Beermiscuous Highwood
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beermiscuoushw.bsky.social
Beermiscuous Highwood
@beermiscuoushw.bsky.social
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Lager Beer Cafe in Highwood, north of Chicago.
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Local draft featured went from about 19 in 20 down to about 18 in 20.

Will note that off hand, some repeat kegs have been rotated through our specialty faucets. We did a sixtel bundle of Asahi Super Dry and Pipeworks Premium Pils through swing lever, push back creamer, and Lukr side pull.
In 2025 that's
of 277 kegs and casks at Highwood,
61 on Lukr side pull (22.01%)
36 on Japanese service (13.00%)
17 on beer engine (6.1%)
2 gravity fass (0.01%)
putting a report together for one of our brewery suppliers:

2025 YTD (Jan 1 thru Oct 25)
277 kegs, 260 unique (93.86%), 250 local chicagoland (90.25%)

2024 YTD
267 kegs, 264 unique (98.88%), 256 local (95.88%)

2023 YTD
243 kegs, 238 unique (97.94%), 229 local (94.24%)

*keg count includes casks
Sunday, we're letting the Štamgast pour their own Lukr side pull to mark our secret 7th anniversary. mailchi.mp/beermiscuous...

We got this idea from Cohesion Brewing, and it's the third year running it.
Shiny Rice Foam!
mailchi.mp
I like a lot about cask service, but one of my favorite things is seeing the marked history across these casks, some that have probably 40 years of service.

This was once used at Flossmoor Station.
GABF 2025 - 8,315 beers judged. The top five most populous categories account for 13.7% of beers judged.

Hazy IPA, 301 entries (3.6%)
West Coast IPA, 300 (3.6%)
Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest, 186 (2.2%)
German-Style Pilsener, 184 (2.2%)
Hoppy Lager, 171 (2.1%)
We've preorded Sakiškių Baked Festbier and Sakiškių Lithuanian Pils via Lime Ventures, destined for our Lukr side pulls, along with a few others from Sakiškės in package. Hoping they continue to push a little more here! The Keptinis mashed and decocted Pils was great on side pull last year.
What is REALLY stopping me from pulling Guiness Draught through the beer engine?
Nite N' Gale has an auction ending now (the rusty one door merchandiser cooler went for $31) and the image photos are atrociously blurry. Meanwhile the Atlas Brew Works auction has individual lots presented with a luscious white backdrop.
Used Lantech S300 Rotary Arm Stretch Wrapper with: The Lantech S300 Semi-Automatic Rotary Arm Str
Lot 682 at Atlas Brew Works: Surplus Brewery Equipment Including 20-40 BBL Fermentation Vessels, 20 BBL Brewhouse, & more from SIGMA Auction.
www.bidspotter.com
the short behind this was the line was generally too fast. It might work on a more mild pure CO2 setup which requires less PSI to push (our 70/30 beer gas and location requires 23 psi for most beers.)
Container Types in this distro portal:

Bag in a Box (10)
Beer Ball (2) (same number of oz as a sixtel!)
Bottle (947)
Can (1006)
Cask (6)
Firkin (21)
Keg (1839)
Mini Keg (1)
Reserved (9)
Using Eliot Ness to reflect on early lagers.
"Small batch lager has always had a ton of spots across menus for the last couple decades...The amount of classic hoppy Pale Ales and IPA are stand out impressions, but their boldness make the true presence of lager a hazy memory."
Newsletter is out now! Pour Service features of German Pils on Japanese-style Beer service, Great Lakes Eliot Ness on Lukr side pull, and way too many words about beer.
An Extra Long Newsletter about Lager Beer.
mailchi.mp
The included lines are 60" of 1/4" ID Barriermaster Flavour-lock at .3 lb restriction per ft, just 1.5 lbs. Would require 77.3 ft to achieve balance. Suitable for high flow rate I might want in a Lukr line, faster than our main tower (-21.7 vs -17) but very fast for an American faucet pour.
Micro matic has a 16" column tower [DS-132-PSS-C] which gives a good height for Lukr activities out of the box. Normal towers are 12-13 inches, only good for short mugs. It needs the American shank adapter, the shank holes are spinstops so won't fit Lukr shanks without machining the shank hole.
Ice chilled beer lines and Matsuo-style beer service
"with every process change to increase efficiency, you lose a bit of distinction along the way." -Notch @notchbrewing.bsky.social

The ice chilled lines are stainless now, not tin. but the beer is poured in the Pour Twice tradition of Arai and Nada Columbia, carried on by Matsuo and Bier Reise '98.
Before beer system manuals marketing the perfect pour, the perfect pour was done through well practiced tapsters. Beer traveled through coiled lines immersed in ice water. The ice had to be hand cut to protect the soft tin lines. Length and diameter of lines achieved through trial and error.
The inherited equipment of Kohei Matsuo at Bier Reise '98 solves a 75+ year old question first answered by Nada Colombia. If the kegs are kept cold, how do you keep the lines, tower, and faucet cold too?

Just keep everything on ice.
All this Sunday June 27, we're running ice chilled beer lines on a very special edition of Japanese style beer service. What does that mean?