I . . . am . . . Iron Alt!
Brewers have an advantage over musicians in that a quiet start generally won’t sink a career.
Ravenswood-stationed Metropolitan certainly hasn’t embarrassed itself, but the sequence of lagers that have been its maiden line (lager, kolsch, lager) have been solid, low-entrypoint concoctions that sit on par with Leinenkugel’s for unassumingness. Up until now, the compelling reason to drink the beers has been to buy local and sample micro lagers, of which there really aren’t many.
Iron Works Alt changes that perception, as Metropolitan’s first forallpracticalpurposes ale. Top-fermented and hence not shy, it still lets its hops compete with other flavors when the trend these days is to hop beyond belief. Metropolitan hasn’t quite raised the bar for the style as much as for itself (Metro’s M.O. is to mirror regional-specific Germanic brews; alts being from Dusseldorf), but it bodes well for the forecast.
If this brewery were a musician, it’d be Bob Seger.
— Steve Forstneger
For each (business) day of Chicago Craft Beer Week (May 19-27), we’re pairing an artist with a brewer. Click for Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Four, Five, and Six.
Category: Weekly
