From the latest issue of BC Craft Beer News
_____________________________________________________________Chicago is known for their fantastic craft beer scene and thus, we planned a trip to visit during their 5th annual craft beer week May 15 – 25. How can you go wrong with over 515 events at 327 venues, most of which were non-ticketed functions, that include a beer circus, beer fest, tap takeovers, dinners, meet the brewers, a hop rub event, festival of wood and barrel aged beers (oh yes please) and many, many more enticing events.
The craft beer week is sponsored by the Illinois Craft Brewers’ Guild
and is run by volunteers within the craft beer community. For a bar,
restaurant, pub or liquor store that serves craft beer to participate in the
festivities, the criteria is:
-
$4 craft beer available throughout the week
-
Craft on tap for at least a year prior to the
start of CCBW
- Clean draft lines
For the events that are ticketed, the Guild doesn’t take a cut of the
ticket sales thus, it allows the events to remain reasonably priced and for
venues to offer casual, drop-in events. This format is enticing to the seasoned
craft beer drinker as well as someone new to craft beer. Without a ticket/cost
commitment, anyone can participate in the craft beer week festivities and not
worry about breaking the bank. One such event that we dropped into was at the
Map Room where the Barrelmeisters from Firestone Walker were in attendance and
beauties such as Parabola and Sucaba were on tap.
Twenty-five new breweries have opened in the Chicago area in the past
year and the support in and around Chicago is amazing. We heard from one patron
that people are finding that as the event numbers have quadrupled in the past
five years, there too many events to choose from. Ah, what a good problem to
have – my little violin cries for you, hop heads.
We decided to limit the ticketed events we attended as we wanted the
ability to be spontaneous and drop in at various bars. The ticketed events we
did choose were the Lagunitas Beer Circus at their brand new brewery, the mini
Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers and the Hop Rub event.
The new Lagunitas facility is huge and was ample space to have two
bands, a stage for acrobats, bendy people in a large bubble and a moving
apparatus where people were drumming. Lagunitas beer, as well as a few guest
taps, were pouring and the crowd enjoyed the entertainment. $40 for admission
and four beers.
The mini Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers was held at Haymarket
and twenty-one delicious beers along with a generous charcuterie platter were
provided. I was surprised this event wasn’t sold out as $55 for unlimited wood
and barrel aged beers and food, is a well-priced event. Vancouver would kill
for this type of beer selection in our fair city.
The last ticketed event ($50) we attended was the Hop Rub at Buckledown
Brewery, who recently opened in December 2013. Their beers were served during
this informative session as we learned how brewers analyze hops before they buy
them. Size, colour, dryness, in the hand smell, rub/smell again, drop/smell
hands – with impeccably clean hands and detailed notes taken. Buckledown is
creating some great beers and even though they’re off the beaten path in Lyons,
IL, we’re glad we make the trek out to this unique event.
The balance of the week was consumed with a Cubs game, a blues bar, too
much food (I should have declared the 2.5 lbs I gained at Canada Customs) and
more breweries (Goose Island, Atlas, Dry Hop, Revolution) and bar investigating
(Beer Bistro, Paddy Long’s, Jake Melnick’s, Local Option, Headquarters
Beercade, Hopleaf, Monks Pub, Rocking Horse). Chicago is a great city to visit
with a mature transit system ($28 for a 7-day pass), a beautiful beach on Lake
Michigan and friendly craft beer-loving people. I highly recommend adding
Chicago to your beer travel list and if you can do it during craft beer week, all
the better.
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I'll follow up with a post on the the rest of our Chicago trip soon!
________________________________________________________________________
I'll follow up with a post on the the rest of our Chicago trip soon!
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