Tom Beckmann
Goldfinger Brewing Company
Downers Grove, IL
GoldfingerBrewing.com

The last really good beer I drank was…

The American Zoigl brewed by Schilling Beer Co. out of New Hampshire. It is part of a collaborative project we started a few years ago, where breweries around the country share the same base recipe for a lager using American ingredients, along with a six-pointed brewer’s star (Zoiglstern) to be hung in their taproom when their beer is ready to be served. It’s a nod to the original Zoigl tradition in Oberpfalz, Germany. Each brewery can make their own interpretation within certain guidelines, and when they’re done, they sign the back of the star and ship it to the next brewery. Sort of like a brewery chain letter. Schilling’s version was outstanding.

What fellow Illinois breweries and specific beers have impressed you lately?

I recently enjoyed a bottle of Saison Frileux from Is/Was Brewing — a dark saison with coffee — and it was incredible. Now that they have a beautiful taproom (in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood), I’m looking forward to trying some of their non-saison beers too. Also, the new Suncatcher Brewing has been a recent favorite of mine. Their Michigan Pale Ale was delightful, and I really like their focus on sourcing a lot of local ingredients for their beer. Their concept is both nostalgic and prescient, as they focus on many old-school American craft beer styles but on a canvas of locally sourced ingredients; something that wouldn’t have been possible 10-15 years ago. I think that’s the future.

I recently enjoyed a bottle of Saison Frileux from Is/Was Brewing — a dark saison with coffee — and it was incredible. Now that they have a beautiful taproom in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood, I’m looking forward to trying some of their non-saison beers too.

What are you most proud of at your brewery?

Jeremy Gouldey and Lucas are my fellow teammates on the production side, and without them, we wouldn’t have been able to improve on nearly every aspect of our business. I’m grateful for their hard work and dedication to Goldfinger, and I am especially proud to have helped Jeremy go from beertender to a professional brewer who can confidently take our beer from grain to glass all on his own.

What do you have coming up that people should know about?

Our fifth annual Lagerversary will be July 18-20. New beers, great food and live music. Also, we just brewed our Oktoberfest that we lager horizontally for six months, and we will be releasing it at our sixth Oktoberfest on September 20!