Beer Under Glass 2014

I've been wanting to go to this in the past but since it's on a Thursday night I can't cause I work. Hopefully I can hit up some of the other events during CCBW.

 

And it looks like 50% chance of rain... Hopefully that drops dramatically by Thursday!

 

it either rains, or it doesn't. Always 50/50

 

Any ideas on what/who will be pouring (other than rain)?

I saw that Breakroom will be pouring:

Breakroom Brewery will be at spot #14 and we are pouring the following:

Bat Out Of Hell - A barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout brewed with molasses and aged on wild berries

The Wet Spot - A French Saison brewed with white peppercorns and chamomile

The Legend of Chief El Dorado - A lactose IPA brewed with El Dorado hops

 

I'm excited to be going with my wife this year and searching for beers that she may like as well as just trying breweries that we haven't heard of rather than running around trying to find the "rarest" pours available. Wonder if any brewery will pull a move like Deschutes did last year cracking the Abyss with less than an hour left of the event? Underrated excitement for me is the selection of food trucks afterward. Living out in the far west burbs, we don't have food trucks, so that's a fun experience.

 

Those sound pretty tasty, so I'll have to make a mental note to check them out.

I'm fairly certain that Penrose will be pouring Desirous, their White IPA. I'm sure they'll have one or two others. I know they did a large batch of the Desirous to have around for CCBW. They altered the recipe from the first run to dial back the bitterness and up the juiciness.

 

About 5 hours to go till the event starts, can't wait!!!

 

Beer Adjacent to Glass 2014. Feels like it will be warmer than Dark Lord Day but equally windy with the added bonus of rain.
Hope the tent they've got is big enough for all of us.

 

Weather channel is saying no rain this evening. Shouldn't really be anything significant until sometime overnight. Still figures to be a little chilly, though. Of course, I probably just jinxed it.

 

Rain or not it won't be the same. BUG is cool due to the atmosphere inside of the conservatory. I also bring the wife every year because of that. Take it away and it is like any other fest. If they had ANY thought that this might happen it should have been communicated BEFORE you threw down $60 or worse $90

 

I totally agree. My wife wanted to go after seeing my pictures last year and hearing about the inside of the conservatory. I hope the food is as good as last year. I'm also hoping they'll have some outdoor heaters under the tent. I'm remaining positive that tonight will be a good experience since last year was such a great time. Given the ticket price, I think they'll take care of us tonight.

 

Goose Island Clybourn
Happy Chicago Craft Beer Week!! Our brewers will be at Beer Under Glass tonight pouring a few favorites- Pineapple Brettanomite, Flanders Red, 26th Anniversary Ale, and a brand new barrel aged beer! See you there!
‪#‎CCBW‬ ‪#‎BUG‬ ‪#‎gooseisland‬


And for the shameless promotion - middle brow will be pouring a metropolis brazilian coffee randalled life pursuit (dark saison with a some cinnamon & vanilla) and a table/session version of an oud bruin done with the almighty transient art. ales. Also chris at transient has some crazy shit planned to so make sure you stop by at the transient tent!

 

Cold, muddy, but decent food, unlimited pours, and really solid selections from a lot of good breweries. Quality event. Wish I'd gone for the booties/plastic bags at the beginning of the night, but live and learn. Really liked the Lagunitas black IPA, enjoyed the Pineapple Brett and Flanders Red that I'd had a few days before, and the Middlebrow Randal was very good as well. I thought the layout was really well thought out under the circumstances, and would have been perfect if it had been 10 degrees warmer and if hadn't rained a fair amount this week. Some things you just can't control.

 

Alright, what was the new Goose Island barrel aged beer? Curious to know from those who tried it and how it tasted.

 

it was big vicar, a bourbon and wine barrel aged quad. as expected, it was very good.

 

i had a great time. it wasn't windy and not too cold. the mud at the big tent sucked, but i had on waterproof shoes so wasnt too bothered by it. the staff and volunteers did everything to ensure everyone was having a good time. there were many new breweries there, along with all the great standards. i will definitely try to attend in the future.

