Just heard of it today, is anyone going or has anyone been? Lots of big breweries on the list but no list of what they are bringing. It's this Saturday, 8/4. www.wheatonalefest.com Brewers: http://wheatonalefest.com/brewers.html
Yeah it probably is but we don't get many good beer events around here. demand is probably pretty high...
I have a buddy that bought tickets and can't go. If anyone is thinking about going hit me up. Thanks!
I went last year and it wasn't nearly as great as I thought it'd be. It was one of those stupid hot August days, with very little shade. There were not any lines, but that's probably because none of the beers were all that rare. (I think GI sent Matilda and Green Line and Blue Moon sent their peanut butter ale.) In fact, at many tents, there were volunteers who knew nothing about the beer they were pouring, (they were park district volunteers) and at least two told me they didn't even drink beer. Some local breweries were listed and did not bother showing up, either. Now, on the flip side, they are in Memorial Park (shade and a much bigger space this year) and will have more breweries there as well. I think it will be an improvement, but I wasn't convinced enough to buy a ticket for this. Depending on how it goes this year, maybe I'll head back next year.
beer lists ... all 9 of them are up on facebook. I haven't bought tickets and wasnt overwhelmed by the choices. Think I'll do the one in plainfield at the end of the month instead.
I'll give you the review next week... I was there too last year and concur with all of your thoughts. It was crazy that the Limestone beer won the "Best in Show" or whatever award...
What is the name of this beer festival? I remember seeing a flyer for it at Lunar but forgot the name of it, just remember it was in Plainfield.
Yeah, as a consumer the brew "fest" choices are rapidly expanding. Seems like there's four categories: (a) Established, long time fests like GTMW, many started by home-brewers, (b) Brewers Assocs fest, like GABF and FOBAB here in IL, (c) Civic events, like this one, good intentioned but not always robust in brewer representation and quality varies, then there are the (d) Promoters events, that are totally for profit.
So besides the storm and the cutting off of taps 45 mins early... it was ok. There were a few good brews there but for the most part, not many brewers in attendance. Mostly volunteers again On a brighter note, Revolution won the best of show award with its IPA offering... Hinterlands had a really good BA stout called Luna. The Bruery was pouring Mischief and a Barleywine that I can't remember the name.. that was towards the end of the day. Two Brothers had 1713 and Take Two which was pretty cool to see... and everyone was giving away some brewiana in the form of coasters, stickers, etc... All in all, good for being a local venue but not anything to travel to. Cheers!
