AleFest Chicago 2009 Follow-Up and Photos

Just as it was last year, AleFest Chicago 2009 (3rd Annual) was a fantastic time this past Saturday, on a beautiful day near Soldier Field. There were about 150 beers from which to sample, although I have actually had a lot of them before, so there wasn't much beer new to me. I still enjoyed tasting beers that I haven't had for a couple years or having some of my old favorites. Some of my favorite breweries were there, including Two Brothers, Lost Coast, Dark Horse, Charles Wells, Goose Island, Great Lakes, Unibroue, Wychwood, Lagunitas, and Founders. A brewery that's newer to me is Barley Island from Indiana and I very much enjoyed their Barfly IPA and Dirty Helen Brown Ale (which I favorably reviewed last year) which were poured from their great looking taps. Unfortunately, one of my favorite breweries Three Floyds was not there again this year, so it seems they are never interested in participating in this AleFest, even though they are so close to Chicago. For the special ReplicAle 2009 event, for which many breweries brewed their version of a Belgian-style wit beer, I only tried the ones from Piece Brewery & Pizzeria and Emmett's Tavern & Brewing, which were both excellent (as expected). Enjoy my slideshow of photos that I took during my time at AleFest Chicago 2009, along with my girlfriend Lin and her dad Denny:

AleFest Chicago (3rd Annual)

This Saturday July 11 will be the 3rd Annual AleFest Chicago.
It will be in a large field just outside of Soldier Field Stadium from 2pm to 6pm.
We went last year and had lots of fun and overall thought it was excellent. Therefore, I am definitely going again this year.

It is $40 for admission, but that gives you 20 samples from a selection of over 150 craft beers, a commemorative AleFest sampling glass, and event sampling guide with informative beer and brewing references, along with many other features. This year, the proceeds will go to support the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, and on their website they elaborate on this year's special "ReplicAle" which will be the style of Belgian Wit.

If you love beer like me, and this time and location is convenient for you, you should try to make it.

Last year, I wanted to write about my AleFest 2008 experience but never got around to it, even though I had plenty of material (reviews, photos). Hopefully I will write about my AleFest 2009 experience, soon after attending this Saturday.

I also have literally tons of new photos and beer reviews that I have been meaning to post, but have been extremely busy for the past 6 months. I will have to figure out a way to get this blog up to speed this summer.

AleFest Chicago - A Celebration of Craft Beer this Saturday!

Sorry, this is kind of late for anyone out there who didn't know about this yet. AleFest Chicago is happening this Saturday July 12 from 1pm-6pm at Soldier Field Staidum Green (just outside Soldier Field). Apparently this is the 2nd annual one, but I don't remember hearing about it last year at all, and I was pretty busy, so obviously I didn't go before. This year, I have seen posters for it up in some beer bars that I have visited recently, so I figured it must be pretty good. Then I found the nice website where it has all the details. Admission is $40, but includes a bunch of stuff such as 20 samples of craft beer, a commemorative tasting glass, a stainless steel bottle opener, and it's also for charity for the The Lupus Foundation of America, Illinois Chapter (LFAI). Then I looked at the list of breweries that will be there (I have them listed below), and I was quite impressed! I'm still not sure if I will definitely go, but I am seriously considering it. Now I have some free time, but not much money, since I'm between jobs right now. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal and a good way to spend this Saturday, though, so I may go for it. Anyone else already planning on going, or wanting to go?

Participating Breweries Include:

	Abita Allagash America’s Arcadia Avery Ayinger Belhaven Bent River Black Sheep Blackthorn Blue Cat Boston Beer Boulder Breckenridge Brooklyn Chang Charles Wells Chimay Trappist Destihl Dogfish Head DuBocq Emmett’s Flatlanders Floris Flossmoor Station Flying Dog Gaffel Goose Island Gordon Biersch Gouden Carolus Great Lakes Greens		Hirter Jever Kaiser Kasteel Lagunitas Lefebvre Left Hand Lindemans Lost Coast LunaR McAuslan Metropolitan Mickey Finn’s MT Barrels New Holland North Coast Piece RAM/Big Horn Rock Bottom Samuel Smith Southern Tier St. Louis St. Peters Stiegl Three Floyds Two Brothers Unibroue Wexford Wychwood Young’s Zatec