose furniture that would accent the building and provide a timeless look.  We want to be a place that’s welcoming to everyone, where you can bring your dog, bring your kids, and just relax over a few beers. So come enjoy beers in our booths, high tops or cozy corner!” 

As one can see from the two pictures above, the brewery and tap room is very spacious and able to accommodate a large amount of people. The building looks gorgeous and has room for all kinds of seating, from high top chairs, to a bar, to even a sofa (see next picture). There is a very old school motif to it as well as a new-age “hipster” appeal to it that should endear the taproom to all guests who come out to visit. With large open spaces for people to stand and talk as well as mingle and chat and hang out with friends, co-workers, family and the brewers and workers themselves, this looks like an extremely fun and inviting place to visit and grab some local beer and grub. 

As this picture shows, there is a bar area, a couple of rows of booth seating, a nice corner circular sofa area, as well as the large tables for sitting and eating and the open floor space. The lighting looks terrific with lots of ambience, and as this window shows, a beautiful view of their brewing facility. 

Cameron Compton describes the brewing facility: “We purchased our 10BBL system new from Alpha Brewing Operations out of Lincoln, Nebraska.  We (currently) have two 10BBL fermenters, two 20BBL fermenters, and a Brite Tank of each size as well.  We have room to grow, and are already pushing our cellar capacity, so are looking into adding some more fermenters soon.” As you will see from the opening weekend pictures, there is plenty of space in the brewing facility for growth, which should be great news for all fans of beer. 

They currently do not have a running kitchen (although there are plans for one in the future), but they are currently partnered up with an app called 2^nd Kitchen which allows customers at the brewery to take pictures of the QR code at their tables and order food to be delivered to the brewery. There is many excellent local restaurants that this app works with that will gladly deliver to the brewery.  

They currently do not offer brewery tours, but there is plans for this in the future once things are more formalized and set in stone at the facility. You are able to view and see the beautiful brewing facility at your own leisure. As a last minute change to this article, I’ve been informed that informal tours are starting at the brewery and going forward might be progressing towards formal brewery tours. You will need to check (and / or contact) Midwest Coast’s social media and / or onsite personnel to find the full details out of this, as it’s a slowly evolving feature at the brewery, details are sparse and better to check with them yourself. 

There is a host of events lined up at the brewery, with something to do on nearly every night of the week. Monday is service industry night, where customers who work in food, beverage, restaurant, or brewing industries can receive 30% off. Tuesday is taco truck and trivia Tuesday. Wednesday is currently a floating schedule, sometimes there will be live music, sometimes arts and crafts, with a host of different events lined up or soon to be announced. Currently Thursday through Sunday is more of a leisure time aimed around their televisions. There will be a push to air the Chicago Blackhawks hockey games as well as the Chicago Bulls basketball games, as the brewery is just a mere four blocks away from their arena.  

As of right now, they currently have 12 taps at their bar. 11 for their own beers, with the 12^th as a rotating tap for any of the various local Chicago craft breweries. Their current tap listing is: 

1) Guest Tap: Very Very Far Off (Off Color Brewing) (Just received a 2019 GABF Gold for “Other Belgian”.) 
2) Red Bandana – American IPA 
3) The Colonies – British ESB 
4) West Town Brown – American Brown 
5) Local Time – American Blonde Ale 
6) Elevator Shaft – Tropical Pale Ale 
7) Oktoberfest  – Marzen 
8) Volkslager – German Pils 
9) The Holly Shed – Saison 
10) Driving to Cashmere – American Pale Ale (brewed with all Cashmere hops) 
11) Canis Rubum – Red Ale (brewed with all Mosaic hops) 
12) AlottaZacca – Hazy Pale Ale (brewed with all Azacca hops) (collaboration with Exit Strategy Brewing) 

As of 10.10.19, their Untappd page has them with a global rating of 3.67 out of 735 ratings, with 15 unique individual beers to their name. The write-up for their Untappd listing is: “We are Midwest Coast Brewing Company – We’re regular folks who love making great beer and sharing it with those around us. In our opinion, Chicago is about the greatest place in these United States, and we’re proud to join the great breweries here in West Town’s Chicago Brewing District. Bring some friends, have some pints, share some laughs, and, as always, #LoveWhereYouLive” You can view their Untappd page here: Midwest Coast Brewing Company. 

When asked about himself, Cameron Compton responded: “I was born and raised in Northern California just outside of San Jose, and first became enamored with Chicago while attending Notre Dame.  I graduated from there in 2010, and started homebrewing immediately.  My roommate and I immediately fell in love with it, and I knew this was something I wanted to do long term.  I continued brewing at home regularly for the next 7 years or so until I, with the encouragement from my fiance and older sister, finally decided to pull the trigger on the brewery, and Chicago seemed like a market poised to explode.  It took us 2.5 years to find a building and navigate the Chicago permitting processes, but ultimately opened our doors in late summer 2019.  As for our preferred styles, we lean on the classics.  We love a good German Pils, British ESB, and balanced American IPA (among others of course).” 

