Flossmoor Station Brewing – Flossmoor, Illinois
“Hold your breath. Make a wish. Count to three. Come with me and you’ll be in a world created by someone’s imagination. We’ll begin with a spin. Travelling in a world of their creation. What you’ll see needs no explanation. If you want to view paradise, just visit Flossmoor Station.” I’m not sure that this is how Gene Wilder sang the song in Willy Wonka, but I think it fits the bill at this moment. (I would like to thank the writers of the song “Pure Imagination”, so I don’t get sued.)
I had first heard of Flossmoor when I was sitting in the Goose Island Brewery. The people we were talking to were fond of their Nut Brown Ale. They kept talking about it like it was the best kept secret. Well, it was to us, but not to the world. This beer is a multi-award winning beer. Once we checked the website, we knew we had to visit.
We made the trip to Flossmoor with the intention of only visiting once, but it was so good that we had to go back a second time. We were in a hurry the first time, but during the second visit we were able to take our time and check the place out. What we saw was an extremely well put together brewpub with attention to detail and a family-friendly atmosphere. Come on now, a brewpub with an ice cream shop? Talk about keeping customers for life.
We ordered the large sampler which included 10 samples. Now I didn’t notice this when we were sitting there, but when I looked at the pictures it was clearly obvious. It must be some sort of secret out there in the Brewers Guild. We got what I like to call the Brewers Dozen. We ordered ten and were delighted with twelve! Bring it on, Baby! Exceed my Expectations!!
Exceed is what they did. Service, food, ambiance and beer, oh my, what a wonderful trip this has been. Flossmoor is delicious across the board. What I really liked and didn’t realize at first is a pure stroke of marketing genius. They make some of the finest IPA’s around and they don’t just stick to one. They make a lot of them. Each of them is color coded with a different wax. It can get confusing, but I have taken the codes from their blog and here they are:
IPA Wax Color Code
- Navy Blue – “Rye”m & Reason
- Red – Time Out IPA
- White – Shimkos’ Simcoes
- Black – X-IPA
- Mustard Yellow – Ore-Gone IPA
- Purple – Celebration IPA
- Dark Green – IPA for Change
- Red – The Curse
- Silver – Hoppy Little “O”
- Olive Green – Ahtanumous IPA
- Blue – Lady Columbia IPA
- Burgundy – Vishnu’s Vice
- Gold – Pretty Big IPA
- Black – X-IPA
I am sure that the locals are happy that Flossmoor Station is a part of their world. They bring together the creativity of their beer along with a family friendly atmosphere. It ranks right up there with the river of chocolate and the edible flowers in Willy Wonka. Flossmoor won the golden ticket and now they’re sharing it with us!
