This past weekend the Chicago Beer Belly was in Baltimore and Philadelphia and hit up the German fest at Max's Taphouse in Baltimore. If you ever visit Baltimore then you must stop off at Max's located at Fell's Point where they have over 80 beers on tap.
I took a trip up to Philadelphia for the day and took the ferry across the river to New Jersey to go to a beer festival that was on the USS New Jersey battleship. I mean how cool is that to be drinking beer while on a battleship? Not every day that you can do that. Took the tour of the battleship before the beer festival as you can imagine them not wanting people that have been drinking walking around their ships quarters.
Man your beer stations! All beers on deck. Well not all beers as they only had about 50 beers to sample from. They had the usual stuff like Samuel Adams and Sierra Nevada and Blue Moon. I was not interested in any of this. I was there for the Troegs, Harpoon, and Yards to name a few. Cause here in the Chicago area we cannot get this stuff. I was hoping that Troegs would of had their Dreamweaver Wheat there as that is my favorite but unfortunately they did not. Best beer I sampled there though was the UFO unfiltered pumpkin wheat from Harpoon Brewery. Was quite good and would recommend it to anyone that likes pumpkin beers.
It was so awesome to be standing on a battleship and drinking some good beer. Thanks to those that proudly serve our great country.
Exploring the Chicago craft beer scene one hopleaf at a time.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Midwest Brewers Festival 2011
The first ever Midwest Brewers festival was held along a river bank in the western suburbs of Plainfield, IL. I was quite surprised that the festival ran from noon til 8pm. As usually most fests run for only a few hours. Anyways, me, 12 pack, and the six pack spent pretty much the whole day there consuming some fine ass beers.
They had quite a huge selection of beers at this festival as well as a home brewers tent where you could sample some of the local home brews. The best beer that they had at the home brewers was an American style wheat from the Brew Shed. It was so good that I had about 3 or 4 samples of it. There was this other homebrew there and when we looked at it we passed on sampling it. This stuff looked real nasty and was coming out in clumps which is why we forgo drinking it.
Later on we managed to get into the VIP tent cause that is just how Chicago Beer Belly rolls. Okay so if we are VIPS then why do we have to stand in line to get some beer? We didn't think that paying for VIP was worth the extra money to shell out. All you really got was some private toilets, little bit of food and a few more beers to sample. Best beer from the VIP tent was a bourbon stout from Two Brothers Brewery. I was disappointed that they did ot have their Cain & Ebel Red Rye there to sample as that is my favorite beer by them. Yet, they were selling shirts for it so it just didn't make much sense to not have the beer on hand.
Was a pretty good day spent at the beer festival and met some cool people while we were there. Hats off to the Brew Shed in the home brew tent as they were cool dudes. Would definitely attend this festival in the future as there was plenty off beer on hand and quite the variety of it to sample from hoppy and bitter IPA's to light and refreshing hefeweizens.. Cheers!!!!!!
They had quite a huge selection of beers at this festival as well as a home brewers tent where you could sample some of the local home brews. The best beer that they had at the home brewers was an American style wheat from the Brew Shed. It was so good that I had about 3 or 4 samples of it. There was this other homebrew there and when we looked at it we passed on sampling it. This stuff looked real nasty and was coming out in clumps which is why we forgo drinking it.
Later on we managed to get into the VIP tent cause that is just how Chicago Beer Belly rolls. Okay so if we are VIPS then why do we have to stand in line to get some beer? We didn't think that paying for VIP was worth the extra money to shell out. All you really got was some private toilets, little bit of food and a few more beers to sample. Best beer from the VIP tent was a bourbon stout from Two Brothers Brewery. I was disappointed that they did ot have their Cain & Ebel Red Rye there to sample as that is my favorite beer by them. Yet, they were selling shirts for it so it just didn't make much sense to not have the beer on hand.
Was a pretty good day spent at the beer festival and met some cool people while we were there. Hats off to the Brew Shed in the home brew tent as they were cool dudes. Would definitely attend this festival in the future as there was plenty off beer on hand and quite the variety of it to sample from hoppy and bitter IPA's to light and refreshing hefeweizens.. Cheers!!!!!!
Wheaton Ale Fest 2011
I attended the first ever Wheaton Ale Festival in August 2011. It took me trains, planes and automobiles to get there. I took the train into Chicago and then was going to take another train out to the suburbs of Wheaton. However, the train was late in arriving to the city and I did not want to wait 2 hours for the next train out to the suburbs so I walked over to the Blue line and took that out to Ohare airport. I got into a taxi from there and finally arrived at the beer festival.
So, I'm finally there and they said it was sold out and I'm like I bought my ticket online. You would then think that they would of given me my sampling glass when I gave them my ticket but no they did not. I go to the closest beer vendor and ask for a beer and they are like 'where's your glass?' and I'm like well where the hell do you get it? After all that I eventually got my sampling glass and got served. Which was good cause I was pretty darn thirsty by this point.
You like peanut butter? Ever have beer made with it? I sure haven't so I had to try Blue Moon's Peanut Butter Ale and let me tell you this stuff was the best beer I had sampled. I went to go get another sample of it later on and they were all out of it. Heck, half the breweries that were there ran out of beer. How can you run a beer festival and not have any beer? They darn well better be more prepared for next years festival. Other than that it was a fun time meeting new people. Now go out and drink some beer! But remember to let someone else do the driving for ya.
So, I'm finally there and they said it was sold out and I'm like I bought my ticket online. You would then think that they would of given me my sampling glass when I gave them my ticket but no they did not. I go to the closest beer vendor and ask for a beer and they are like 'where's your glass?' and I'm like well where the hell do you get it? After all that I eventually got my sampling glass and got served. Which was good cause I was pretty darn thirsty by this point.
You like peanut butter? Ever have beer made with it? I sure haven't so I had to try Blue Moon's Peanut Butter Ale and let me tell you this stuff was the best beer I had sampled. I went to go get another sample of it later on and they were all out of it. Heck, half the breweries that were there ran out of beer. How can you run a beer festival and not have any beer? They darn well better be more prepared for next years festival. Other than that it was a fun time meeting new people. Now go out and drink some beer! But remember to let someone else do the driving for ya.
Milwaukee Brewfest 2011
Attended the Milwaukee Brewfest back in July 2011. Was the first time ever that I had been to this beer festival. Could not believe the long line to get in but we were able to bypass the line and get our tickets and into the festival. We were also able to get into the VIP tent at the fest because the security was lax. So, here I am in the VIP tent drinking one of my favorite beers that I had sampled there, Pumpkin Lager from Lakefront Brewery. Was an awesome time there and then we also went to the German Festival that was going on right down the street. They had plenty of beers on hand and quite a variety to please your taste buds. Would definitely go back to this beer festival.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)