From a nondescript warehouse on Chicago's South side, 5 Rabbits Cervereia slash Brewery has been quietly pouring out some of the funkiest, extraordinary flavored beers in the you'll find (in those states where it's available), with eye popping labels to match. Examples 5 Rabbit Brewing's mad flavors include not only this 5 Lizard (which according to the label is named for an Aztec god of gluttony), but also 5 Vulture Dark Ale, made with roasted ancho chiles; Ki'Chun: made with chanterelle mushrooms, toasted oats, Rakau hops, and dark Thai palm sugar; Vida y Muerte Oktoberfest, made with dulce de leche and flavors inspired by hoja santa, a type of leaf used in Latin cooking; and Missionario wheat, which is made with grapes.
5 Rabbit's unusual flavors are conceived by Randy Mosher, who's books on beer ("The Brewers Companion," "Tasting Beer" and "Radical Brewing") routinely score 4+ among the soaked masses who rate Beer and Brewing books on Amazon. Mosher also teaches at Siebel Institute of Technology, America's oldest Brewing School.
(see, Mosher's Books: http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Mosher/e/B001JPCB52/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1)
Okay, so forget the Yoda thing. But what if Randy Mosher is, instead of a Beer Yoda, actually Chicago's Batman of beer? Then it only follows that his Robin has to be 5 Rabbit's Brewmaster, Greg Hall, who has a storied past bringing epic craft beer to life as Brewmaster at Goose Island, including those great and wildly popular Belgian styles that are still brewed in Chicago: Matilda, Sofie, Fleur, Juliet, Madame Rose, Pepe Nero, Nightstalker, not to mention Bourbon Country Stout. Hall comes to 5 Rabbit after a few dozen years at Goose Island, which his father, it's founder, sold to the multinational conglomerate that's become of the Bud empire.
By the way, here's a good time to emphatically recommend William Knoedelseder's book on the rise and decline of Anheuser Busch, "Bitter Brew: the Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer", which may be even better than his early 90's book on the record industry (which profiled characters who served as models for HBO's "The Soprano's"): (See: http://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Brew-Anheuser-Busch-Americas-Kings/dp/0062009265 )
[Yes, that's beer he's pouring.]
Andres Araya, is from Costa Rica and co-owns 5 Rabbit while serving as it's CEO. He works with Mosher and Hall after many years of consulting experience in the brewing business both in the US and Central America for Bain Capital, including time working with Florida Ice & Farm Co., brewers of Costa Rica's beloved Imperial (also recent acquirers of North American Breweries, the largest independent brewery in the United States, which brews New York's historic Genesee, Oregon's Pyramid and Vermont's Magic Hat).
Last time I saw Andres, he looked a lot like this photo from Chicagogrid.com, stooped over their new bottling line machinery, and pressed for time as he was getting its kinks out. You might say, he was busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest, but he still took time talk a bit. Since then, according to Chicagogrid.com, as sales took off, Andres has been in and our of court on some pretty bitter pleadings over very unkind words by his co-founder, Issac Showaki, also a former Bain Consultant, over the past year or more, but recently ended up with control of the company after Showaki's negotiated buyout and hasty departure. See, http://www.chicagogrid.com/enterprise/how-5-rabbit-craft-beer-courtroom/
Both men raised money from friends and family to get this far, and appear committed to keeping things going for their investors, no matter what personal issues arise between them.
So maybe Andres is Bruce Wayne to Mosher and Hall's Batman and Robin combination, and Issac left because he was starting to feel more like Alfred, the butler than a brewing super hero. I don't know, but I liked Andres pitch for 5 Lizard to ABC News in Chicago: "...we added fresh lime peel instead of the typical orange peel and we added passion fruit that we bring from Ecuador... Winter beers are typically dark and heavy and very much spicy, and we thought why don't we make something that makes you think of the spring and brighter days."
