Ballast Point Coming to Illinois

Yet another quality craft brewery will be entering the Illinois market in May 2013. Ballast Point Brewing out of San Diego has signed an agreement with Wirtz Beverage to bring their impressive portfolio of craft beers to our local stores and taps.

Ballast Point will join Deschutes, Greenbush and the Vanberg & Dewulf portfolio in a growing array of craft beers offered by the newly-formed craft beer division of Wirtz Beverage. 

Scratch Brewing Company Set to Open Saturday

Photo by Marika Josephson

Southern Illinois will soon have a new craft brewery to frequent when Scratch Brewing Company opens its doors to the public for the first time this Saturday, March 2nd, from 12 noon to 10pm. If you haven't heard of Scratch yet, here's a link to an article I wrote about the new brewery for Life & Style Magazine.

Not only are the proprietors of Scratch good friends, they're terrific brewers with an innovative spirit and fresh approach to the craft of craft beer, food and culture. You won't be disappointed and I'm proud to have these guys in the local area. I am certainly looking forward to imbibing in Scratch's farmhouse-inspired brews and I hope you are too.

Here's the current hours of operation for this coming weekend, beginning on Saturday as well as a tentative list of beers Scratch will be pouring this coming weekend:

Saturday: Noon – 10 PM
Sunday: Noon – 8 PM

Beers:

Alt Bier
Black Ale w. Coffee
Dry-Hopped Belgian Golden Ale
English Bitter
Fire-Brewed Biere de Garde
Green Walnut Ale
Sahti
Vollmund Stein Bier

Scratch Brewing Company is located at 264 Thompson Road, Ava, IL 62907

Big Muddy Brewing Logan's Lager Release Party Tonight

Big Muddy Brewing will launch their newest beer, an amber lager, tonight from 5pm to 8pm at Hangar 9 in Carbondale! Come on out to this great venue and try the new lager inspired by Murphysboro's own General John A. Logan. See you there!

Where: The Hangar 9, 511 S. Illinois Ave., Carbondale
When: 5pm to 8pm

Frosty Brewfest Coming January 26

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Just letting local readers know about an upcoming brewfest that promises to be a good one - featuring well over a dozen local and regional breweries on a frosty January day! The lineup will include Big Muddy Brewing, Charleville, Crown Valley, Schlafly and Urban Chestnut to name just a few ...

The best news is that the fest is going to be held indoors at Spokes Pub & Grill in nearby Farmington, Missouri. The date of the event is Saturday, January 26th and details can be obtained by following the link above. Farmington is not a far drive from the Carbondale area, so don't let that stop you from attending. If you should want to make a weekend of it - or at least avoid driving after sampling great beer to your heart's content, discounted room rates will be available to attendees at the adjacent Tradition Inn too!

If you're already saying, "sign me up!" you can order tickets online right here. Both general admission and special VIP ticket options are available. Hope to see some of you there!