What's Brewed // Summer ale szn - Sun Crusher by Revolution Brewing
Sun Crusher is an ode to brighter days and warmer nights.
It’s been a while since I wrote a post that wasn’t the weekly What’s Good newsletter. This one, I hope, will be the first of many. I’ve been wanting, for quite a while, to muster the motivation to sit down and write reasonably-detailed reviews of beers I enjoy.1
At least to start, these will probably be a lot from Revolution, both because I live across the street from the Brewpub and because they have a slate of really great stuff both current and recent-past that I’d like to get through. But I drink more than just Rev’s stuff, and I think it would be fun to share honest reviews of all kinds of beer from all across the city. I miss seeing long-form writing about new beers on a regular basis,2 and I don’t think the current economic landscape is well-positioned to support such endeavors. First and foremost, I’m doing this as a hobby and to benefit the community. If people decide they like it enough to support the effort, all the better.
I originally wrote this post weeks ago. Maybe months, even. But now I’m forcing myself to start building the habit - because it’s something I want to commit to, because I do fundamentally enjoy writing, and because good beer deserves even better company when all is said and done.
Summer in Chicago makes me love the city and feel loved by it. It’s the full-hearted embrace of friends and strangers alike at venues new and old, it’s the warm breeze in the night air as you sit on a rooftop and pretend that passing planes are shooting stars,3 it’s the streets full of life and splendor in every neighborhood as communities come together to celebrate what is best in life. Summer in Chicago is magical.
Friends and neighbors know that, for the last few years, I have enjoyed hosting others for a warm-weather tradition that I have enthusiastically, unapologetically, and quite straightforwardly have named after the focus of the gathering: ROOF BEERS.4
I take hosting others far more seriously than is necessary or perhaps even reasonable. I invested a few years ago in a heavy-duty cooler, I wheel it up on a convertible hand truck (although to be fair I bought that for other reasons), I have camping chairs for seating, and I always fully charge my Bluetooth speaker and backup battery so the vibes can last as long as the weather does. Still, the accessories are just the glitter and glam atop the star of the show - the beer.
I care a lot about beer! I believe that great beer provides opportunities for camaraderie, introspection, and an expansion of one’s worldview. I’m being a bit dramatic about it, to be sure. But my own journey of coming to love craft beer underscores the point, I think. When I was in college, all I really knew was the light lager macrobrews that folks would buy kegs or 30-racks of for parties. Especially after one night in particular involving a keg stand, I couldn’t stand the stuff. But then I visited Block 15, our local brewpub down in Corvallis. I learned about their craft offerings. I was amazed by the menu. I knew that when I turned 21, I wanted to sample it. Sure enough, for lunch on my 21st birthday I went with my grandma and my great grandparents to Block 15. My first craft beer was their chocolate porter. Suddenly, my world’s horizon had expanded. Beer was a whole new adventure.
Two months later I got accepted to law school at UChicago. I went to Block 15 to celebrate. My bartender bought my beer. I was thrilled across the board. She was thrilled for me. That night, though I didn’t know it at the time, celebrating victories with favorite beers had immediately become my new tradition. She bought me a Malört shot, too - another new tradition, and one I have adopted and spread myself.
In Chicago, I quickly discovered that Revolution Anti-Hero was the most consistently reliable beer available on tap at bars across the city. Goose Island was prominent, but something was off about it for me - it just wasn’t as good. (This was before Josh Noel’s great book was released, too, so it wasn’t a biased distaste.) Anti-Hero was flavorful, hoppy, and strong enough to get the job done as a kid on a budget fueled by student loans. Plus, the price was right. Anti-Hero became my go-to during our weekly Bar Review5 excursions and other adventures around the city. The other Rev beer we had in cans at Treasure Island was Eugene Porter, and that became a quick favorite of mine, too. Truthfully, my affinity for Revolution beers was also tied to their branding around leftism and labor - it certainly didn’t hurt that they were paying homage to Eugene Debs on one of their major beers.
Things really clicked for me - I really became a big fan of the brewery - during the summer of 2018. At a 4th of July barbecue, a friend had brought cans of Freedom of Speach, their peach session sour. In the dead heat of summer, already slightly buzzed and snacking on barbecue food, Speach was one of the best things I’d ever tasted. I had to get more. And in August after the bar exam, when I moved up to Logan Square by pure happenstance, I ended up just a short walk from the Revolution Brewpub.