And putting aside the storybook pairing of its founders, who come to the idea for a US based Latin American brewery while chain smoking as Brewing sector Business Consultants in Panama for BainCapital, and putting aside the subsequent torturous Dallas-Dynasty qualities you'll find reading 5 Rabbit's recent headline history and court filings, including the break up, and other assorted shit that makes patrons like this man at The Map Room grimace when told some of 5 Rabbit's back story, it's easy to see that three of 5 Rabbit Brewing's remaining prime movers know more than a little something something about putting funk into the fermentation, if not lambada into the wurt. And this casual pour of 5 Lizards, Lime, Passion fruit Wheat beer at Blind Faith Cafe was ample proof:
It poured cloudy with big bubbly, abiding white froth and a very heavy lime aroma that trailed in taste on the finish. The flavor was thin and tropical, and although I'm not a big fan of passion fruit per se, it rounded out the sharp edged tartness of the lime very well, and reminded me of juice I've mixed, using papaya, banana and melons for the same effect.
The mouth feel was a bit thin, but not tart like lime juice or watery like lite beer with a lime stuffed down the neck with no recollection of English sailors fighting scurvy. My first reaction was pleased with the lime trail it left between forks of a roasted squash salad.
But dessert is where this beer unexpectedly came way off the ground, maybe like that Aztec Lizard god they're talking about on the bottle, after a clash and slow going with the Blind Faith Cafe's veggie burger and the very heavy application of sour brown mustard with which I like to paint all burgers and fries.
I love mustard. I used to make it for my co-op in Boston. But it just wasn't such a great combo with 5 Lizard. Blind Faith Cafe's superlative veggie burger also bears mentioning right about here: http://www.blindfaithcafe.com/ The meatless food and the service were excellent, as usual, but in this case, it would be nice to have 5 Vulture on the menu to match their (meatless) burgers. 5 Vulture is made with toasted sugar and roasted ancho chile. I've had this at BBQs with actual meats and mustard with outstanding results.
Nevertheless, having half the glass of 5 Lizard left over for dessert, when a lemon tart somehow appeared on the table, is where it started to hover and swoop around my mouth as if it were the first beer a man might taste after 100 years of solitude. The passion fruit gave the tart depth and a quality that just was not there in the heavily frosted lemon cake, and accompanying lemon ice alone. It combined really well with the lemon based tort, and I'm sure it would stand out as well with any berry, cherry, citric or banana desserts, or any of the wild, ecclectic salads using these ingredients that you'll find on menus these days.
Maybe the lesson here is about chemistry and vigilance, like an on call action hero, on the lookout for the right combinations of food and beer (or those oh, so "delicious and amazing pairings" to use trade lingo), saving your citric beers while scarfing down your mustard drenched burgers, fries and brats, sauerkrauts and other high acid, fermented foods (there are plenty of other beers for this, including their chili based beers, such as 5 Vulture). And be careful with this 5 Lizard, it's special situation beer, where citrus flavors compliment what's plates of citric based food, whether it's fish cooked in lime juice or salad with orange juice vinaigrette.
The soaked masses at Beeradvocate rate 5 Lizard good (80), which is probability at least 8 to 12 points too low, while the Bros have not rated this beer. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25544/68713
Ratebeer.com gives it a less than 75, with less than 75 people rating it. http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/5-rabbit-5-lizard/145478/282877/
Meanwhile, this beer was winner of the Gold Medal, Fruit Wheat Beer, 2011 Great American Beer Festival. http://www.5rabbitbrewery.com/5-lizard/
Not to play Fantasy Beer Football, but as I drank 5 Lizard, I wondered what would happen to 5 Lizard if they added actual odd and unusual bananas to round out the lime's edges in addition to the passion fruit. Apart from the 2 or 3 you'll find in supermarkets, there are about 1 million varieties of banana and as many flavors. Or what if someone with a bit of daring added a little banana juice, or extract to 5 Lizard?
Net net, if you want to spice up your tailgate, and or psych your wolf pack out a little with some unusual flava, 5 Lizard and some of their other outrageously flavored wheats and dark chili ales are where the wild things are.
"Beer Yodas"
Speaking of Beer Yodas, here's one of my favorite-- a recent broadcast by Home Brew Yoda, Craig, pulling out all the stops on his Craigtube channel, where he answers the burning question from viewer/fans: "what beer would you want in an unlimited supply on a dessert island, if you could only choose one?"Congrats, Bell's "double hearted", AKA, Two Hearted Ale... I might agree, but seriously, what is a world without Zombie Dust or Heady Topper? http://youtu.be/V0yQkg8yppg
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