The Half-Acre thread (2018)

How's that new lager?

 

Also tasty. It's been on in the taproom before, enjoyed it again today. Easy drinking, easy going. Would drink on a patio.

 

Don't sleep on Smoking Gull. Super crushable pale.

 

How’s the new wild, a friend grabbed one for me this time around. Still upset I missed the last one

 

Reminded me of Luponic Distortion from Firestone Walker. High praise if anybody knows how much I respect Firestone walker.

I think Smoking Gull has slightly less bitterness though. Either way, it’s excellent. Maybe tuna could become a 6 month beer. I’d be happy to see this be the other 6 months. (Albeit, similar recipes)

 

For info. The Big North details have been posted.
https://www.halfacrebeer.com/bignorth2018

 

No band info unfortunately

 

I heard its U2 and Beyonce.

 

Dumb question, but you pay for beers on top of the $30 entry, right?

 

Tickets are $70 + tax (close to $80). Unlimited pours. One token for food.

 

good grief, i just re-read the link. i have no idea where the hell i pulled $30. i need to stop day drinking at work.

 

No worries, buddy. They throw killer events and Big North has always been well worth the money in my opinion.

 

I definitely echo this. Easily worth the price of admission on beer alone. Throw in a great event, great atmosphere, a meal, and live music, it's a no brainer.

 

Big North is not only the best beer festival in Illinois, but the best in the Midwest. Y'all can miss me with the "but no bottle sharezzzz" counterpoint. Only nit would be the lack of guest taps, I suppose, but I've never really felt like it's necessary given the breadth of Half Acre's offerings.

Separately, I was at Balmoral for Argentina/Chile last Saturday morning w/my just under two year old. Very chill, great hospitality (impromptu brewery tour post match!) - defiintely would recommend if you're looking for a place to watch the games that isn't the usual spots that are likely overrun w/people (e.g. The Globe).

 

So anyone that went to Big North last year, how long was the avg wait for a beer?

 

0 for everything that wasn't a Benthic variant, but even those were a couple of minutes at the most.

 

There were about 6 stations last year if memory serves, plus a pickup truck full of cans. Inside they had a station w/Big Hugs + Big Hugs variants, another that was just Benthic Variants, one with just wilds, I believe, and the tap room. Of that section, benthic variants the only thing w/any semblance of a wait (10 mins?) and the tap room was busy just because there were a lot of offerings there AND a spot to grab food.

Outside there's two big tents w/about 6 or so beers a piece on that rotate as they kick. Those had about 5-10 waits at times primarly due to the concentration of people that wanted to hang out outside (most of the seating was out there, to be honest).

On the whole I don't think I ever felt there was a point where I didn't have a beer in my hands, so wait times pretty much not an issue.

 

I'll counter with Great Taste of the Midwest for the best in the Midwest title.

 

^this

 

Really hard to compare the two. One is massive and offers a variety of different breweries. The other is more local with beer from one brewery.