Ryan Walker
Head brewer at Roaring Table Brewing Co.
Lake Zurich, IL
RoaringTable.com

The last really good beer I drank was…

Sierra Nevada Brewing’s Celebration IPA. It never disappoints. Every year seems to be better than the last. We did an homage beer to Celebration this year (called “Jubilation”) with a similar grain bill and similar “C” hops that is one of my favorites we’ve done in recent memory. I’ve been coming back around to classically balanced, malty, old-school IPAs like this and, lucky for me, our customers are as well. Try a side-by-side of Celebration next to Jubilation. It’s fun!

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

Church Street Brewing and Brother Chimp recently put out a collaboration German pilsner that I was really digging. Just a nice, bright, snappy pils that always hits the spot. I’m always buying Kishwaukee Brewing‘s Bufflehead Brown Ale when I see it around. It’s great year-round, but especially around this time of year when I find myself craving a good brown ale.

Sundial Brewing & Blending recently released a zwickel (unfiltered German-style lager) that was very nice as well. Lightly hazy with a great balance of doughy malt and floral hop character.

Sundial Brewing & Blending recently released a zwickel (unfiltered German-style lager) that was very nice as well. Lightly hazy with a great balance of doughy malt and floral hop character.

What are you most proud of at Roaring Table Brewery?

I would say that we are able to produce high-quality beers across a wide range of styles. We do everything from English cask ales and clean lagers to funky saisons and hoppy IPAs. I feel that we are putting out some great stuff in each of those categories. Most people recognize us for our lagers and English ales (which is awesome), but check out our West Coast IPAs and pilsners too. I think we’ve been stepping up our game in that department quite a bit over the past couple years or so.

Most people recognize Roaring Table for our lagers and English ales, which is awesome, but check out our West Coast IPAs and pilsners too. I think we’ve been stepping up our game in that department quite a bit.

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

Our pizza has been a thing now since last summer, but if you haven’t come to try it, I highly recommend it. We’re doing Detroit, tavern thin crust and New York styles, and I think our team in the kitchen is nailing each one. We’ve been working on some adjunct versions of our bourbon barrel-aged stout, Observer & Observed, and the one on draft now has delicious hints of fudge, whiskey, spices, toffee and oak.

We also have a trio of fun darker beers that’ll last through winter — a German-style dark lager called Canadian Girlfriend, a Baltic porter called Full-Rigged and a smoked dark lager called Canadian Fire. And running every Friday through March 27, we have a great Friday fish fry with beer-battered cod and perch.