I had decided I wanted to be a regular somewhere after graduation, and the Brewpub seemed as good a place as any. I started going in every Friday. I’ve been keeping that tradition going for five years since - minus the pandemic closures, etc. It was mostly luck that got me to this point in my beer journey, but I’m grateful and quite pleased.
Alright. If you’re just here for the review, this is the part you want to ctrl-f to.
Sun Crusher is a summer ale by Revolution Brewing.
Cool off this Summer with a juicy and refreshing Chicago favorite built for the season. Bask in radiant citrus notes while soaking up its floral ambiance. By the time the leaves change, our Summer Ale will be just a sun-dappled memory, so crush a few while you've got the chance.
Prior iterations of this description have noted that the beer is brewed with “Apollo and Amarillo hops” and utilizes “a dry-hop blend of Crystal, Amarillo, and Mosaic, resulting in a mellow bitterness and pronounced flowery and citrus aromas.” New this year, though, is the addition of Cryo hops.
I had my first glass of this season’s Sun Crusher on draft at the V.S.O. Gravedigger Billy release a few weeks ago. It was so good that it inspired me to sit down and put the effort into starting this series. And, as a reminder, that was while I was at an event where I had already consumed multi-year-old barleywines and stout components aged in Amburana barrels.6
The first thing you’ll notice about Sun Crusher is the aroma. It absolutely rolls off the glass, especially if you pour it to have a decent head. A good pour should be effervescent, and you should immediately find yourself confronted with fresh, citrusy tones coming straight from those hops. I think the Mosaic hops are likely the most noticeable at this stage if you’re familiar with their flavor profile. For everyone else, you’re going to get notes of tangerine zest and ripe peaches, as well as a variety of floral tones. It’s refreshing and inviting - the smell of Sun Crusher reminds me of the feeling of warm sunshine while lying on a beach. It’s enthralling.
The first taste of Sun Crusher is liable to be the most fragrant and hoppy. The nuances shine brightly, an intermingling of every beautiful ingredient all at once. There is a floral bitterness, but not too bitter. The citrus is present, but it doesn’t overpower. The malt rounds out the mouthfeel and the flavor, but it doesn’t dominate. Sun Crusher, like most beers by Revolution, is a true symphony of flavors. In my opinion, it is best consumed ice-cold from the cooler when the weather is warm and the sun is harsh.
Even on the back half of a glass or a can, Sun Crusher stays refreshing. This is where I think the addition of Cryo hops really shines, personally. I have a personal fondness for the flavor they bring to beers, and, for me, even a beer that you’ve been sipping for a while can taste fresh and clean thanks to their flavor. In this beer, it manifests as a slight bitterness balanced against a clean citrus character - sort of like a grapefruit peel, although milder in character. It drinks as a clean, smooth ale with a light citrus overtone and aftertaste. That flavor doesn’t linger, either. I’ve had beers where the flavors would stick around and accumulate on your tongue, so that by the end you’re overwhelmed with a mess of nonsense and you don’t want to even finish a glass. No such issues here - Sun Crusher lives up to its namesake. Even as it warms up a bit, it remains eminently crushable.
I hope you enjoyed what I hope will be the first of many pieces about beer and such. Perhaps I will also write about food! If you want me to write about your beer or food, I will gladly do so if you provide it to me (although I will of course disclose that it was provided). Maybe I will also write about like cocktails and/or food that I make, who knows. The goal here is for me to do more writing about things that I enjoy in general, but also and specifically to write beer reviews as a baseline. I really do miss seeing longer-form beer writing, and I hope this post (and those to come) inspire a resurgence of the craft.
Thank you for reading.
The column name is tentative and I am open to suggestions. I think this is fine but I am not, like, head over heels about it.
I’m sure it still happens - I might just not be following the right people, or the algorithms are worse now (very likely), etc. If you have recommendations for beer writers in Chicago whose reviews I should be reading, please send them my way!
I have even created an accompanying playlist. In the near future I plan to rebrand the existing playlist as “daytime” and create an additional, slightly more mellow “nightfall” playlist to transition to as it gets darker and the vibes shift over the course of the evening.
Every Thursday, about a hundred of us or so would invade a different venue around the city for shenanigans aplenty. The tradition continues to this day.