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About- Mike Zoller

Mike Zoller

Mike Zoller

After trying to retire after a lucrative two-year career in sports journalism, Mike got back into sports but in the administration side. He currently works for the Northwestern University Athletic Department as an account executive working directly with football and men's basketball. At Miami University Mike was the sports editor for the The Miami Student and also did radio play-by-play for RedHawk ice hockey, football and baseball. Mike is still waiting to see Northwestern basketball play in the NCAA Tournament and the Cubs win the World Series.

Posts By Mike Zoller

Revolution Brewing Goes Berry Forward in Next Deep Wood Release

July 16, 2020 |

Over the past few years, Revolution Brewing’s Deep Wood series has included a fruited Deth’s Tar featuring cherries, currants, and then plums. The oatmeal stout with the addition of the fruit has been a big hit during each release, so the announcement of Mixed Berry Ryeway created a stir on social media.

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Crushed By Giants Opens July 17

July 13, 2020 |

In 2013 when Greg Shuff was getting ready to open DryHop Brewers, he had a vision to open up a series of brewpubs in different locations throughout Chicago. Over the past seven years, he’s opened up two more spots and is about to launch the fourth location, Crushed By Giants, on Friday, July 17.

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Historic Seipp Brewing Returns to Chicago

June 22, 2020 |

Chicago is full of history and craft beer. On July 2, the two will once again come together when a beer that hasn’t been made since 1933 will make its return to the Windy City.

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Revolution Brewing | Supermassive Café Deth

June 19, 2020 |

There are beers with coffee in them and then there’s Revolution Brewing Supermassive Café Deth. With nearly three times more coffee than the brewery’s popular Coffee Stout, Café Deth, Revolution goes big and nails the latest Deep Wood release with a perfectly balanced, yet strong barrel-aged beer.

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Chicago Brewpubs Prepare to Reopen on Wednesday

June 1, 2020 |

While many Illinois breweries were able to reopen with outdoor seating on May 29, Chicago-based breweries have had to wait a bit longer. However, this Wednesday, the city’s beer scene will finally begin breathing new life as brewpubs have been granted permission to reopen June 3.

In the city, things will operate under different guidelines than the rest of the state. As of right now, if a brewery location doesn’t serve food, they will not be able to reopen, even with outdoor seating. That will drastically limit which breweries in the city can reopen starting Wednesday.

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3 Floyds Brewpub to Remain Closed Indefinitely

May 21, 2020 |

Zombie Dust, Gumball Head, Alpha King and the rest of the 3 Floyds lineup of beers will still be available to-go from the brewery in Munster, IN. But, the ability to sit down and have a drink or a bite to eat won’t be around for the foreseeable future; the 3 Floyds Brewpub is closed indefinitely. 

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Newbies & Freshies Adapts, Illinois Craft Beer Week Postponed

May 11, 2020 |

For the past three years, PorchDrinking and Bitter Pops, a craft beer bar and bottle shop, have put on Newbies and Freshies during Illinois Craft Beer Week to highlight the freshest and newest breweries in Chicagoland.

This year, with all events postponed, Newbies and Freshies will change the format. Instead of people coming to Bitter Pops to experience new and fresh beers hitting Chicago over the past year, we’ve created a box that you can take home full of a dozen beers from a variety of breweries.

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Casa Humilde Cerverceria | Campesino Saison

May 5, 2020 |

Do you remember the last beer you had at a bar or brewery? It’s one of those things that I don’t think I’ll ever forget as the “stay-at-home” order will be a defining moment for all of us.

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Ultimate 6er | The Last Dance

April 30, 2020 |

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago in the 90s spoiled me as a basketball fan. When I was five years old, I remember my mom giving me a wooden spoon and pot to go out into our driveway to make noise right after the Chicago Bulls won the first NBA Championship in 1991. I probably didn’t quite understand what was going on.

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Five Chicagoland Patios for Craft Beer We Can’t Wait to Visit Again

April 7, 2020 | 1

Chicagoans cherish their patios as much as their tavern-style pizza or beef sandwiches. While we’re all staying inside to help flatten the curve and get through this pandemic as safely as possible, I couldn’t help but make a list of the patios I want to visit as soon as it’s safe to do so.

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4 Chicago Routes for Brewery Curbside Pick-Up

March 30, 2020 | 2

As we continue to adapt to the changes that are occurring seemingly everyday, curbside pick-up from your local brewery is the new normal.

Chicagoans are lucky to have so many local breweries to choose from but like the city itself, they’re spread out. So we created four routes to help you visit as many breweries as possible that’re doing curbside pick-up.

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How Breweries, Beer Festivals, & the Craft Beer Community have Responded to COVID-19

March 13, 2020 |

As businesses across the country are taking extra precautions because of the COVID-19 virus, breweries are putting in new procedures and canceling events altogether in order to keep the public safe and prevent unnecessary risks.

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Event Recap | 2020 Uppers and Downers

February 26, 2020 |

Probably one of the smallest venues for a beer festival out there, the intimacy of Thalia Hall creates part of the charm of Uppers and Downers, one of the top festivals showcasing the versatility of coffee. Moving to a Sunday for the first time since the inaugural event, the day change didn’t impact the crowd size as once again beer and coffee lovers alike packed the Pilsen music venue for two sessions of coffee beers, cocktails, and more.

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Event Preview | 2020 Uppers & Downers

February 6, 2020 |

What started out as a beer festival for coffee beers has evolved into a full-blown celebration of coffee and all the unique ways it can be used in a wide variety of liquids.

After yet another successful event last year, Good Beer Hunting’s Uppers and Downers returns to Thalia Hall on February 23 with two sessions bringing together some of the most iconic coffee roasters, breweries, and distilleries under one roof. 

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Inside Revolution Brewing’s Barrel Program Ahead of Cuvée De Grâce & Ten Year Beer

January 22, 2020 |

From late September through the end of February Revolution Brewing’s Marty Scott has one thing on his mind – barrel-aged beer. As the brewery’s Barrel Program Lead, he’s been … Read More

Revolution Celebrates Legalized Marijuana in Illinois with Legal Hero

January 7, 2020 |

Recreational marijuana became legal in Illinois on Jan. 1, 2020 and it was a big deal. People lined up early in the morning, waiting for hours in order to be one of the first to legally purchase weed in the state, not unlike a beer release. Several breweries were preparing to release a special beer to mark the landmark occasion; the first one released was Revolution’s Legal Hero.

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A Year Without Hazy IPAs

December 30, 2019 |

At the end of last year, I wrote a piece on how in 2019 I was going to stop drinking hazy IPAs. Many people didn’t read past the headline and assumed it was just a purely negative piece on hazy IPAs; however, that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

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Our Favorite Chicago and Midwestern Beers from 2019

December 20, 2019 |

As another year comes to a close, we’d like to look back at the past 12 months on some of our favorite beers we had that came out of Midwest breweries.

With the number of breweries increasing, it becomes harder and harder to narrow down a list, but we have a handful of Midwest writers who contributed their favorite beers of 2019.

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Inside Samuel Adams Utopias

December 18, 2019 |

Every two years, Samuel Adams releases a beer, in an uniquely-shaped and expensive bottle, that tastes like nothing you’ve ever had before. Utopias has the highest naturally fermenting ABV at 28% and while it can best be described as a port or cognac, it is indeed a beer.

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Revolution’s Boss Jacket Stars in the Third Deep Wood Release

December 10, 2019 |

While the barrel-aged releases are dying down as we get closer to the end of the year, Chicago’s Revolution Brewing still has two more for their Deep Wood series and the third release (of four) happens this Friday at the taproom on Kedzie.

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