Black & Gray’s Resurrection Ale made for Elgin’s ‘Nightmare’ party

Just in time for Halloween and Elgin’s zombie-themed “Nightmare on Chicago Street,” Black & Gray Brewing Co. in East Dundee is unveiling a new beer — Resurrection Ale — designed to conjure the spirits of the dearly departed.

Credit the idea to Kristan Arnold, assistant general manager at Elgin Public House.

“I love Halloween time and ‘Nightmare,’ so I wanted a locally made beer for the season,” Arnold said.

When she mentioned the idea to Black & Gray salesman Casey Sleeman, he brought it to the brewery, which jumped at the chance to collaborate with the downtown pub/restaurant.

“‘Nightmare is a great event, and we are bringing some history to it,” said Chris Kennedy, Black & Gray’s director of operations.

The new ale, Kennedy said, will give brewery some exposure in downtown Elgin to the thousands who turn out every year for “Nightmare,” which this year will be held Oct. 21.

He also was excited for a chance to make something Elgin-specific so he started doing a little internet research and came across the Elgin Eagle Brewery.

“It operated from the 1860s until Prohibition shut it down in 1920,” Kennedy said. “Another company kept making beer there illegally until 1923, when the feds raided it.”

He also spent a fair amount of time trying to find out what types of beer Eagle made, but the only one he could find was called Adler Brau Export.

“There is no recipe that survives that I know of but export beer of German tradition tends to be a style known as Dortmunder,” he said. “So I started researching Dortmunders and we came up with a modern recipe that we made a small batch of to test.”

The name Resurrection Ale is a tie-in to both the theme of “Nightmare on Chicago Street” and the fact that it brings back an old Elgin beer style.

And as is fitting for a new brew, it has its own logo and tap handle.

Head brewer Chris Contesso and assistant brewer Rob Bending made the initial half barrel for the Elgin Public House put on tap a couple weeks ago. It’s almost gone, Arnold said.

“It’s super light, with a malt flavor that is very drinkable,” she said. “It’s awesome that we are making this dream come true.”

Resurrection Ale has been a relatively straightforward beer to make, Kennedy said. Unlike many American craft beers and their myriad flavor profiles, German brews must follow that country’s purity laws for what can and cannot be in something labeled as beer, he said.

As such, Resurrection is being made with imported German grains and hops, with 20 barrels currently being readied to have ready for “Nightmare.”

It will be available at Black & Gray and Elgin Public House shortly before the street festival. Other businesses, including Danny’s on Douglas, Rogue’s Corner, Martini Room and Vern’s, have all agreed to carry it the night of the event too, Kennedy said.

“Making this beer has been pretty rad. I’m a big Halloween dude,” Contesso said.

In fact, Contesso is so excited about the new beer and the street festival that he said he plans to attend dressed as a Dortmunder beer.

Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.