The coronavirus quarantine will eventually be over and when it does the folks at Flossmoor Station Brewery and Restaurant will plan for the establishment’s 24th anniversary party later this year.
A batch of its popular Wooden Hell brew will be released during that celebration, said brewer Ryan Czaja.
And that will be extra special this year because last year’s version was ranked the best beer in Illinois and among the best beers in the world by RateBeer.com.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Czaja said of learning about the award. “I didn’t think it was real. I got an email from a customer saying it won for best beer in Illinois. It slowly sunk in. The following day I learned it won for one of the best beers in the world.”
He said RateBeer is one of the top rating websites for beer in the United States.
RateBeer is often cited in Forbes for its reviews on craft breweries.
Its founder, Joe Tucker, states that RateBeer Best examines more than 640,000 beers by more than 33,000 brewers around the world.
The best beer award for 2019 was divided by subregion, which included English counties, German Bundeslander, Canadian provinces and American states.
“These beers score in such in a tiny window of excellence and every one of them represent such a small fraction of great beers that debuted in 2019,” an announcement on Ratebeer.com stated.
While Wooden Hell won for best beer in Illinois, the best brewer award went to Goose Island Beer Company.
Wooden Hell, which has sold out in at the brewery in Flossmoor, also was ranked among the best 120 beers in the world for 2019.
Czaja said Wooden Hell is a barley wine aged for nine to 18 months in Woodford Reserve Bourbon barrels and contains flavors of oak, bourbon and vanilla.
The non-barrel aged beer version is called Sheol Barleywine, which means Hell or underworld in Hebrew, Czaja said.
“So then aging it on wood makes it ‘wooden hell’,” he said.
Wooden Hell was originally created by the former brewer at Flossmoor Station, Matt van Wyk, between 2005 and 2007.
Czaja brought it back in 2017 with the assistance of van Wyk for its 10-year anniversary.
He said about 500 bottles were made last year and he expects to have about 400 bottles for sale this year.
Czaja said Wooden Hell will be one of five barrel-aged beers to be released this year at Flossmoor Station.
He said Flossmoor Station is one of the most award-winning breweries in Illinois, having taken awards at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.
Czaja said he probably won’t be participating in this year’s festival because he’s planning to get married around that time in September.
Wooden Hell sells in 22-ounce bottles for about $20.
Czaja is hoping to use the RateBeer award as part of the marketing for this year’s batch.
He said RateBeer does offer a medal or plaque for purchase and Czaja said Flossmoor Station is planning on buying that for display.
The 24th anniversary party and the release of Wooden Hell had been scheduled for July before coronavirus pandemic.
Frank Vaisvilas is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
