Thanks to Matt, a fine Flossmoor Station Pullman Brown Ale.

On Monday, I had the pleasure of meeting Matt Van Wyk and family. They were in route from Illinois, where Matt brews beer at Chicagoland's award-winning Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery, to Roanoke, Virginia ... and like all the rest of us, looking to hit as many good beer places as possible along the way.

Flossmoor Station web site
Flossmoor Station blog

Totally delightful folks, and I'd wish there had been more time to spend with them. Matt gave me two 22-ounce "bombers", one of the "Brewer's Whim" IPA and the other Pullman Brown Ale. Both were great with a homemade ploughman's plate last night, but special praise (by my standards) goes to the brown ale, which is brewed with molasses. To know me is to know I'm not a great fan of brown ales ... yet I could spend some time drinking this one.

There's much to savor in the Pullman -- maybe some chocolate, maybe some hazelnut, and probably more hops than you'd imagine to balance the dessert character. I was drinking this one fast with an unexpectedly delightful hydroponic sliced tomato grown in Laconia, Indiana of all places ... and some Kalamata olives with just a touch of sharp cheddar ... yummers.

The cheese made me think of Madison, Wisconsin and the forthcoming Great Taste of the Midwest ... and Matt Van Wyk says we'll see him and Flossmoor again at the fest. Marvelous. I'll bring the squeaky cheese curds ...