Summertime = beer drankin' time

Which means, dear readers (all two of you) I can again get excited about beer. For some reason, I am a seasonal beer drinker--it's not that I don't drink beer in the winter, it's just that I tend to prefer wine during the colder months and beer during the warmer months. 

Anyway, I say this because:

1.  I got excited this morning about a beer-related email from Binny's, particularly the following entry. Do any of the beer geeks out there (and you know who you is) know anything about Ballast? This whole 'best IPA in the world' business is, if true, interesting...

Ballast Point 

Fortunately the rumblings & rumors turned out to be true, as the official release date for Ballast Point at Chicago-land Binny's locations is Wednesday, May 8. Currently Ballast Point beers are only available at our two downstate locations in Bloomington and Champaign. Get ready to experience one of the best IPA's in the world, Sculpin, at a Binny's near you. See the events section below for information on our Ballast Point release party at our South Loop tasting room.

and 

2. There's a new brewpub opening up soon just around the corner from the

Gozdecki ranch, in Westmont—Urban Legend.

The significant other has been watching their progress closely and even met the brewmaster and tasted some in-progress batches a few weeks back.

I am super-stoked for them to open and per their blog, they just got their 'Basic Brewers Permit' from the TTB or the Alcohol and Tabacco Tax and Trade Bureau. That whole process sounds exhausting and Stalin-esque, but at least it sounds like now they're good to go.

And if they're anything as awesome as Solemn Oath's Naperville outpost is ("Naperville" and "awesome" are two words that should rarely, if ever, go together)...I'll be a very happy quaffer these next few months!