This week sees the release of our Fnord Coffee Wit. This idea came to us from our friends at Abacus Coffee Roasters.

Brian Frain's Abacus Coffee Roasters is just down the hall from us. Brian and Page will periodically drop in to bring us coffee, have a beer or bitch about work. One afternoon we got to talking and Brian suggested we put cold-pressed Abacus in our Fnord, his favorite of our beers.

I have to admit that, at first, I was extremely skeptical. My fear was that the acidity of the coffee would make the bright and fruity Fnord undrinkable, but Brian insisted that, not only will the flavors work great together, but that it won't effect the color much. The hook of a straw colored coffee beer was what finally got me and I accepted the collaboration.

The results exceeded even my best expectations. We went very light on the coffee addition - 1 gallon per barrel - the result is a rich coffee nose and a creamy, almost candy like coffee note in the taste, where the coffee pulls the fruit notes up from the beer and the beer pulls the fruit from the coffee.

We're all very excited for this collaboration and are already planning our next.

Bottles hit stores this week, look for it at all of your favorite bottle shops in Chicago including Beer Temple, West Lake View, Binny's Marcy, Vas Foremost, Bottles & Cans, Bitter Pops and many, many more. We'll also have it at Beer Shop in Oak Park and Standard Market in Westmont. We're going to have a couple launch events as well, stay tuned for more info on those.

Tomorrow night, Wednesday July 20th, the Map Room is hosting an IBW tap event. We'll be pouring the very last keg of our sour stout, "All Colors of the Dark", our Extra-Special Belgian "Two Headed Dog" and one more very special beer that you'll have to show up to find out what it is. We'll get started around 7pm and over-stay our welcome.

Also, this Friday is The Fucking Catalina Wine Mixer at Local Option. This is an epic evening that combines the best tap list in the city (IBW, De Struise, Alesmith, Scratch, Pipeworks, Maine Beer Company, Jester King and so much more great stuff) with a shred-off where guitar bullies put their licks on pageant to compete for your adoration and prizes. Don't miss this.

Lastly, there's a VERY limited number of bottles of "Unchristian Thoughts" that will seed out to the world next Wednesday. In case you don't know, "Unchristian Thoughts" is a farmhouse aged in a Templeton Rye barrel and then refermented on mangoes and bottle conditioned with brett clausenii. This is real special stuff and won't ever be made again. If this sounds good to you I would recommend that you act fast and grab one as soon as they go out, I can assure you that they will not last long. We'll be sending out one more email next week to remind you and let you know the locations so you nice people will have the best chance possible for acquiring a bottle. You really don't want to miss this.