Chicago Craft Beer Week

I know there was supposed to be a big bottle share at Heinemann Bar Company near the end of the week. Did that ever materialize?

 

i haven't heard anything since the theoretical announcement, and i figure they would have sent invites/etc by now. hopefully they'll get something going in june...

 

Gotcha. That's what I figured.

 

For the North suburbs folks: Prairie Moon in Evanston is hosting an event tonight to kick off their CCBW celebrations. Here's the description from their Facebook page:

I hope to see some of you there. I'll be the college kid in the Kona coffee baseball hat -- don't be afraid to say Hi!

 

Not sure what's going on most of the week (10 days)? The site is terrible like last year. The days just keep repeating as you try to scroll from day to day in the schedule, and there's so many damn "events" like $4 "insert beer here" you can't find the good ones. Also, I feel like a lot of events have very little information to go off of. I think they changed the name for Chicago Craft Beer week to Chicago Beer Event week, since most events charge for entry it seems. Sorry for the rant, just been thinking this for the past week or so.

 

Could not agree more in that the focus seems to have shifted away from a general 'explore new neighborhoods/bars' for craft beer week with the occasional event thrown in to 'CHECK-IN AT EVENT X BETWEEN 5 PM-10 PM FOR PRIZES!' The sheer number of tweets advertising one event after another has diluted the pool, so to speak. That said, there are some highlights amidst the clutter - $4 pints at Delilahs of Tart Side of the Moon anyone?

 

I am looking forward to Solemn Oaths Anniversary Party at the Bavarian Lodge tomorrow night!! One of only a few highlights for us Suburbanites

 

I am in the same boat. Planned on going to the party at Bav Lodge as I got shut out on online tic sales for the HA party. I was able to snag two from the IP sales at the taproom however so I'm pretty pumped either way. Solemn Oath is having a party at their taproom on Sunday from noon-7pm, which has a killer tap list. Might try and make it over there after the GI block party.

 

Sadly I'll be out of town for this year's event on the 26th, but there was some amazing stuff at Delilah's Lambic and Sour Beer Fest last year.

http://chibeerweek.com/event/?eid=79

Not cheap, but I really enjoyed myself.

 

BUG looks pretty good tonight far as I can tell. I'm really looking forward to MariLime Law from Pipeworks, Sofie Paradisi from Goose, and Famine from Solemn Oath/Lost Abbey. Fountainhead's food offering also sounds fantastic per cleettweets. I'll be the bald guy with my work attire (business casual) on that looks like the guy in my profile picture and isn't Gene Keady, so feel free to say hello.

 

Shoot, I was hoping to see Keady there.

 

Just got back from Beer Under Glass. This years event was a bit of a disappointment compared to last year.

Probably the best thing on tap was Haymarket's BA Acrimonious. No BCBS variants, Revolution couldn't be bothered to bring Gravedigger Billy, and Half Acre kicked the Galaxy Double Daisy before the General Admission crowd even got in. It was nice that Abyss was tapped toward the end of the night, and the Marilime Law was quite good.

Such a contrast from last year where I was able to get multiple pours of Haymarket's excellent Janna Montana, GI Scarlett, BCBCS, and Galaxy Double Daisy. Probably wont bother next year unless I can convince my girlfriend its a "date".

 

Everyone else seemed to enjoy the vintage Straight Jacket we were pouring, in addition to our brand new pilsner Mother of Exiles and our limited one-off IPA Crystal Hero. I can accept that you weren't interested in/didn't enjoy our beers, totally within your rights...but don't tell me we half-assed it. I feel proud of our showing and of everyone who came out to support Garfield Park Conservatory and CCBW, and it was abundantly clear that everyone had a great time.

 

Wow, entitled much?

 

Highlights from BUG: GDDC, Destihl Sours (slight edge to the Strawberry), Acrimonious, Straight Jacket, GI Flanders Red, Abyss, Triptych(?) Bourbon Barrel Chocolate Cherry Stout, and the Pipeworks MariLime Law.

I'm sure I'm missing a few in there, but overall what a great way to kick off Craft Beer Week.

 

The only beer not available to GA apparently was the GDDC off of my highlights. Acrimonious in particular was on for the entire event, which was awesome.