We find ourselves in another heat dome, and as the hours pass, the weather forecast, in terms of precipitation, continues to deteriorate for this Friday. Rain is expected by 2:00 p.m.
However, our brewpub this week is Half Acre Beer Company, which happens to open for business at 11:00 a.m. So we can ride, eat and drink, and possibly be home before the rain starts.
Therefore, I am going to be aggressive and move the start time to 10:00 a.m.
That said, if the weather forecast changes, I may cancel outright, shifting this ride to Friday, July 24. I will post a final decision by 8:30 on Friday morning. Now, to the details...
| | Half Acre Beer Company - Brewpub RideRide to Half Acre Brewpub, optional stop at Double Clutch - 23.5 mi, +228 ft. Bike ride in Evanston, IL |
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Yes, this is a partial city ride, but during the preview, I was able to find ways to minimize the number of potholes we'd encounter. That said, eastbound on Wilson is not trivial. But I did find ways to avoid a lot of bad pavement, and some traffic.
Beer notes:
Half Acre is one of the seminal breweries in Chicago. They and Revolution represented the second wave of craft beer here, and are survivors of the contracting market. Recently, Half Acre merged with Maplewood, providing utilization of excess capacity at Half Acre, and a local provider for the beers that were contract brewed for Maplewood. In addition, if you are unduly fond of Maplewood's "Son of Juice" it is now fresh and on tap at Half Acre.
Daisy Cutter, an American Pale Ale (APA), is the standard bearer at Half Acre. It is a piney, aromatic, well balanced ale, with a bitterness just below the border of IPA, and is considered an American classic. It is the only APA that I consider the equal of Sierra Nevada's.
Most of the rest of their current beer selections are ales on the hop forward side, including a pair of hazy IPA's and several summer IPA's. The Pony pilsner is nice as well, and Half Acre now makes a light beer, for those on the quest to find a well made light.
During the preview, I did the "difficult" work of sampling the weekly tasting, and do have a new recommendation: the Lake Mist hazy IPA has only 20 IBU, and is a really nice complement to food. If you think you dislike all hazy IPA's, I recommend you try this one. The entire beer menu is below, and as an extra nice touch, Allagash White, a Belgian Witbier classic from Maine is also on tap.
Dining notes:
While prices here continue an upward trend, there are good vegetarian options on the menu, and several of the sandwiches looked quite appetizing. The burger is consistently good, and the vegetable and chicken skewers look promising. Historically, Half Acre can handle separate checks; by arriving early, one can opt to order the entire meal at the bar. The current menu is posted below:
REMINDER: If we can ride at all, we will start this ride ONE HOUR EARLIER than the time posted in the Rides Calendar, 10:00 a.m.
Ronald P. Fleischer
rfleisch1@yahoo.com