Zwanze Day @ WLV

It would be great if they paired up with a place that was huge like Revolution on Kedzie.

 

Where are the pics of this mess?

 

Who would think that a large crowd could form in Chicago? It never ceases to amaze me when these events fail to plan for a large gathering of people. This is the 3rd largest city in the U.S.; we have arguably one of the top 2 or 3 beer scenes in the country, craft beer is bigger than it has ever been, and yet these beer events act like "Well, hopefully we get 50 people to show up" And then they are all surprised when many hundreds of people show up.

 

I guess what I was saying was more "Realize this is at a liquor store, not a brewery or beer hall and thus expect crowds and lines." their plans accordingly. I can appreciate wanting to go to Zwanze but not wanting the crowds, but that fact is that's not Zwanze day in Chicago. I wouldn't expect to change venues anytime soon either. Jean and Kristina are friends. He wants it to be there. I think that's pretty cool.

 

And we also need to remember how limited a supply of Zwanze there is. Probably one sixtel. So, could the venue be bigger? Maybe. But can they plan accommodate more people? Not if everyone wants to get a pour.

It is what it is. Feel free to complain about it. Maybe it'll do something about it. Maybe it wont. But we've all been to beer events in Chicago, and they're not going to get any less popular, less attended, and less clusterfucky any time soon.

 

hey im on my way. someone save me a glass

 

from looking at the checkins, it looks like zwanze 2013 itself sucks, but the bottle share is awesome. that's pretty much what i expected.

 

If anything the bar is less crowded this year than last. The line began sooner and filled up faster but that was just to get the glasses. It seems to be less of a cluster than last year

 

Please tell me which beer festivals would be envious of a crowd of 150-250 people.

 

Agreed! Much smoother than last year for me at least. Think people must have taken off quickly,

 

We took off by 5pm...was a lot of fn and pretty well run (other than waiting 45min to get into the bar). Nice to meet more cool BAs!

 

And after I saw the line was at 100 at 9:30 I decided not to even bother. Dammit!!!

 

Had an absolute blast... Zwanze 13 was definitely a bit underwhelming, but the rest of the taps and the bottle shares were great. Crowded for sure for he first couple hours, but thinned out and became very comfortable after about 3:00ish...

 

That's fine if they "host it" but have a venue that can accommodate however many people they allow in. Full disclosure, I have not been to zwanze day, just going from all the comments and complaints from the past couple years.

 

I had a great time again this year. Got to hang out with a bunch of cool FIB BAs, great draft list, and even better bottle shares. Thanks everybody for the generous pours, and thanks Kristina for hosting another great Zwanze Day.

I feel like there was plenty of space between the store and the Roscoe Village Pub. It got tight at times, but I think that's going to happen no matter the venue.

 

to lighten the negativity, let me tell you despite the lines and nonsense, it was a f@ckin awesome event. Granted I'm practically blind and my wife had to roll my a$$ home on my bike but....the stuff on tap was mostly stuff I've never had that ran the gambit from good to great. Side Project Saison was delicious as was the perennial barrel fermented quad. The bottle share was great as expected but seriously, hanging out in the back of the bar or outside where you had room to breathe, relax, and chat was stellar. Chicago is a sh&tshow but I found this one to be decently run and not crazy. Getting your zwanze & iris was painless but of course I was already in the bar so others might disagree. I think they accommodated the right amount and it really wasn't that bad after a couple hours, I'm just bummed I didnt get to share a couple more of my bottles besides my edward growler because 160 pound booze hound had to get some zzzzzzz's. Bottle share highlights, california brandy huna was the best beer there I think Ive had since BA abraxas, vietnemese speedway is the best coffee stout Ive had, & and 1515 coming in at number two of the day. on the chicago sh&tshow index, this was a 5 out of 10. Guys if you were in there and had a bad experience, feel free to complain but if you were outside looking in, maybe reserve your judgements.

 

As soon as I got my glass I walked over to the pub to wait in line. Scored a bar stool and had a great time. The bartenders were awesome (esp the guy from 3 floyds). Highlight of the day had to be meeting "yeahnatenelson" and him looking exactly like his picture.

 

i regret not sticking around but i also don't; my best friend is in town who i haven't seen in about 10 months and i have a feeling if i would have stuck around wlv i wouldn't have had the mental fortitude to not be a total drunken asshole and pass out. sounds like i underestimated wlv's ability to run an event.

how did they do bottle sales this year? i heard someone mention in line that they were reworking the system. considering i've heard zero complaints about it, it seems like that is in fact what happened.

 

When you bought your glass you were given two yellow tickets. Each was good for one bottle buy from behind the counter. The line was rarely less than 6 people but usually 20+ deep and it moved slow.

They had a shelf behind the counter that at certain intervals (say after every third purchase) they'd restock with random bottles. Over an hour span I saw Black Note, BCBS Coffee, KBS, Angels Share, Behemoth 12-13, Parabola, Sucaba, FW16, 6 Eclipse variants, probably 5 different Cantillons (750's and smaller as well,) Frangelic, Bolt Cutter, tons of Belgians I didn't recognize. It was a real crap shoot. You'd wait through the line and kind of just have to pick when it was your time. 2 people before me they rolled out a couple Cantillons and a King Henry. Those were all gone when it was my turn. 2 People after me they put out a 15 year Pappy Van Winkle. It was very much a luck of the draw and everyone said while it wasn't the best system, it still beat people bottle hoarding bottles against the counter, as was described last year.

My only complaints were waiting an hour and fifteen to get into the bar, between 1:15-2:30, and they ran out of the Iris Grand Cru before i cashed my ticket in.

 

Sticking around late paid off at 6:30 they tapped a keg of cantillon gueze and were pouring it by the pitcher to the few people still left. Overall incredibly fun event. Kristina and the wlv crew did a great job.