Beer and Silos

I did not know it at the time, but I was a young initiate in the world of beer. At the age of eight, along with relishing the collecting of baseball cards sporting the likes of the Cubs' Billy Williams, I was collecting beer cans.

Under our back porch was a storage crawlspace where I stashed my finds, from Andeker to Zyweic, sturdy tin cans, emptied of their contents. Pull tabs missing, sometimes violated by the 'V' of a church key, I learned the difference between an Old Style and an Iron City, a Heineken and a Henninger, a Schlitz and a Stroh's.

Twelve-ounce beers being the standard, the top of the treasure trove was the sixteen-ouncer, The Silo. Also known as a Tall Boy, the pint-full seemed like a lot of beer.

Now that I am older, so much older, I expect my beer in pint-volumes. Aside from some of the canned imported draught offerings, there have been few and far between...until now.

Schlitz is reintroducing their Silo. Last summer they presented a rebirth of their Classic 60's Formula. Back to a time when Schlitz was Number One in world beer sales, the Tall Boy is a vintage move.

Silos also figure prominently in successful brewery operations. The ability to buy, store and use malted barley in volumes speaks volumes to its success.

In that vein, I was pleased to get word that my friends up the road (I-90 to be precise) at Madison's Ale Asylum just installed a grain silo outside their operation on Madtown's east side. Capital Brewery's has been a sight for years on Madison's west side (Middleton, actually).

Locally, one of my favorite Chicago-area brewery's silo has been busy. Two Brothers in Warrenville is cranking out beer beyond projection. In quality and quantity, Two Brothers excels in their craft. Tall Boys, indeed.