An Introduction to the Impossible Triangle
A Totally Honest Brewery Review By: Romeo
This week Jeff finally did his one job and wrote a brewery review on time. He’ll try and tell you that he has so many other responsibilities like creating graphics, commenting on Instagram, photo editing, and a few other things… What was I getting at? Whatever, he did the thing and wrote this awesome brewery review about Penrose. Not sure what a Penrose is? Here’s a hint, it’s in the title.
The Brewery
Friday was the first weekend we felt the crispness of Fall in the air, so it only felt fitting to head west for some heavier beer. Donning sweaters and jeans for the first time in a long time, we set our sights on Penrose. For me, PR is a revisit but for Tay it was her first go around, so great time for an introduction. I enjoy Penrose because they always have a good blend of staple classics, mixed with a few beers that make you go “My god that was delicious”. One of those beers that I absolutely love is the Cherry Tricycle Double Pastry Imperial Stout; please bring this back and let us know if and when it’s returning!
Although, the trike was not on the menu, the big swing this visit was definitively the Neapolitan Stout. On the food front, PR does not have an onsite kitchen, but Geneva has a lot to offer in that department and the PR folks invite you to bring in what you like. They did however have food guest, Argonaut Seafood Company, on hand and although Tay was not in the mood for sea food, the menu looked absolutely killer. It featured lobster and shrimp rolls and a multitude of other delicious pescatarian-based options for anyone on site that evening, so I’ll give them high marks on the food.
The Vibe
Penrose is warm and inviting – right when you step inside you can feel the hype in the atmosphere with the crowd always abuzz. They don’t have a fire going, but they may as well have because when you’re hanging out in the taproom, you damn well feel warm and fuzzy. The bartenders were friendly, the crowd was fun (mostly adults) and for a fairly straight forward beer hall, the weekends at PR seem to foster an extra kick of excitement. The mood was date night vibes all the way through. Being a designer, I love the simple beer centric iconography that adorns the walls and extra points for the kick ass logo. Couple these features with the numerous FOBAB and GABF banners draped from the rafters and you’ve got yourself a fine setting to kick back and enjoy a few fine beverages.
The Beer
First Beer – Neapolitan Stout (12.5% ABV)
Growing up, TV dinners made up a majority of my food pyramid. Pizza and Neapolitan Ice cream on Friday nights, was my go-to reward for making it through to the weekend. This past Friday was sort of a call back to the “good old days” for me as we ordered in Aurelio’s pizza and polished off three of these delicious stouts between the two of us. These babies are deliciously smooth and this is another beer I’d add to the dangerous list. Super fun to drink, the best part is you can feel the beer checking off each flavor – vanilla, chocolate, then the strawberry at the end. The Neapolitan was my favorite of the bunch.
Second Beer – Wild 29 (6.7% ABV)
This is a beer that you will either love or want zero part of. It’s a sour kick in the face that both Tay and I thoroughly enjoyed. Her favorite road trip snacks usually consist of sour patch kids and other candy that makes you pucker. Remember War Heads? This beer has one mission, to twist your face up and make you look like the dude on their wrappers! If none of this sounds like your bag, then stay the hell away from the tap and let us knock these back. Tay’s fav!
Third Beer – Overfrüt (7% ABV)
If you were thinking this beer would be another taste bud blaster, think again. This beer is super smooth for a sour and if you dig ‘em like Tay does, this works well back-to-back with Wild 29 as part of a flight. Think of these two beers as Penrose’s yin and yang and that should help you pick your poison here. The twinkling flavors of the Boysenberries and Blackberries give this one some nice balance and make it the fun one to sip!
Fourth Beer: Scars Are Beautiful (6% ABV)
No matter where we go to drink, I must try a few on tap IPAs and with a percentage of the proceeds from Scars going to Northwestern University Medicine for cancer research, this one was an obvious choice. Born from a collaboration between breast cancer survivor Jess Mitchell from Kinship Brewing and PR, this Hazy IPA is relatively straightforward and worked well for me after the barrage of robust drinking we did right out the gate. Grab one of these if you stop in, it’s for a good cause and you should always support the community.
Fifth Beer: Geneva’s Finest (5% ABV)
It was the end of the evening and I was looking for something a bit lighter on ABV. This beer is very dank, which can be hit or miss with me. I’m also not usually a Saison drinker but I’m working on it and I figured I’d give it a go. If you are into ciders or dry beers, I’d recommend. We didn’t end up going with the lobster roll from The Argonaut Company who were offering a special food menu but this probably would have paired perfectly with any of the entrees.
What I wish I got to try but couldn’t – Double Barrel Aged Caves (Coming Soon), Phantasy East (Coming Soon), Mango Dorado (this was out)
Penrose is and always will be a good time and there’s no time like the next few weeks to drop in. I’m super bummed we missed the Caves and the Phantasy but the Neapolitan lived up to exactly what I hoped it be. The sours were BANG-BANG and I know they left an impression with Tay. Next time we might need to be a little less impromptu with our visit but hey, that’s half the fun of doing this blog! Cherry Trike, I miss you; hopefully, you’ll be back soon because I know we will be. Cheers and parting is such sweet sorrow…
