...and should I care? Anyone ever been to this? https://www.travelzoo.com/local-dea...60825&utm_campaign=2660825_html_-_deal:297477
If I'm not mistaken, this was a bigger deal about 7-8 years ago, and it was held at the Aragon Ballroom around November or so. I went one time, and wasn't a huge fan -- really crowded, long lines for pours, and mediocre offerings from breweries. Of course, a lot has changed with the beer scene since that time, so who knows.
Sounds like an average beer festival to me. Limiting it to 20 samples kind of sucks though, that's just 60 oz. or 5 beers. $35 isn't too much though, but quite often I end up dumping some of those sample pours so it wouldn't work out too well for me.
It’s a standard beer fest. Nothing crazy. It’s a good time that’s worth $35. I haven’t been in at least 5 years, but I don’t believe they’re very strict on taking tickets. The inaugural fest was maybe my most drunken nights as an adult. Goose Tapped BCS about halfway though (this was maybe 2010ish?) and no one really cared, so my buddies and I just parked in front of it and basically blacked out on it. One friends wife emptied the contents of her purse in the front lawn of some random house, yet also lost her phone. Long story short, I don’t think goose will be pouring BCS with no lines
This fest doesn't really strike me as any different from the 50+ ones we have in the city that are not brewery affiliated/industry related (Prop Day, DLD, Fobab, Big North, etc.). You aren't going to find whales at these fests, but you can sample the basics from all the new breweries you wouldn't dare by a 4/6 pack from on a whim...
There’s are also a handful of breweries that don’t distribute to Chicago, so it’s always mice to try something new on that front If you do go.
I remember the first BeerHoptacular was in June 2010 at the Aragon Ballroom. The organizers had to scramble because its time collided with the Blackhawks playing a game in the Stanley Cup Final. (They rented big-screen TVs.) I attended. I met some nice people, mostly Asian, while queuing up [probably have pictures of them]; because I also wanted to shoot the edifice, with my Panasonic DMC-LX3 camera. I surmise this is a reason they moved it to the autumn. I will buy a ticket to it this year [That's another good thing. It doesn't sell out in 3 hours.]. The venue might discourage some attendees. But, the CTA Route #12 Roosevelt route runs 60-foot articulated buses on weekends, so it should be able to handle the extra crowds. I consider this the replacement for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Festiv-Ale beer festival, even though they are not associated. Oops; it isn't. That's on 12 October. Well, whatever. I can recommend you go to BeerHoptacular, even if it borrowed its logo from the [defunct] Chicago Brwg. Co.'s "Big Shoulders Porter" (brewed by Greg Browne) label.
