Goose Migrates to Texas and the UK

Sitting at Houston airport and looking at what is available on draft I see the Goose and it's an IPA.  No hesitation there, I order a pint and its a good choice.

It turns out the company, Goose Island Beer Co., is from Chicago, Illinois. The video about their history is well worth watching.  The founder, John Hall, says he didn't know anything about breweries before he started out in 1988. Everyone needs a support network and the Chicago Beer Society (established 1977) provided this essential fraternity.  The brewery was established as a brew-pub, which in my opinion always makes it easier to get your product to market, but more importantly enables you to stay in touch with your market and receive feedback on product quality and preferences.

Like all growing businesses they needed extra capacity and expanded to a 25,000 barrel per annum business with the addition of the Fulton Production Brewery in 1996 - described as 'trial by fire'.

Greg Browne says 'barrel aged beer was invented in Chicago', and this highlights some of the innovations that craft beer producers have introduced to the industry.  Surprisingly they use bourbon barrels and wine barrels, depending on the beer, and they estimate to be using 5,000 barrels.  The innovation theme is great, especially when Tom Korder says 'learn what can be done with beer' through experimentation.  They have video clips of their brew masters shoving delightfully juicy things into the barrels. Watch the video!

On reflection, sitting in the airport I thought it was a rather long flight for a goose to fly all the way from Chicago to Houston with a keg of IPA around its neck but it turns out that Goose Island sells beers in all 50 states and exports to the UK. Honk, honk!

There are some brewer's notes, recipe information and a list of awards on their product page for this beer. Although my beer came in a rather unattractive plastic cup, I like the look of the bottle and label and will be looking out for it in future. 

Here is a link to the rating for this beer on Beer Advocate.

A little extra info on this beer:

Style: American IPA

ABV 5.9% 

IBU 55