 

This year's "find" for me was Forbidden Root. First beers we had at the event. The namesake beer was great. Oak aged ale with molasses was a little over 4% and tasted like oaky root beer. The wit with key lime and assorted other goodies was flavorful and easy drinking. Spiteful PB porter was really interesting. I got some peanut/peanut butter that was tasty, but I'd dial back the roast and ABV a hair. The pork sandwiches were delicious. Brickstone Belgo APA needs to be a beer that I buy more often. Breakroom had a tasty and boozy BA stout w/berry. Berry was more in the background and added a bit of a bite on the finish. The ham and cheese crepes were outstanding. Nothing in the food dept beat the donuts though. Those were a big hit and worth the wait in line. I had IPAs or DIPAs from Begyle, BuckleDown, and Haymarket and none of them stood out to me. Greenbush had a solid IPA. Transient sour wit was a top five beer of the day for me, but their rye saison missed the mark.

I missed a few breweries in those pods because with the crowds I just couldn't tell who was where. Quick tangent: I hit the middle tables around 8PM and couldn't see a damn thing. They set up no lighting in that area. I flat out asked 3 guys just to pour me whatever since I had no clue what they had to offer. That was really poorly designed. Nothing was as bad as the mud pit in back though. Just go to Menards or Home Depot and buy some cheap wood planks. I mean for $60/ticket, we aren't worth the wood planks. Very frustrating. Please tell the food providers how many people are coming to the event and give one ticket to each person for each food stand. Fountainhead was completely gone (like took their whole stand down) by 7:15 when we got to the rear tent. That's obnoxious. Many others were out of food halfway through the event as well.

Back to the beer, I was looking forward to the Paletas from 5 Rabbit. The Mango one just didn't work for me. Tasted like Mango rind rather than fruit. The ginger peach hefe from One Trick Pony was another top 5 beer for me. It's not typically my style but the flavors were perfect together. Goose Clybourn is my champ 2 years running. Flanders Red and Pineapple Brettanomite were my two favorite beers of the event. Got a 2nd pour of Brett to end the night. The nose on that beer is like opening a can of pineapple. Finally tried The Weight, and going to Piece is now on my summer to do list. Gibson's cold and bunless burgers were fairly gross. Suebi Doo from FFF just couldn't hold up to The Weight. Penrose had a nice white IPA with some interesting flavors. Vinyl had tasty wings and mango salsa. Middle Brow is the only stand I missed that I actually wanted to hit. The line was just too long in the mud pit when we were back there. Perennial Hopfentea was really interesting and delicious. My wife was a big fan as well. I'll be looking for a bottle of that. The Half Acre/Piece APA collab really missed the mark for me. Odd hop profile and kind of watery.

I think that sums up the evening. I kept holding out hope, but I think this event really does require good weather to be worth the $60. Minimal access to the conservatory completely changed my wife's experience as she was looking forward to that the most. Top 6 beers were Pineapple Brett, Flanders Red, Forbidden Root, Transient Sour Wit, The Weight, and 1 Trick Pony Ginger Peach hefe. The brewers really help make this event. All of them were completely personable and willing to chat. The setup, planning, and execution from GP Conservatory fell short for the price point. Cheers to the delicious grilled cheese truck on the way out. Top notch folks there too.

 

It may be different for others, but my wife and I were disappointed. We just like walking around the conservatory and having great beer from a lot of breweries while we do it. We don't try to hunt down particular rare beers at the tents or anything like that. Previous years we had both the conservatory and the great beer. This year we just had the great beer. It didn't really feel like BUG at all.

At least it didn't rain, but we left with muddy shoes and cold, wet feet. We never saw anyone around handing out bags for shoes (although we did see a few people with them on).

Seems like someone dropped the ball somewhere along the line. I would've liked to have known that this year's BUG wasn't really BUG. I wouldn't have spent the money (even more expensive than last year too!) for far less of an experience.