Doing a quick little Q and A with him, I asked him some questions about his favorite breweries, beers, styles, his go-to beer, where he foresees the brewery in the near future. When asked for favorite breweries, Cameron replied: “I love Monday Night out of Atlanta and Modern Times out of San Diego.  Everything both of them make is top notch. Locally for larger breweries I’d say Half Acre, and for smaller breweries I’d say Hopewell and On Tour.” Favorite beers: “I know they’re a little out of style with New Englands taking over, but I was born and raised in Northern California, so I still have a soft spot for West Coast IPAs.  That style was all the rage when I started drinking craft beer.  Love Duet by Alpine (right outside San Diego), and of course have to mention Blind Pig and Pliny by Russian River.” Pound for pound his go to beer, the beer to always stock up his fridge would be: “The American Pale Ale is my go to as a fridge stocker.  For a long time it was Saint Archer Pale Ale (when I lived on the West Coast), but now I’m trying to keep the fridge stocked with Cozmo Pale by Noon Whistle here in the Chicago area.” When pressured to say where he foresees the brewery in five and ten years time, Compton replied: “We’re so new it’s hard to look past the next 5 or 10 minutes, but our long term goals are to be a major player in the Chicago beer seen and then the Midwest as a whole.  We believe slow and steady is the way to do that.   If people start to grow too big too soon, corners tend to get cut and quality can drop.  We want to make sure we’re doing things right as we grow, and the only way to do that in our opinion is to keep the growth measured and organic.” 

They have already been recently covered in several media outlets, including the Chicago Tribune as well as the Chicago Beers Pass podcast. 

Over the last weekend of September, Friday the 27^th, Saturday the 28^th, and Sunday the 29^th, Midwest Coast Brewing hosted their grand opening. It was a fantastic weekend for the brewery, for the community, and for all who came out. It was packed full, with lots of customers leaving happy with big smiles and full of beer joy. In the process of having a fantastic and wonderful grand opening weekend, the brewery also raised 2,200$ for three different charities: The Ann and Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital, Chicago West Community Music Center, and Catcade (a cat rescue). It is always extremely great to see a brewery giving back to their community, and to do so with such great results and so soon into their operation is beyond fantastic. 

You can find more information about the Ann and Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital here.  

As well as more information about the Chicago West Community Music Center here.  

And finally you can learn more about the Catcade here.  

It has been a wonderful time getting to talk via with Elena Veckman and Cameron Compton about their brewery, about their love and enthusiasm for brewing, for their love of Chicago, and what they want to do with their dream. They are wonderful people and the brewery and taproom and facility look tremendous. We personally here at The Beer Thrillers cannot wait to get to come out and visit them and take a tour and sample (all of) their beers as they all look delicious in the pictures. We will be keeping a keen interest and look on them as they grow and will be on the lookout for whenever they start canning and bottling to grab some and do some beer reviews here on the blog for them. So if you are in the Chicago area, make sure you stop by and check them out, and let them know you heard about their brewery here, I’m sure they’ll be glad to know how they were recommended and referred.  

I hope you all enjoyed this. Its not everyday we get approached by a brewery so it was great fun getting to work with them to promote their business and to help them as they start out. We are always looking to help breweries and brewers get the word out about their product. If you wish to contact us, you can do so by clicking on the “Contact The Beer Thrillers” at the top and that will directly send us an e-mail. We are always more then willing and gladly able to work with brewers, breweries, and other people in the industry on articles and blog posts, beer reviews, and brewery reviews, and will do so to the best of our abilities. So don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us and we will gladly do all that we can.  

Enjoy and cheers everyone! 

-B. Kline 

Post Script: I would like to thank Cameron Compton and Elena Veckman for working on me to get this article published. We have been in communications nearly daily to get this article written with lots of Q and A and back and forth e-mails. Even me sending Cameron emails over his wedding weekend, which he had a very nice and humorous auto-reply email setup for emails received over his wedding weekend. This was a lot of fun to work with them and get to help build this article and see this small piece of their vision come to fruition. Their brewery looks beautiful and wonderful and I am completely looking forward to a trip out to Chicago and getting to see their facility.

There is also a lot of stuff going on with the blog. Yesterday I finally got a beer review up (a bit overdo), and today I am looking to post two more throughout the day (Thursday and Friday being my days off from my REAL job, you can always expect to see more content on these days), the reviews are varied on the beers I’ve had recently, including the Hershey’s Chocolate Porter from Yuengling, a Boneshire Brew Works beer, a flight from Troegs Independent Craft Brewery, as well as some beers from my beer mail from South Carolina. I am also due to receive a beer mail package tomorrow, so that might result in some beer reviews as well. I also have backlogged beer reviews of Fuzzy Nudge, Tattered Abomination, and several others from breweries like Troegs and Tattered Flag.

Also, J. Doncevic is coming out of retirement with a beer review that should go live tonight. So be on the lookout for that as his beer reviews are definitely not ones to be missed.

I also have a fair amount of backlogged blog posts to put up, including one about my hop harvest at home, a canning day from Tattered Flag back in the day, some beer events like a home brew event, the Ffej of July, my trip to the western edges of Pennsylvania, as well as a small news article about some GABF winners. So please be on the lookout for those. They might get pre-dated since they were started at a previous time, so I’ll have to check out how that all works and might have to re-post links or something. Not sure yet on that, but be on the lookout for them!

Thanks for reading this (possibly the longest blog post yet, even over the Harrisburg Breweries blog post). This blog wouldn’t be what it is if it weren’t all of you loyal readers. So please comment, like, subscribe, follow, and follow us on Twitter at: @TheBeerThrillers. You can also follow us on Instagram at: The Beer Thrillers on Instagram, or Pintrest: TheBeerThrillers. Or even our brand new Facebook page (which we just created and opened today): The Beer Thrillers.

So as a final send-off, please check out Midwest Coast Brewing, they are good people and care about their craft and their community. Keep checking out their social media sites like their Facebook, Twitter, etc, and keep updated on them (I know we will be!), and keep up to date on us here at The Beer Thrillers as well.

Keep drinking and keep putting those livers to work everyone!

-B. Kline
–The Beer Thrillers