Une Année Brewery Now Serving Chicago
By Chuck Sudo in Food on Oct 15, 2013 8:40PM
From left to right, Une Année's "Maya" Belgian IPA, "Less is More" session saison and "The Devil's Reign" Belgian golden-strong ales. (Photo credit: Chicagoist/Chuck Sudo)
The newest entry to Chicago’s fast-growing list of small breweries is Une Année Brewing. Architect and former Marine Jerry Nelson started homebrewing in 1995 and developed a passion and knowledge for simple, Belgian-inspired ales.
Une Année (French for “one year”) underscores Nelson’s commitment to producing Belgian-style beers annually and seasonally. Une Année comes strong out of the gate with three beers. The flagship, Maya (named after Nelson’s daughter) is the one the hop heads will enjoy the most, with a lingering bitterness on the back of the palate to remind of the playful sweetness of the malts.
Un Année’s saison, Less is More, is a session farmhouse ale coming in at 4.6 percent alcohol by volume, brewed with 20 percent wheat malt and enough caramel malt for color. It’s spiced with Ahtanum and spiked with orange zest and juice. All the sugar from the juice and malts makes Less is More a dry beer that will work well with many food pairings.
The Une Année offering we currently love the most is The Devil’s Reign, a collaboration with Dryhop Brewers that is a splendid representation of the Golden strong style. Brewed with Simcoe and Citra hops the drinker will pick up plenty of citrus notes on the nose and palate. At 9.1 percent alcohol by volume it packs a helluva punch.
Une Année’s current seasonal offerings include Masquerade, a medium bodied Tripel with big fruit and spice notes with hints of Bravo and Willamette hops poking through, and Truth Against the World, a 100 percent wheat Saison brewed with German light and dark malted wheat, caramel wheat and a touch of chocolate wheat. This is a showcase for malt and yeast flavors, with complexity that mimics fall colors.
Get a taste of all five Une Année offerings at Jerry’s Wicker Park starting at 7 p.m. tonight.