Welcome to stop #22 on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: Penrose Brewing, 509 Stevens Street, Geneva
Train line: Union Pacific West, Geneva
Time from Chicago: 67 minutes (Zone H)
Distance from station: 1.4 km
Geneva used to be the end of the line. It's two counties over from Chicago, and on the western edge of the world. But the historic district around the train station has tons of cute houses and two pretty good breweries (with another one coming soon).
Penrose opened on 9th March 2014, when a guy from Champaign and a guy from Geneva realized that Geneva's reverse-osmosis filtering makes the municipal water supply one of the purest in the region. Penrose is the first dedicated brewery in the city.
They produce "Belgian-inspired" ales, and I found them all pretty tasty:
I started with their Dryft Morraine IPA (6.3%), a bright, hoppy, Mosaic-filled very good beer with a crisp finish. Then the Taproom IPA (7.1%), not quite as bright but tasty enough, quite good. The Clear Eyes DIPA (8.7%) had an initial sweetness from the alcohol that I didn't expect, with almost juniper-like notes in fact. And finally, the Pancake Robots Imperial Stout (13%), a blast of flavors, including maple syrup and vanilla, that I absolutely loved.
Beer garden? No
Dogs OK? No
Televisions? No
Serves food? No, BYO or delivery
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes