Fox Republic Brewing

Kevin Hopkins
Fox Republic Brewing
Yorkville, IL
FoxRepublicBrewing.com

The last really good beer I drank was…

Goldfinger Brewing‘s Summer Lager, which was especially spectacular this year. I drank a few of them over their fifth Lagerversary party while my band, Beer and Loathing, was closing out Saturday evening. It is delicious, balanced and effortlessly drinkable, which is perfect for summertime. We brew a few German-style lagers at Fox Republic, so it’s important to look to the people who are absolutely knocking those out of the park. Tom, Jeremy and the rest of the Goldfinger staff really work hard over there, and it shows in everything they brew.

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

More Brewing brews a lot of great beer, especially at their Villa Park location, where they are brewing some one-off IPAs and pale ales that have been incredibly thoughtful and tasty. Anchovy Paste (hazy DIPA) and Doors (pale ale) come to mind, but there are many others.

Black Horizon Brewing Company is quietly making some of the best lagers in Chicagoland, and they also make some really fun and interesting off-the-wall stuff like the Sugarbomb milkshake IPA and a Chicago hot dog-spiced lager, which was quite good considering I’m a ketchup-only kind of guy.

Neuronova is a brand-new Chicago brewery that just hit the scene with some really delicious hazy IPAs, like Dream Eater and Esper Force, and a full arsenal of gorgeous, thick, long-term, barrel-aged stouts. They are going to kill it!

Neuronova is a brand-new Chicago brewery that just hit the scene with some really delicious hazy IPAs, like Dream Eater and Esper Force, and a full arsenal of gorgeous, long-term, barrel-aged stouts.

What are you most proud of at Fox Republic?

I am extremely proud of our Lattis Truss shandy, which was a hit when it debuted last summer, but this year’s batch is amazing! It’s not beer and it’s not lemonade. It exists somewhere exactly between the two, which is a personal triumph for me. Our Shandy Weekend was September 19-21, and we tapped some special fruited variants you’ll want to check out.

We also recently collaborated with Black Horizon on a coffee brown ale called Hyper Fox. Ten Drops Coffee Lab in Plainfield helped us pair our English brown ale base with a very clean Ethiopian coffee, which they roasted darker than they normally do. It has big coffee vibes, as well as notes of baker’s cocoa, vanilla, caramel and toffee. I’m very happy with that beer.

At Fox Republic, we have a number of fun beers that celebrate the coming of fall, including our Foxtoberfest Marzen lager, Collision IPA brewed with locally grown wet hops, and our smoked pumpkin porter.

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

We recently tapped a pilot batch of American IPA, which is an updated version of an old homebrew recipe that my friend and I really loved. It’s slightly hazed, double dry-hopped, and has a nice malty backbone. It was well received in the taproom, so I will be brewing a large batch very soon. If anyone remembers Moonhopper from when I brewed at Lunar Brewing, or Goodfriend from when I was at Whiskey Hill Brewing, this will be a new take on that wonderful old recipe.

Fox Republic also has a number of fun beers that celebrate the coming of fall, including our Foxtoberfest Marzen lager, Collision IPA brewed with locally grown wet hops, and our smoked pumpkin porter, which is made with locally grown pumpkins that will be smoked by our neighbors, Southbank Barbecue.